# Need vet/expert advice re broken toe treatment please



## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

I dont know anything about it but I do feel for you. Poor Abby having the pain from the tape being stuck to her fur and the wound now. Good luck and hopefully someone will have dealt with it.


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## SophieP (May 7, 2010)

Thank you for your kind thoughts Carol!


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

The only real advice I have, having just dealt with a broken toe that ended in its removal, is to crate her if necessary and use a leash for potty walks to keep her off of it. Running around, even just a little, will grossly interfere with the healing process.

A splint is helpful to keep the toe in the proper position when she is putting weight on it. You can certainly try soft-splinting it. Either way, I'd plan to keep her pretty much completely off of it (except for pee breaks) for a couple weeks. Yes, she'll be bored stiff, but meals in KONGS, etc. can help that part.

If the ozzy/smelly part doesn't clear up in a couple days, I'd see the vet about it. Likely it's from the moisture when the splint/bandage configuration got wet. I had to be really careful about that after the surgery and the vet had me change the bandage every other day. We used some pretty heavy duty tape, too. I think they needed the extra "oomph!" from super sticky tape b/c of how much movement the feet see, even when you're keeping them quiet.

Poor girl... and poor you!


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## SophieP (May 7, 2010)

Thanks for the advice Stephanie! Wow - removal of the toe??!!    OK, I'd like to hear more about that (ie: how/why did this happen??) since like I said, I really want to make sure she heals properly and certainly wouldn't want that to happen. :no:

Our vet did not mention limiting activity except excessive running so we've still been taking her out for walks (for her sanity as well as ours!) but maybe I need to reconsider that?  She has no splint/bandage on it right now (yet - it's been off for about 18 hours or so) since I'm still debating what to do but she's no longer limping either which is weird. But when I touch the toes, it's definitely still swollen/very hard. Her wound from the tape is healing nicely and has almost scabbed over. The "smelliness" is gone - it was definitely from the moisture in the bandage - our vet did not ask us to change it and told us to keep it on for 2 weeks?? When you changed the bandage, was it while the toe was still broken or after surgery to remove it? If before, did that not impact on the recovery?

OK, I'm still thinking about it but leaning towards a soft splint while immobilizing and securing her toe as much as possible.

Any other advice is welcome and appreciated!

ETA: If no exercise permitted, how do I prevent puppy zoomies (which JUST occured following her being crated while I was at work for 5 hours even though she had a frozen Kong while I was gone, had a long walk before I left and ate her breakfast out of a treat-dispensing toy...she's also eating her "lunch/snack" out of one right now)?? She's 5+ months old so has a lot of puppy energy LOL. I know I should have let her out on the leash as Stephanie suggested but we have a great fenced-in backyard for her and she loves to go there to lie down in the shade and eat her frozen Kong plus I can't imagine her not having ANY off-leash time at all for 2 weeks?? HELP! 

Thanks,


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Keeping on leash for two weeks is better than ending up with an amputated toe. If you want it to heal you really do have to leash walk and limit activity. Every time her foot flexes taking a step it is moving the broken bone, I think it needs to be splinted.


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## SophieP (May 7, 2010)

Thanks mylissyk - I just found a thread on someone with a similar experience here: http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showthread.php?t=77575 and this is the first time (besides Stephanie's post above) that I'd read about amputation and it seems to be pretty common - wow. I've PM'd the OP of that thread for some advice since they had a positive result with NO amputation.

We definitely leash her when we take her out and I will consider putting her on a long lead in our backyard as well. I think I will put a soft splint on her tonight.

Thanks,


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

SophieP said:


> We definitely leash her when we take her out and I will consider putting her on a long lead in our backyard as well. I think I will put a soft splint on her tonight.
> 
> Thanks,


A long lead is pretty useless, IMO. She'll still be able to run around, just not as much as if she were off leash. As much as it sucks, I'd splint it and completely restrict physical activity other than leashed potty breaks for two weeks and then re-evaluate. No point in restricting 80% of her activity, only to let her run around on a long line outside. Running around is running around.

JMO.

I'll post more later, but the toe was amputated in our case b/c by the x-ray, there was concern that it might have been tumorous activity in the bone that caused the break so we erred on the side of caution and took the toe. Turned out it was just chronic inflammation of unknown origin, but she's doing so much better w/o carrying around the funky toe.

Where is the break? By the nail or higher up?


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## SophieP (May 7, 2010)

Hi Stephanie - thanks again for the additional info. I have a call into the vet and she will call me back once she has a minute. Not sure where the break is since hubby took her in (my first mistake since when I asked what the vet recommended ie: running/walking restrictions, changing bandage, etc, he had very little to say - I'll ask for myself this time! ) By the feel of it, the break is mid to lower in the toe and not close to the nail. 

She's (unfortunately) full of energy right now and NOT limping whatsoever without the splint on which to me indicates she has no pain. She was limping a lot for the few days before we took her to the vet and for the first few days with the splint on...

Thanks again for any/all help!


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## SophieP (May 7, 2010)

OK, me again...just spoke to the vet...

Since she is no longer limping for now, that her break is in the P2/P3 portion of her toe (so not the tip close to the nail) and it is not a crooked/bad break but more of a straight line break/crack down the bone, she suggests leaving the splint off for now (also because she had a wound from the tape) and to have her rest for another week - complete rest like you all mentioned of course and only on a hard surface so no grass if possible - ugh! :uhoh: This will prevent her from being off balance and her toe moving as much.

So it's obviously due to our poor "parenting" that the splint broke since she was obviously not resting enough and now we'll have to be more strict - please say a prayer that we don't kill each other from the constant barking of her wanting to go outside in the backyard, wanting to play with her GR bed buddy across the street, and just a lack of puppy activity since she's so used to getting ++ exercise/activity and even the last week of limited activity has been hard!! Fingers crossed! :crossfing

Thanks again,


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

If it proves too difficult to keep her inactive while maintaining your sanity, talk to your vet about a potential sedative - maybe even using a Benedryl. Also, try ALL meals in a Kong or similar toy that she can lie down and work on. Stuffed, frozen KONGS were my best friends for the 14 days post-op when my Whippet was crated... all day... everyday other than to be leashed walked out to pee.


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## SophieP (May 7, 2010)

Good idea about the sedative Stephanie - I swear it's already chaos here and it's only 6:45pm :-( She's had both her meals in meal dispensing toys, one frozen Kong, a bully stick and still has tons of energy and is expecting her daily rumble and play with her buddy Cybil across the street (who just came to the door and heard the bad news - poor her/them as well...it's always such a great energy drain when they play every day). 

I know I gave her some Gravol for her nausea when she was carsick and that made her sleepy so will look into the Benadryl for sure - thanks again for the tips!


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## grcharlie (Nov 10, 2007)

Your poor baby! I hope she has a full and speedy recovery.


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Sounds like you got most of your questions already answered, but I did want to comment on the tape to fur under the bandage. They are called stirrups and are totally necessary to keep a bandage from slipping. You put a longish piece of tape on the top and bottom (or sides) of the paw with the ends dangling. Then you put the gauze and padding on, then the first layer of vetwrap. Then you take the dangling ends and twist them up and stick them to the vetwrap. You then finish the vetwrap (+/- tape). Unfortunately some hair will pull off with the tape, but the tape doesn't cause sores unless the bandage is wet.

In humans we don't bandage any area that is configured as in dogs/cats, so that's why you've never seen similar in human medicine.


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## SophieP (May 7, 2010)

Thank you so much Sarah - I really apprecaite you taking the time to provide me with an explanation!! I figured it was something that made sense of course and was specific to treating animals...funny my vet said: "well, if we could tell dogs not to strain it, to keep it straight and rest it for 2 weeks, like we do for humans, we wouldn't have to bandage them up like that!" 

The wound could have certainly been caused by some dampness that may have gotten inside the bandage given all the rain we've had lately even with our best efforts to cover it with a plastic bag every time she went out. She's also messy sometimes when she drinks water so I had to wipe it down quite a few times and cover it with a sock...at least it was a pretty pink/purple sock. :

Anyway, she's certainly full of beans today and NOT limping which is great but also bad if I'm trying to limit her abililty - it's almost like she wants to celebrate the freedom of no longer having the splint! It's going to be a challenge to keep her calm/quiet for the next week or so but we'll definitely do it and hopefully she'll recover fully and won't need to have her toe amuptated! :no: She has her spay appt in 2 weeks so the vet will look at it again then and do another X-ray to see if it's healed up.

Thanks everyone for your help/advice/good thoughts - I'll keep you posted!

Cheers,


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