My parents dog got his hind foot caught in a coyote trap about nine months ago. The trap got him sort of halfway across the foot. They took him to the vet and the vet said to let nature run it's course, he may lose his toes and he may not. He did lose his toes, it looked awful for a long time, but the vet kept insisting that this was best.
The stub that is left is probably 2/3 of the foot, it doesn't look bad at all now that it is healed, but I feel for him every time I see him hold it up when he crosses gravel, etc. When he is on the grass and in the woods he usually walks on it.
I think he has just developed a habit of lifting the foot, because when he want's to take off after a rabbit or something there is absolutely no indication of pain or hesitance. Any recommendations for getting him back in the habit of using it all the time?
Lots of rabbits!
You answered your own question.:-P
My border collie was born with the bones in the two outside toes of her front right paw fused together. The vet said he could rebuild them with plastic joints, but in a few years they would probably be full of arthritis. The second option was to cut them off, but that would make her limp more and probably cause arthritis in the remaining toes. Or keep her slim and fit and let her run.
So she has them and is five years old. She'll carry it across te pavement and gravel, but on grass and in the woods you can't tell her bothers her.
Let the dog figure it out. I'm sure he's happy and will live several more years without problems. They are very resilent.
Padraig, a Graham Golden http://www.grahamgolden.com/ about 6 years ago had his rear foot run over by a pick up truck driver who was bombing down the lane.
Broken bones and all.
Bones fused together after operation and he limped for a while.
Now he runs like the wind, happy as can be.
Time heals many times.
Cheers,
Derek
Thanks all. I guess I'll give it some more time to see if time heals wounded heel.
Not quite the same subject, but my yellow lab turned 14 today. He's a pure bred. I took him to the vet today for a check up and he's doing good for his age. Here he is with his birthday treat, a Frosty Paw with candles.
Good luck with your dog.
:good:
Labs are the most popular dogs for a reason. Very intelligent and great temperament.
My cat "Moose" got in a tangle with something a few weeks ago. Not too bad really. Next day he comes in all gashed up but seem too worse for wear. Then I'm sitting here eating some supper and turn around and he has scratched off that scab and bleeding all over my mags, clothes and table.
Years ago I met a dog up on the Yukon River well North of the Arctic Circle missing a good half it's toes on both front feet, frost bite I'm guessing. Got around just fine. Give it time. Dogs are resilient creatures.
Based on how some silly people think pets are superior to humans, I suggest you sit him and down and have a long heart-to-heart type of chat with him. Tell him you love him, but, if he can't suck it up and be a real dog then you're going to have to make him find his own meals from now on. No more free lunches and treats for you.....so sayeth the ALPO-nazi.
Injured Rat...
> My parents dog got his hind foot caught in a coyote trap about nine months ago. The trap got him sort of halfway across the foot. They took him to the vet and the vet said to let nature run it's course, he may lose his toes and he may not. He did lose his toes, it looked awful for a long time, but the vet kept insisting that this was best.
>
> The stub that is left is probably 2/3 of the foot, it doesn't look bad at all now that it is healed, but I feel for him every time I see him hold it up when he crosses gravel, etc. When he is on the grass and in the woods he usually walks on it.
>
> I think he has just developed a habit of lifting the foot, because when he want's to take off after a rabbit or something there is absolutely no indication of pain or hesitance. Any recommendations for getting him back in the habit of using it all the time?
Awww...poor fellow!! But he will be fine. Animals are amazing at how they adapt to handicaps, stubs, etc... Speaking of stubs, you said that and it reminded me of my Stubs ratty who got both of his back feet chopped off by an idiot. I sure miss my "Stub Muffin". He was an awesome rat. :love:
Injured Rat...
We've a cat that broke his leg once, another time got it caught in a door.
The door incident caused him to get about on 3 legs and after a while I decided to take him to the vet.
He said the cat was fine and most likely just putting it on.
We'd watch and if he knew we were about the leg was up. Outside of view it was all fours.
I told him he could stop messing about and act normally.
He came round and hasn't relapsed.
He was quite comical to watch and it became obvious what was going on.
Injured cat...
When I was a teenager we had a cat named Stupid. It fit him well. One day he was taking a nap atop a rear pickup tire. My dad fired up the pickup and began to back out of the garage. Heard a very strange noise, so he got out to see what had happened. The cat's tail was stuck directly under the tire. So my dad shoved the pickup just enough to let the cat's tail free. Apparently it broke the tail bone at the very top such that the tail could only hang down, no wagging of any kind was possible. Stupid definitely looked stupid after that.
"Lucky" the silver tabby
About 1983 we were laying out a huge (1200 acre) golf course development. We were staking the main road widening in front of the "under construction" clubhouse.
This was back-in-the-day when we use to actually occupy centerline, and it was a busy road. The gunner would warn us of oncoming traffic and visa-versa so we could stand off the road and let them pass.
Anyway, the gunner hollers on the walkie-talkie, "Check out this guy's tool box."
We watch a pickup roar by...with a cat hanging on the side of his toolbox by one claw....Right after he roared by, the cat lost his hold, hit the pavement at sixty, bounced up about grill high and got nailed by an oncoming Oldsmobile. After that he "asphalt surfed" for about 100 yards and slid to a halt on the side of the road...motionless.
Me and the bucketman trotted up there to review the carnage. Poor ol' thing had raspberries all over him with a bloody nose. I did a careful examination con manos and concluded that the cat had not survived. I scooted him off the pavement and went about my day.
After lunch I was walking back down line and noticed he wasn't where I had left him. I looked around and found he had crawled about twenty feet away into some tall grass and shade by a fence post. The damn cat was still alive! We found a box to gingerly carry him up to the contactor's trailer where they were building the clubhouse. The jobbers all thought he was "Lucky". We left.
As the months went by we talked to the super and "Lucky" had made a full recovery. Lucky helped with time sheets and became a permanent fixture at the job trailer. I found out after the contractor left the maintenance men took him in and he spent his days in the barn, supervising the ground's keepers.
I asked one of them one day about the cat. He proceeded to tell me he's around somewhere. Then he had to tell me the story about Lucky getting hit by a car and landing by the clubhouse and surviving...
My reply was, "No kidding? Wow." 😉
Lost Dog!
Please give me a call if you have seen my dog...
