Osteomyelitis - Page 1

Hi All, need some input on a situation that has occurred with my 4 1/2 YR female GSD.
Two weeks ago, late one night in the backyard, I played fetch with her.  She is overly crazy to play this game.  Everything was fine and the next morning she was holding up her back right leg.  I thought she probably twisted it the night before so I let it go for a day.  Following that, she still was lame and I inspected it further and noticed she had a bit of a swell going on and hurt to touch.  I took her into the vet that day.
Vet did Xrays and checked out the area, with negative on the xrays for fracture, but did see the swelling, but nothing inserted in the area to show a puncture or any foreign matter stuck in the toe.  Oh by the way, it was the middle toe that seemed affected.  The vet's opinion was that it might have been one of those recluse spider bites and gave her a steroidal shot for the inflamation and pain, plus sent her home with antibiotics.  Treat for 10 days.
Three days into this antibiotic treatment, I noticed it got red and blood oozing from a hole the size where one could push the head of a toothpaste tube in.  I cleaned it out and continue the treatment.  Still limping and holding her right hind leg up. I thought that what ever bit her was now oozing out and all will be well.
Eight (8) days into the treatment, no change.  Still oozing, bleeding and still swollen, with same limping.  Took her back to the vet.  Oh, her attitude is still fantastic.  Still want to play, and alert, and eating well.  You would think nothing was the matter except she's got a bum leg.
New xrays, additional probing, open the wound and probe, still nothing.  What alarmed the vet was that he tried doing the xray with a die to see if anything came up foreign.  However in injecting the die, it shot out of the nail. He held the toe nail and it just came right off in his hands.  So nothing could be done with the die.  Xrays showed, very minutely, maybe something going on at the very tip of the toe bone.  He can see it but not me.  He suspect that it might be an infected bone there, something called Osteomyelitis. 
Prognosis:  Maybe the Osteo problem, and might have to cut the middle toe off. 
Treatment now: New regiment of antibiotics, not sure which ones, but different than the previous, some cefelixin stuff, bandage up the foot to be rechecked tomorrow (Wed).  
I'm no vet, but I have no clue as to figure out what to do next.  Is he blowing smoke, or is he right?  Is there anything holistically I can do?  Every time I go in he hits me with a 400 dollar bill.  Cleaning and rebandaging will be another dr visit, plus time to rebandage, etc.  maybe another 100.  Am I wasting my time here going back and forth to the vet or should I just clean the wound myself, rebandage and hope for the best?

Would appreciate any input here.

Thanks

Osteomyelitis will respond to antibiotics, no need to cut off the toe. However, it needs to be suitable for what you are dealing with. Time to do cultures and see whats growing. Some bugs are nasty and difficult to treat, responding only to certain antibiotics. A dog can have MRSA in a wound. It sounds like your Vet is shooting a bit in the dark here. Also, follow up visits are usually free and one has to pay only for material and meds. From the sounds of it your dog has an abscess and this can affect bone tissue in that changes can be seen on x-ray.

Holistical besides supporting your dogs immune system with good food, you could do baths of the paw in Epsonsaltwater. You can also supplement with bee pollen or a good honey. But most important find out what bacteria is present. Is the nail itself ok?

Thanks Elkoor.  Everytime I try doing some kind of treatment it appears that was a no no. I put peroxide on the wound when it was oozing, wipe dry with paper towels, then put some bag balm anthiseptic and that was a no no. I tried cleaning the wound with warm water and put some triple antibiotic ointment. That was another no no.
I agree with you, he looked like he was shooting in the dark.  When he brought the Osteo idea up, I said if she had an injury that is now moving in that direction, I would have seen it.  Not one day fantastic, then in less than 12 hrs limping.  I would think that thi infection would be showing itself earlier than that, IMO!
I will clean the wound tonight with the epsom salt lotion. 
The middle toe nail came off completely! He said he did not exert any pressure but checked it when the die came shooting out and he then checked the nail to find out why this was happening and it came right out.

Would you bandage the wound after the epsom salt bath, and the bee pollen application.  I do have those at hand. Thanks

Elkoorr is right.

I had/have a dog that developed osteomylitis of the jaw after a tooth died and it took a five hour surgery to debride the infected bone (along w extaction and root canals).  Even with the dead bone removed, he had to be on powerful wide spectrum antibiotics for 30 days (bayatril) as amoxicillin did not eradicate it.   The only way to know for sure what infection you are dealing with is via culture.  Don't wait as even though my dog was also playing and eating the infection would have killed him.  My dog is fine now, by the way.  Let us know what happens please!

Will call for the culture today.  Will let you all know what happened.  Thanks so much.

Per Dr., I need to take her off the antibiotics tonight and wait 3 days then bring her in.  In meantime, take the old dressing off since it got wet this morning and wash and clean wound. Leave it unbandaged if she will leave the wound alone if not bring her in tomorrow to have it rebandaged.

You are welcome, tenmon. And LOL.... the beepollen is for the dogs consumption as well as the honey. Dont put anything on the wound itself. Dont use hydrogen peroxide. Were it is ok to use it on minor scrapes for cleaning and desinfecting, it should never be used on infected wounds. It reacts with the wound secretion/bacteria and you can see it foaming up. However it creates a short intense heat from the reaction that not only is painful but also negatively affects healing (especially the solution one can by over the counter). Best to clean it out is to use Normal Saline 0.9% (also avaiable OTC) or specific wound cleaning rinses from the Vet. The Epson Salt bath has mild desinfecting and drying properties (it does not create the burning sensation like table salt would do).
Good rule for an antibiotic: if you dont see improvement by the end of day 2, it wont work.

Elkorr:
On the honey thing, I have read where this could be used as a healing solution for a wound.  Didn't dawn on me you meant consumption!!!  Haaaaaaaaa.  Thanks for the clarification, my intention was to do exactly as I said I was going to do.....and that was to put it on the wound LOL!  I could see the bitch licking it off in a flash and asking for more!

Just red your response. I can see why your vet wants to have her off for 3 days, however a good laboratory is able to consider the current antibiotic while doing the culture test. Besides, if the antibiotic doesnt work then the culture will still grow out. If it works then it wont grow anything out, or very little. It is advisable to bandage the wound back up so no other bacteria from the environment will be inroduced to the wound and possible affect the culture.

ROFL.... yes, honey has antibiotic properties and can be alright for scrapes or a bit of road rash when applied. But nothing deeper like cuts, bites ect. (same for antibiotic ointments). Actual for animals Sulfadine solution works great for scrapes and hot spots.... and it tastes nasty, so no licking ;)