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[kirislin]

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Hi, I rarely post here but I thought if anyone can help me you can. I race my 3 ped girls in Victoria, Australia. The youngest one is/was about to start her second year of racing but I will have to hold off because I dont want her to split the webbing on her feet.

I first noticed last year that after every race day her feet were REALLY sore in between her toes. When I looked I could see that the webbing was very inflammed & slightly weepy. I took her to the vet & she thinks its a contact allergy that has been there for a while but when she races it gets aggravated. I've bathed them in salt water, put tee-tree oil on them in the hope of drying it out but I just know that if I race her it will flare up. Interestingly, she can pelt around like a crazy thing at the park & at home & it never flares up. The webbing hasn't split yet but it's slightly thickened & so not as flexible as it should be & I am afraid that it will split if I keep racing her. Has anyone got any idea why this might be happening & how to get her feet right?

Hoping for some answers here, thanks in advance

Linda

 

[Liz Third]

I smother the foot between the toes with Vaseline before racing. It seems to work.

 

[kirislin]

Thanks for replying Liz. What surface do your whippets race on, grass or sand? Ours race on sand, I had thought about trying vaseline but I thought I might make the sand stick between her toes & possibly cause more problems.

I'd really like to know why this little girl has a problem with her feet & my others dont. It is so disappointing because she showed such promise as a racer but looks like she wont reach her potential :'(

Linda

 

[Judy]

It sounds like you are talking about sand burn. According to Care Of the Racing Greyhound its caused by a weakness of the superficial and deep digital flexor muscles which allows the toes to flatten and spread too much. This means the foot sink into the ground too much so that the sand can abrade the web. Ouch!

They recommend soaking the foot in salt water and a foot toughening agent like Tuff Foot or Friars Balsam which you should be able to get from a greyhound supplies place.

I am pretty sure that walking on gravel helps tighten up the foot too.

 

[chris oflaherty]

) Hi

I had one of my whippets with a split web last year, back foot. What a pain that was, it took months to heal. Friars balsam really did help with the healing and keeping it clean, but you do need to keep the flexability in the skin otherwise as soon as she races they will split again.Once its healed I used pure Vit E oil massaged twice a day (this is always used to help heal scar tissue) in to the web. I am a GREAT believer in homeopathy- the remedy to use to help prevent them opening again and again is Silica 30c. You may need to use this remedy a few times but you can look up this remedy in any homeopathic book. Its brilliant for helping to expel foreign bodies like splinters glass etc. Its very important with split webs not to do much running too soon. Hope this helps, good luck.

P.S Is there any whippet racing in Sydney- I will be there in November!

 

[mtotos]

we keep greyhounds and i got a bitch from a guy who was going to put her to sleep as she kept getting bad sand burns,we got hold of a cream from the chemists called zinc + salasylic acid,it is a barrier cream and we spread this over the underside of the web when she raced and she never suffered another sand burn!,the cream is a thick white paste and when the dog has run the cream is still on the foot,so it works very well as a barrier cream as the greyhounds were racing over 480 metres as opposed to the shorter distances of whippet races.

vaseline will also work,yes the sand will stick to the vaseline but it will stop the sand reaching the skin on the foot,the problem is that vaseline is soft and rubs off very quickly,but it is better than nothing.

we used to work for a guy who had small gravel in his paddocks as he believed it stopped the dogs from getting sand burns as it toughened the feet up-yet his dogs still suffered from sand burns-maybe an old wifes tale?.

I believe sand burns are caused more by the fact that some tracks use poor quality sand and dont prepare the tracks properly for racing,as you may find if your dog runs at one track it may suffer from burns but not at other tracks,i dont know about australia etc but a lot of uk greyhound tracks also stage speedway racing and even though they cover the speedway track the shale still gets onto the greyhound track and this stuff is razor sharp and must cause problems to the dogs.

 

[kirislin]

Great! thanks for all your replies. I've written down every product you've mentioned & will see what I can get over here.

Judy Feather's feet certainly look very neat & compact but you could be right, I realise when they're racing it puts an enormous strain on everything, if there's any weakness that's when it will show up.

Chris I dont think there is any whippet racing in Sydney. There used to be years ago but now there is a very keen bloke from NSW who bought a ripper little pup from a guy down here & a couple of times a year he drives over 1000km to race her at our club because I think there's only 2 in the whole country! The other being in Queensland...if it's still going.

Anyway thanks again, I'm feeling alot more positive that I might be able to do something to help her & hopefully keep her racing 'cause she loves it & she looks mighty cute when she beats whopping great males twice her size.

Linda

 

[Northolm]

Hi,

I sell a product called Tuff-pads and K9'ers get 10% off using K9COM0405 code in the voucher bit.

Just click on the Northolm link in the toplist

Pauline x

 

[LJH]

Very interesting, did you know, salasylic acid is Asprin. Perhaps this helps to reduce inflammation. I agree with Chris O'flaherty you must keep the tissue soft and supple.Scar tissue is brittle and re-tears very easily. Good luck.

 

[kirislin]

Thanks Pauline & Lesley. Pauline I'm in Australia & as I dont have a credit card it makes it hard to buy stuff from O/S.

Yes Lesley I agree about the scar tissue & that's what I want to avoid at all costs. Although her feet haven't actually split as yet I think they've already thickened a bit at the edges of the webbing due to being inflammed so many times.

So far I haven't been able to get any greyhound foot toughening products over here. They used to make one called Pad Aid but strangely it's only recently been stopped which I find really odd as greyhound racing is pretty big in Australia. A person I know recommended sump oil mixed with kerosene.....er no thanks.

Linda

 

[Liz Third]

Just come back to this thread, my dogs race on grass, so sand may be a bit different, but you have lots of suggestions now, I have taken notice of them myself, thanks everyone.

 

[kirislin]

Just wanted to give an update to all the kind people who offered suggestions. Unfortunately Feather did split the webbing on her front right foot yesterday just playing chasey with one of my other girls, although it was inflammed already from racing on Sunday. She only ran in the sprint & when I checked her feet they were red so I scratched her from the distance race.

I took her to a greyhound specialist today who said he thinks she did it just because she is delicate & possibly the race track sand is too abrasive for her. He gave me the option of completely cutting the webbing, stitching it or just dressing it until it heals naturally. I've chose the last option. I dont fancy anything as drastic as removing her webbing, she a pet first & foremost. There is still a chance it would re split so I will most likely retire my delicate little flower. I will still use the products you've suggested especially the vit E for healing. Thanks for all your suggestions.

Linda & Feather (The Blue Flyer...no more :'( )

 

[Mark Roberts]

I used to have a greyhound that used to split it's web everytime it raced so it could only run every 6-8 weeks, after trying all the stuff off vets ect a bloke told me apply Savlon cream 3 times a day every day and after about 4 weeks rest (to allow it to heal) it would never split again? I followed his directions and it never did split again aparently the Savlon made it more plyable so it stretched rather than splitting? (WORTH A TRY)

 

[Judy]

Thats a great tip if it works Mark. Has to be worth giving it a go. :luck:

 

[kirislin]

That sounds like exactly what I need, something to make it stretch not split. I'd have to wait till this current split heals before I started putting it on wouldn't I?

I still think it could be what mtotos said about the track using poor quality abrasive sand as well.

Feather is a bit of a delicate little flower but she's certainly no wimp. She was so brave yesterday as they poked around in the foot. Just stood there with thumping heart but not a sound or struggle.

I will still keep perservering with the things people have suggested here. I've got the Friars Balsam, haven't got the Silica yet but I'll go to the health food store to see if I can track it down.

Linda