Osteomyelitis - Page 2

Thank you both for the valuable information. 

As a follow up to my question and for my appreciation to the many helpful info. I received, here is where I'm at with the treatment to my dog.

The dog initially was placed on cephalexin to treat the infection and upon completion, it did nothing.  She was placed on Trimethoprim-Sulfa for 10-15 days.  Nothing.  The infection spread from the first toe bone to the second and seemed aggressive.  Outside consulting confirmed the problem.  Prognosis: Due to its aggressive nature, cut the toe off.  I had it done.  At the same time, a culture was done to head off any new infection.  Results came back yesterday (5 days after amputation). 

Preliminary results from the culture showed she has contracted Enterococcus species and also Escherichia coli.  The organisms are sensitive to the use of the cephalexin, but resistant to Trimetroprin.  We tried baytil, Enrofloxacin, no impact.  This was the main reason vets concluded that despite the fact you can do the culture and have a list of medicine that the organism was sensitive to, does not necessarily an indication that it would react and clear by using any of the system's listed drugs.  This was proven using all the meds above.

To make a long story short, we took off the toe and it has now got reinfected again.  We have now switched medicines today to fight the Enterococcus using flagyl.  The vet will get me, later today, another meds. to fight the E coli. Something different.  We are using a cocktail of meds to stop the advancing problem.  Backup plan here is by Monday if it has not responded, and I'm hoping that I will see some change tomorrow since I again change the bandages, I will put her down.  I'm already over 2k into this venture with no end in sight.  Shedding like heck and a bit listless.  Any other ideas are welcomed. 

Posting this last bit of info. to help others that, hopefully will not encounter this problem, can eliminate some steps that could have been avoided.  I'm still combing through my mind as to what else I could have done differently to have avoided this problem.  All because (I think) she is so intense when playing ball and because of her high pain threshold, that when she had injured her toenail somehow I did not detect any discomfort.

Thanks all.