jin Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Hi there My little Havanese recently cut her paw, and the wound started discharging pus. We took her to the vet who put her on a course of antibiotics but it didn't cure the problem. The vet next operated on her paw and said there were some bits of grass that had gone inside. A week later her paw started discharging again. She is now going for a second operation at the end of this week. Coincidentally (I guess?) during the time of these incidents she has also had a recurring eye infection for which she is receiving eye drops. She is two years old and prior to this has never been sick or injured. She still has a strong cheerful disposition, normal appetite and is moving around as normal. I was just wondering whether anybody else has met this problem and what your experiences were? Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Hope your little girl is ok soon have had grass seeds in paws...and infected cuts , but not grass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 (edited) Was it grass or grass seeds? My guess is that the foreign material was the cause of the wound, not a cut. If that's the case, you're going to have to pay extra attention to keeping her paws free of it. Do you remove excess hair from the underside of her paws - that can be a real trouble spot for trapped material. There's a reason poodle folk have traditionally kept their dogs feet shaved.. and you're just experienced it! Edited June 28, 2011 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkhe Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 (edited) Not exactly, but similar - a foster greyhound I had earlier this year cut his paw and got some 'grits' in it - tiny little pieces of gravel. Luckily the vet was able to get them out with just a local anaesthetic, then bandaged the foot up. He had to wear a little space bootie thing whenever he went outside, for .. 2 weeks (from memory), which was a little round boot thing with a velcro strap. He hated it at first, but eventually associated it with going for a walk (along with his muzzle), so it wasn't too much of an issue Initially the vet thought she would have to put him under general to get them out, because they were quite deep in his paw, but he was such a trooper, he just lay there on the table while she dug around (and then wouldn't get off the table afterwards, he was so comfortable lying there getting pats!). Apparently that happens a lot with greyhounds and whippets - I met 2 whippets in the vet surgery while waiting for him to come out, and the exact same thing had happened to both of them too! Soft footed little creatures that they are :D It sounds as though you're on the road to recovery here, and your little one will probably have to wear a bootie or similar for a while. But I'm sure she'll be fine - the eye infection may be somewhat related, in that her immune system will have been knocked around fighting the infection from the grass. Good luck! Edited June 29, 2011 by Alkhe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindainfa Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Haven't experienced this but just wanted to send my wishes to your little darling and hope it all goes ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Online Pets Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Hope everything goes well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jin Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 oh wow thank you so much everybody for the replies, and thanks for the support. She is very special and the thought of her being under anesthetic again is heartbreaking. One thing I should mention is that we are in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We moved here from Melbourne three months ago (with the dogs of course). Poodle fan - the vet told me that it was grass, not grass seeds but I didn't know to ask about the distinction. It may have been the language barrier (i.e., he is a native dutch speaker), although he speaks great english, that led him to say grass instead of grass seeds, but I will clarify with him. I don't traditionally shave her paws, although we keep her in a puppy cut, I've never experienced this before so never realised I need to, but I will now! I was thinking of getting her protective shoes to prevent this happening again. I thought it was a little unnatural for a dog to wear shoes, but when I looked online there were lots of options for working dogs and dogs with leg problems (rather than for cosmetic (?) reasons). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jin Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 off topic, but for anybody interested, this is Nala Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 before you have to resort to another surgery I wonder if you could try bandaging it with a good old fashioned poulitce, they dont seem to be used much these days. I recently bandaged a friends whippet using a horse product, animal lintex and it drew the infection out overnight. Nala is very cute too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Very cute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) Nala is very cute I had something a little similar with one of my Whippets. She was suddenly lame whislt staying at her breeders. She has a small deep puncture hole in the middle of one of her toe pads. They flushed the puncture thoroughly and put her on antibiotics. A week later it broke out between the toe and the main pad, so it was opened up and flushed thoroughly again, some foreign matter that looked a bit like wood came out. It was presumed to be the thorn. SHe had more antibiotics Around 2 weeks after that I noticed a lump in the webbing between her toes. She had a GA and the foreign body was removed which once again looked like wood and looked like the tip of a thorn. I thought it was all finished, but no! A while later - cannot remember the exact time frame) she started becoming lame again, the vet couldn't find a particular spot, neither could I. We elected to leave it and monitor to see if it came to "a head" anywhere. The only thing that I could see was the mark in her pad where the pad was growing out from her injury. She became very very lame and I took her back. We put her on antibiotics again as they were worried about potential bone infection as we just couldn't find exactly what was going on, she had a fat toe but that was it. A couple of days later I was once again checking out her pad and noticed it looked a bit moist and there almost seemed to be a small hole appearing. I squeezed the pad which caused some serum like fluid to come out, then a pop and a grain of what looked liked large river sand popped out. The vet said to keep her on the antibiotics and monitor it. Within 7 days she was sound, the toe was no longer swollen and the mark on her pad disappeared. She has been fine ever since. We essentially got 3 foreign bodies from a puncture mark most likely caused by a thorn from a climbing Rose. I would never have though a foreign body that was a grain of sand could have caused so much pain and been such a drawn out thing! Hope your cute girl is better very soon :D Edited June 30, 2011 by OSoSwift Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jin Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 Nala is very cute I had something a little similar with one of my Whippets. She was suddenly lame whislt staying at her breeders. She has a small deep puncture hole in the middle of one of her toe pads. They flushed the puncture thoroughly and put her on antibiotics. A week later it broke out between the toe and the main pad, so it was opened up and flushed thoroughly again, some foreign matter that looked a bit like wood came out. It was presumed to be the thorn. SHe had more antibiotics Around 2 weeks after that I noticed a lump in the webbing between her toes. She had a GA and the foreign body was removed which once again looked like wood and looked like the tip of a thorn. I thought it was all finished, but no! A while later - cannot remember the exact time frame) she started becoming lame again, the vet couldn't find a particular spot, neither could I. We elected to leave it and monitor to see if it came to "a head" anywhere. The only thing that I could see was the mark in her pad where the pad was growing out from her injury. She became very very lame and I took her back. We put her on antibiotics again as they were worried about potential bone infection as we just couldn't find exactly what was going on, she had a fat toe but that was it. A couple of days later I was once again checking out her pad and noticed it looked a bit moist and there almost seemed to be a small hole appearing. I squeezed the pad which caused some serum like fluid to come out, then a pop and a grain of what looked liked large river sand popped out. The vet said to keep her on the antibiotics and monitor it. Within 7 days she was sound, the toe was no longer swollen and the mark on her pad disappeared. She has been fine ever since. We essentially got 3 foreign bodies from a puncture mark most likely caused by a thorn from a climbing Rose. I would never have though a foreign body that was a grain of sand could have caused so much pain and been such a drawn out thing! Hope your cute girl is better very soon :D Thanks a lot! Somewhat reassuring to hear others have been through this and have come out fine. Nala is not in a good way - after her second operation her foot is really swollen, and she is limping, which she wasn't doing the first time. And her eye infection is worse despite the vet changing the eye drops to a stronger ointment after the second operation. she now has a small swelling in the lower lid of her left eye. We are taking her back to the vet tomorrow I hope it ends soon because this is pretty traumatic for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jin Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 before you have to resort to another surgery I wonder if you could try bandaging it with a good old fashioned poulitce, they dont seem to be used much these days. I recently bandaged a friends whippet using a horse product, animal lintex and it drew the infection out overnight. Nala is very cute too. I can try that! I'm not sure where I would get the items though - I am guessing regular pet stores do not sell them? Did you get it from a horse supplies vendor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Yep horse suppliers will have animalintex which is one poultice you can buy. You can also soak the paw in Epsom salts dissolved in water - only issue is how long she will sit still and if she will let you, so a poultice bandaged on is a good way to go. There are probably other brnad names of a simialr thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Poor girl, hope she is feeling better very soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 If she is getting worse- I'd be off to another vet for a second opinion/fresh eyes ....don't play with anything involving eyes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkhe Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Oh dear, I'm sorry this isn't going well for you guys - 2 operations and a sore eye is a very traumatic and yucky thing to have to deal with. Best of luck at the vets tomorrow Keep us posted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jin Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Well, the vet took out her stitches and said that the swelling could have been because of the antibiotic fluid they put in her leg during the operation. He also looked at her eyes and said despite the swelling, the eyes looked better than when he looked at them properly when Nala was under anesthetic. On the positive side, he pressed her wound and no pus came out, just blood (poor thing) - but he said it looked like théy'd got everything out this time. So we're continuing the course of antibiotics and making sure the swelling doesn't get worse. Hopefully she will be round the corner soon - she is happy enough day to day but the vet visits and treatments are torture for her! No fault of the vet, he is gentle with her. She has actually seen two vets, because our regular vet was away during the time we had the consult for the second operation, and there was a locum vet substituting him. Keeping fingers crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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