Split toepad

[DogPaddle]

Has anyone ever had a dog get a toepad split or sliced up? Kavik did on our trip and he is favouring it and we are keeping it clean. I'm wondering if there is any paticular concern about foot injuries. I'm inclined just to keep him a little less active and let it heal normally.

[imported_Kat]

hey DP, yep Meg has done it with glass at the park on a few occasions. It really annoys me the way yobs chuck glass bottles :evil: Any time that its been done, I check it thoroughly to make sure there is no glass left in it then clean it with saline and cover it for a day with a vetwrap bandage and a sock! Highly fashionable :wink:

[ESSlover]

Mocha did this once out in the snow. It was rather yucky when she walked there would be a little red spot in the snow :o We took her to the vet, they tried to "glue" it together with some veternarian glue stuff, that didn't work, so they just wrapped it up and gave us a bag to put around her foot when she went outside. Heeled up in about 2 weeks.

[MajiesMom]

Check with your vet. There is a product called "Tough Paw" it's for hunting dogs to protect their feet.
I think if the cut is not too deep it will heal in time. Is it bleeding? Magic has a lot of cracks and cuts in her pads but they are not deep or bleeding, I don't know where she gets them but they don't bother her.

[MajiesMom]

The vet wrap and sock sounds like a good idea. Once I bandaged Magic's foot and used a sock and hockey tape to keep it protected because I didn't have vetwrap.
Depending on the cut you could try Liquid Bandaid made by the Bandaid company. It's like a liquid filler that protects from water and dirt.

[DogPaddle]

MajiesMom - It bled when it happened. I think it was broken glass or something. It is not bleeding now, if he really gets going it will weep a bit. Sometimes he walks on it normally, sometimes he walks gingerly, after we've cleaned it or if he's been rough on it he will sometimes walk a bit then hop/walk a bit. The initial injury was probably 1/2 cm (1/5 of an inch) to 3/4 cm (1/3 of an inch) deep or so straight in but now it has healed in some so it is more shallow but a bit wider. If it had been my toe and I was in town I would have gone for stitches, however as we were a day and a half portage/paddle into the park I would have disinfected and taped it and let it heal on its own because by the time you get back to civilization its already started to heal - although likely to heal a bit wide and some ugly.

ESSlover - That glue is sometimes a good idea. We met some folks out there with dogs who offered us some crazyglue but said it wouldn't work unless we could keep his foot dry - :lol: . (Actually we took their campsite because we were leaving early because of Kavik's foot, but they were very nice about - good for me they were dogpeople.)

Kat - Yes I'm sure it was someone elses garbage that cut his foot. :evil:
I'll see if I can post pics of Kavik's foot wrap soon - its a new dog fashion trend we can start. :lol:

[DogPaddle]

Thanks all for your experiences. I think I'll polysporin it, bandage it and then protect the bandages by wrapping loosly with a tensor. We tried a sock and duct tape out in the park but it didn't stay on.

[Horsefeathers!]

That's about the best you can do... clean it and wrap it. My Penny once sliced hers waaaaaaaaaaayy deep, but it healed really quickly by just keeping it clean and dry.

I am the superglue queen when it comes to cuts. If it can be glued shut, I'll do it. :oops:

[MajiesMom]

What's this about gluing cuts??? Never heard of it, you can do that and it's safe and stuff?

[DogPaddle]

Superglue or its relative came into use during the Vietnam War, I think, as a quick alternative to sutures. It is safe to use and is a good addition to a first aid kit, but should really only be used if you are not going to seek other aid or are in an emergancy situation. If you have superglued a wound and then go for treatment they have to open it up again. The wound should be clean and should not have serious internal trauma - again unless you are in a serious emergancy situation. At least that is the info I have.

[ObedienceGrrl]

And....you can actucally put super glue in the eye.

BUT PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME......

We had superglue where I used to work (at it was at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation) for big corneal flaps.