Broken Toe - Page 1

I had just let my two girls out when arriving home and they were playing for a few minutes when I happened to notice Apache limping.  She would lie down after every couple steps.  I went over to investigate and her foot seemed fine, could find no obvious injury and she didn't flinch while I pressed and prodded gently, checked the pads and between them and then realized, one of her middle (front foot), weigh bearing toes seems to have been broke. 

I immediately kenneled her to keep her off of it (she still wants to run and walk on it) albeit limping and lifting it occasionally.

I looked it up online (never had a broken toe on my dogs before) to see what measures were required.  So far, it seems to be that a vet will xray of course (to ensure nothing else is injured and the severity of the injury), and generally wrap and/or cast the foot and entire leg.

Upon reading of this, the majority of the owners who had their dogs' feet wrapped or casted ended up with the dog chewing it off and either further injuring the foot or causing infection.  Apache is a chewer as it is and I know this will happen with her.  She is also outside the majority of the time and with the heat and the cast or wrap on, I'm afraid of infection from it getting hot and nasty.  (I realize the cast and/or wrap would be changed often) but still, the thought of what damage she would do trying to get it off, makes me wonder if it would do better to heal left alone (as long as she is kept off of it as much as possibe for the next 4 to 6 wks.

Is there anyone who has went thru this themselves who can offer better advice?

I don't want her foot to be permanently affected but, she is an extremely active dog and I want to do the right thing for her in the long run.  Not to mention, I hate seeing one of my dogs hurting.  She doesn't act like it is bothering her, has not whined or wimpered one time (even when it occurred!) but, she does limp and I hate to cause her further discomfort.

Thank you for any advice.

"makes me wonder if it would do better to heal left alone (as long as she is kept off of it as much as possibe for the next 4 to 6 wks"

I think so.  My boy spent alot of time in his crate after chewing throuh two casts in three days.  When I let him out, it wasn't among dogs that he would normally play very rough with.  This was done for a couple weeks, and no training whatsoever that could aggrivate it.  Even though it was a clean break of a hindleg weight bearing toe, he was no longer limping or favoring the foot after only a few days.  Only once have I seen him favor that foot, a couple weeks ago, nearly six months from the date of injury.  I haven't done any jumps or A-frame with him, I wanted to go 8 months solid recovery, but it appearantly hasn't worked out that way.

 How the toe should be treated depends in large measure on where it is and how it is broken. Left untreated, many will heal by themselves and limiting the activity of the dog is enough. It will take 6-8 weeks, at the least, to heal.

Other broken toes may end up much more serious, cause muscle wasting and arthritis to begin and should be more vigorously treated. Sometimes taping a toe to another toe can act as a splint. Other times, more aggressive measures are needed. If a good vet suggests the more extensive bracing, casting etc., is necessary, there are ways to keep the dog from bothering the dressings or casts. The bottom line is that one must know the type of break and location. If you are wrong and just ignore it, it can turn into a chronic and/or crippling injury. I see many clients who bring their dogs here for rehab whose dogs are paying the price for having let the break try to heal on its' own.

Good luck.

One of my dogs broke a toe and I went to the ortho vet and he said if the dog was going to do sport it is better to remove the toe entirely thus preventing him catching it for re injury and arth. setting in. We had it taped intially and casted without sucess by my country vet and it was crooked and painful to him to the point he was limping. When we went to the Ortho vet he removed it and you could not even tell it was missing he pulled a skin flap over the end of his toe and kept his pad attached. He was up and moving same day and it never bothered him again. He did tell me the Greyhounds freq. break their toes and this was always standard to remove it instead of casting etc to ensure complete mobility a better choice for a active dog. This was a front foot middle toe that he broke. Marlene