Kevin sliced a pad on his left front paw last week while I was away (typical huh?) He was taken to the vets with a bloody paw, and stitched under general anaesthetic the following day. We are having to go to the vets every 3 days for it checking and re-dressing. We've been told no walks, no getting it wet and toilet trips in the garden must be on the lead (he's still a giddy kipper and particularly when he's had a poo he likes to hoolie around and let the world know that he's such a good boy he's going to get a biscuit). In other words, no fun to be had for the foreseeable future. Now I know it's early days, but these puppy dog eyes are a killer - he's sat bandaged up, with one of my old socks on for good measure to stop him pulling at the bandage (I'm trying to avoid the buster collar where possible because he's sad enough as it is) and I'm fortunate to be on my holidays now so he's more or less supervised all the time. That being said, today he seems to be hobbling a lot more and doesn't seem to want to go out to pee - when he does go out he just stands there looking at me. He's currently laid in front of me looking very sorry for himself, so I have 3 questions - 1) is this normal that they don't feel like going to pee? Particularly when they have to do it on the lead? 2) he didn't yelp at all when he cut it, and hasn't really hobbled much since - is it normal that it seems to be getting more sore? 3) any ideas how I can cheer the poor lad up? Thanks
I think I would be phoning the vet for advice if he's hobbling a lot more as there could be an infection, which could also wxplain his reluctance to pee (painful to stand on leg???) and it could make him feel a bit poorly - particularly with the current heat we're all experiencing. If you have a look on one of the forum pages there is a 'sticky' so it stays near the top in the listing which has ideas for a dog on restricted exercise. It might give you some ideas.
I did wonder about infection but they'd put him on a course of precautionary penicillin when he first went in last week which he only finished yesterday, so I wasn't sure if it was just that 'he's cut his pad - of course he's going to be sore' or if he was really not loving having his foot bandaged, he only had it redone again yesterday and hated every second of it, but the vet said the wound was looking better than it had on Saturday so I dunno. I also will take a look at the sticky, thank you.
Hood that the vet was happy with the pad yesterday although it seems a bit strange if it seems more sore now . Do you know what he cut his paw on? Is there the slightest chance that there is a small foreign body in the wound?
Sorry to hear about your poor dog, hope he is feeling a bit better today? You might also find this book helpful - it's called No walks No worries - for helping a dog on restricted exercise
Well, after I stopped panicking and thought logically about it he wasn't bothering the bandage at all it was just when he got up so gathered it was something to do with putting pressure on his pad, or as the vet summises - he had bandage-itis; honestly it's like having a toddler isn't it! Anyway, the vet said the stitches weren't quite ready to come out but wasn't going to rebandage it so sent us on our merry way with one of my socks taped onto his leg & told us to keep it covered with said sock til we go again on Monday. This didn't even make it to the car. I pulled it back up before I drove off, yet he spent the whole journey home licking the sock. This is how he spent the remainder of the evening - every time I turned round the sock was further down his foot with the tape to the point it could go no further but 3/4 of the sock was hanging off and he was happy enough with this tiny bit of access to his poor shaved foot. I tried every distraction technique I could think of but we had to succumb to the cone of shame last night. He's been the same with the sock (now on the 3rd sock) through the day so he'll be having to cone back on for bed - which I hate as much as he does but needs must. He's taken to walking peculiarly with the sock on, like his foot is about to drop off as well so he knows how to play to my paranoia. Has anyone any ideas how I can keep the sock on or any alternatives to a sock to keep his foot covered for the next couple of days?
Dog boots might work better, but most dogs Ive been around don't do well with them when they are not walking. Might just take a few more minutes to destroy, if you aren't watching.
Thank you all for your advice so far - Kevin has now had his stitches out and doesn't need to go back to the vet unless I'm concerned, but we've been advised to keep his boot on when outside to protect the cut for another week or so. He's gradually learning that the boot is not to be chewed, and although I daren't leave him unsupervised without his cone of shame, he's managing the best part of the day without bothering with it. My concern now is that any time the boot is off he goes straight to lick the foot, I don't know if this is because the hair is growing back and it's itching, or that it's been stuck in a bandage/sock/boot for 2 weeks, or what - but he will not leave it alone - nothing I do can distract him. I've just left him without a boot for 5 minutes while I popped to get an antibac wipe for inbetween his toes and he didn't stop licking that whole time - he's not going for the injured pad, it's the whole foot. Should I just keep the boot on all the time for the next week and hope that the hair has grown back and he'll then leave it alone? The vet gave us the antibac wipes to clean his foot twice a day to prevent yeast infection. But, I've noticed there's a little red area over the knuckle and I don't know if this is because of the boot itself (you have to pull the velcro quite taught or the boot slips down) so I did want to see if we could give it chance to air while he's indoors but unless he wants to be in his cone of shame all day this doesn't seem to be an option (he's now sat snuggled up with his boot on, no licking!)
I'd be inclined to opt for a cone and give the foot a chance to air. Hope Kevin is back to his old self soon.
