Jazzys Sore Toe

[boothros]

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About a fortnight ago, our 2 year old girl Jazz, appeard ever so slightly lame one evening. The following morning she appeared fine & quite honestly we had forgotten all about it and ran her quite hard for about an hour. After this, the lameness, became apparent again and her outside front toe seemed bigger than the one the otherside and she was holding it up although there was no heat in it. The next day she seemed better and trit trotted around Thame show for about 4 hours but unfortunatelty got the foot trodden on which brought the lameness back with a vengence obviously. I took her to the vets on another matter 2 days later & got her to check the toe out. Although she wasnt x rayed, the vet didnt think there were any fractures present as she could handle the paw easily enough (and Jazzy is a little bugger having her feet handled) but she prescibed anti infammatories and light rest for 10 days, recommending that I could lead walk her, just no hard work. I didnt actually, lead walk her at all, but she did bounce around the house & garden as whips do, the toe getting smaller all the time & the lameness disappearing. Well it was D Day yesterday and the OH took her out, to try some light work. He was only out about 15 mins, but she turned lame very soon again after starting to run. The touble is, is that she is a typical 2 year old with too much energy anyway so the more rest she gets, the more hyper she gets. Do you think she has been rested enough as all the time she is at home, she seems fine but I am worried that everytime she is returned to work she will relapse. Any advice you may have of similar experiences would be welcome, as there has been improvement, I dont want to return to the vets just yet but I dont want to force things & put her back to square one! Cheers, Sharon

 

[Whippets Rule]

One of my whippets trod on stones while running and damaged a tendon in one of his toes when he was six months old,he had to have cage rest for almost twelve weeks before things were back to normal.

I wish you luck with your dog because trying to convince a young and lively whippet that it needs lots of rest is almost impossible.

 

[~elizabeth~]

We had a similar problem - a 'big toe' appeared one day last year, with no lameness evident at all so unfortunately I didn't notice when it happened. It didn't seem to be affecting his running, and infact he lurecoursed successfully for most of last year. I asked the vet about it when I noticed it, they said probably a ligament.

In March he dislocated his toe properly lurecoursing. Initially they thought it was a ligament problem again, as there seemed to be no pain associated with the injury, but even when the swelling went down the joint was still big, and the toe still sticking out. The X-ray revealed dislocation and some bone chips, but also evidence of a previous break. So I think I'd be inclined to err on the side of caution and get an x-ray done, as sometimes it seems it's really not possible to tell what's going on without one (and this was Bartholemew, vet to the Oxford Greyhound track). They did mention amputation as there was a risk of arthritis if the joint didn't heal properly, so prompt attention to the problem at this point might avert more problems later.

Re. energy, I know exactly what you mean (see another few weeks in plaster thread) - the more he is kept in and rested, the more determined he is to escape and chase something.

Goodluck :luck:

 

[~elizabeth~]

Although she wasnt x rayed, the vet didnt think there were any fractures present as she could handle the paw easily enough (and Jazzy is a little bugger having her feet handled) but she prescibed anti infammatories and light rest for 10 days,

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Yup, that's why neither of our vets thought it was a break either, on both occasions, and ours is just as much of a little bugger for things like nail clipping, and very intolerant of discomfort. We were actually massaging the ligaments for the first week without so much a wince from him.

 

[Lynn-Alexandria]

Poor Jazz...hope she feels better soon. Big hugs from me and the boys :huggles:

 

[Strike Whippets]

Sounds like a ligament to me .......Depending on how badly damaged it is, will depend on the treatment .......I would imagine a good Greyhound vet would be the best person to see, as vets go this is their field of knowledge :thumbsup: ........The 2 of mine that have knocked up toes have had 12 weeks of no free running, with bone radial and massage/physio on that toe daily/as needed :blink: .......but then I've seen the worse cases with snapped ligaments, so 12 weeks is nothing ....... :luck: :luck: Hannah.