Infected foot pad/ surgical site that won't heal - Page 1

I'm looking for some advice. I have a 2 year old German Shepherd. A few months ago, when I came home from work I noted my dog had like 2 tiny puncture wounds on the back of his left foot right above his pad. I called a local vet and took him in right away. They sedated him, said they cleaned it all up made sure there wasn't any foreign objects and wrapped him up and sent him home with antibiotics. As weeks went on, the little hole would close, stay closed and then when he would run or play it would open back up. I took him in to the vet, they said that they think it needs time and gave him more antibiotics. Weeks went on and the cycle continued. So I kept taking him back to the vet, Each time i took him in to the vet, they thought it looked too good to operate on because if we were to operate it is a hard spot to heal. One day we looked at his foot and noticed that the pad looked like it was getting infected. I took him in to the vet and they operated on his foot above the pad and while in surgery they discovered that it was worse then expected, that the pad was like a "sponge". It has been over a month and a half post surgery. His pad still isn't healed all the way, the area where he had the puncture wound which the vet cut open cleaned out all of the dead tissue and stitched up seems to still be draining, he is currently on prednisone to help dry up the draining and try to help heal the site where the stitches were. Things seemed like they were getting better but yesterday his pad was bothering him and he kept trying to lick it, and i think he has made it worse. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I am just looking for some guidance or advice. I believe my vet knows what he is doing, we have taken all of our dogs there, but something just doesn't seem to be adding up as to why this can't seem to heal. The vet has mentioned that potentially he has to do another surgery and take the entire pad off. We including the vet are hoping that it doest result in that. My fear is what if they do that and even that doesn't solve the problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe get a second opinion? If it was a medical concern of yours, and you were in doubt about diagnosis/treatment then would you get a second opinion?

Considering that you are talking about 2 tiny punctures that is often and usually  indicative  of spider bite or snake bite. Some of the venoms  from these nasty critters are damaging tissue are called cytotoxins  and they do not heel for weeks if it is brown recluse or black widow or snake bite. The venom from   these citers  has the potential to cause serious harm. In some cases, the necrotizing spreads, causing tissue death to the degree that the entire limb will need to be removed. I do not want to scare you but just telling you about the seriousness of the issue. The faster this is diagnosed, the better chance you will have of preventing complications. If there has been a lot of cell destruction at the wound site, your doctor will need to surgically remove some of the dead tissue. If the venom was very potent, with a lot of cellular and tissue damage, your dog may need skin grafting after the lesion reaches full maturity.

 Do your research on this topic on internet and go to the vet one more time and share your concerns. 

As part of a standard examination, a complete blood profile will be conducted, including a chemical blood profile, a complete blood count, and a urinalysis. A blood test will reveal much of the information your doctor needs to make an accurate diagnosis. A coagulation profile may also be conducted to check your dog's blood clotting ability. If you live in an area that is known for having brown recluse spiders, you might ask your doctor to check for the presence of venom in your dog's blood stream. An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA test can be used to detect the venom, but this is not commonly used unless a brown recluse bite is specifically suspected.

 

 Black widow is another concern or snake. I am surprised that you vet did not consider such eventuality when you told her that there were 2 tiny punctures. In such case snake or spider must be considered. 

 good luck and please keep us posted on your pooches' recovery. 

 

 Hans 

 

I agree with Prager that it could be a snake bite - that's what I originally thought when two small punctures were mentioned. What area do you live in? That will give us an indication of any snake-related cause.

I live in Vancouver WA, more specifically in Battle Ground WA. I googled what spiders we have in the area and according to the Washington department of Health, it says that we don't have black recluse spiders, but we do have hobo spiders, and black widow spiders. I don't think we have any dangerous snakes, mostly just garden snakes. We are taking him back to the vet tomorrow and will ask him about the possibility that it was a spider. I am gonna request that they do blood work as well. Thank you guys so much for you feedback I will keep you posted on what I find out.

Ah, I grew up in the other Vancouver, lol. No dangerous snakes and black widow spiders are quite rare but some other spiders can leave a nasty bite although it is unusual to see the puncture marks from them. Hope it gets sorted out and your dog's pad heals up.

http://www.doh.wa.gov/CommunityandEnvironment/Pests/Spiders

 

 Also do not forget that spiders travel well on planes and in fruit  and so on. So just because such species is not endemic to your region it does not disqualify it  to be potential culprit. Brown recluse is common  in many areas of US thus I would not disqualify it from traveling into your region on a plane or vehicle.   Same may be true about snakes. 

 

How far from each other were the bites? 

How is the dog doing?

The vet is extending the prednisolone taper it hopes that it will help everything dry and heal up. He says his pad is looking really good its just going to take time to build back up. Because this has been going on for so long, he doesn't think it was a spider or snake because the reaction would have been much worse. We are thinking a cat or small rodent ? I'm leaning more towards the cat, because multiple times they have come into our yard usually two at a time and have gone after the dog. Never have I seen such vicious cats before. I asked to run blood work and they will have results for me tmr. If the prednisolone doesn't stop the draining, then he is thinking to sample the tissue where its draining and go from there. I will update tmr with blood test results.

You might consider checking with a Holistic vet. Strange as it may sound, I had a dog with a large slit/cut in his nose that was bleeding and would not heal. My vet tried everything for over 6 months, to try and cure it. but nothing worked. I looked on the internet and found a Holistic vet who lived close by and took him to her. She switched his diet to Urban Wolf and raw red meat ad some Chinese herbs and within a week, the cut was healed and never came back. I later changed him to regular dry dog food, but continued to add the ice cream scoop of red meat to my dogs morning meal. She felt that as carnivore, a dog needed meat (or chicken/turkey) for his digestive system.
Just a thought, and yours sounds a lot more extreme, however......