Penny's sore paws

The day after our big walk at Marysville, Penny refused to go for a walk along the Yarra at Warburton, one of  her favorite places, so I popped her back into the car and went home to investigate.

To my dismay I realised that both her front paws were raw and weeping on the pads. What could have happened? I'm still mystified. I wonder if she might have rubbed them raw on the new gravel path to Steavenson Falls? Or perhaps she skinned them on the grid she walked over.

But if that were the case, surely the other dogs would also have sore paws, and I haven't heard that they do.

Perhaps her feet were hurting and Penny licked them raw. We have noticed her licking her feet recently (before that walk).

I bandaged the paws

and settled down near Penny with a good novel - a great read, actually. It was The Devil You Know, by Mike Carey. In that way I could sit watching her and constantly check she was not licking the bandages and making them wet. What a great excuse to do nothing but read!

Of course it was raining. It always seems to be raining when Penny has problems with her paws. Hmm...is this a clue? So she had to put up with plastic bags taped over her bandaged paws when she went out for a wee before sleep that night.

Two  days later she seems to be recovering. I've bathed the paws in Epsom salts twice daily for about five minutes. I'd take a photo now to show how the skin in healing over, but I don't want to draw her attention to her feet, because she would then start licking once agin.

I looked at many sites before using the Epsom salts, and thought this one had a good overview:

Epsom salt baths can help in several ways. Not only has salt and salt water been used as an extremely effective anti-bacterial agent for thousands of years, as evidenced by salted foods, many breeds, such as Labrador retrievers were bred to spend their days standing in salt water, helping to bring in fishing nets. Epsom salts contain not only sodium chloride, but potassium and nitrates that can aid in restoring the natural balance of bacteria on a dog’s skin. Salt can also raise the pH level of your dog’s skin, which may help regulate normal bacterial ratios. Regardless of the reason, a warm saltwater bath soothes the itch, helps disinfect the area and is a fun experience for dog and owner alike. Don’t rinse your dog’s feet after her bath. Let her lick the salt off or gently pat dry her paws. And don’t get any in her eyes.

So, no big walks for a while. Penny seems to be happy to lie around at the moment. She even takes some convincing to go down the back steps to have a wee.

Penny walks once more

Penny had the stitches out today and when the vet examined her foot he said she should be fine to go for walks, even though her foot might be 'tender'. The original problem, which seems to be a build-up of calloused skin, hasn't been resolved, but the vet thinks the large slice he took out for the biopsy might result in new blood-flow to the area and thus solve it. The problem seems to be developing on her other front foot, though. I guess we'll deal with that when necessary...

 She set off enthusiastically for her first proper walk in two weeks, sniffing around Yarra Bend Park.

And, joy of joys, she found a ball.

(In this photo you might see how she is leaning to the left to take the weight off her right front foot. That was the behaviour that made us take action to try to resolve the issue.)

 After lots of bounding around and rolling, Penny noticed her foot was indeed tender. More than tender, by the body language.

So we headed home.

the saga of the paw continues

The results of the biopsy on Penny's sore paw came back and it turned out our vet had made a good diagnosis - she had a chronic infection, of unknown origin. Perhaps a trauma of some sort, perhaps from licking. The vet and I are both of the opinion it may have originally been some sort of trauma.

He took quite a big piece off her paw for the biopsy and thinks the surgery itself may help healing, because of the increased blood flow to the area.

All good...

On Tuesday she was doing well after the surgery, and went back to the vet to get the big, padded bandage off. He put a lighter bandage on it, and repeated the important instruction to keep the bandage dry. Human number two soon spotted the fact that Penny's limp was much worse.

How could this be?

Well, she went back to the vet today - and the bandage was putrid and damp! We have no idea how it got wet. It's quite a mystery.

Thank goodness human number two picked it up. Now Penny has no bandage, but has to suffer the cone of shame.





She wasn't too happy when she came home, but it's all worth it if the paw heals cleanly and quickly.



We've got one of the old-fashioned types of collars. I'd have liked to try the new one I saw on a recent post by The Portuguese Water Blog or the Kong EZ Clear Collar reviewed by Hound Girl.

Penny's feeling unhappy

Sometimes it's so easy to read a dog's body language. is this a happy dog?







No, you reply.

And why? Because today she had a piece cut out of her poor sore paw and sent off for testing. It's been months now that she's had a problem with a sore paw, so the vet and I decided to investigate further.

When I see her feeling so bad, I regret the necessity for this little surgery. But it's in her interest to try to find out what's bothering her about her foot.

Here's hoping we can solve the problem soon.