# Amputation



## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

One of my dogs had to have a toe amputated, back rear foot, toe 4.










It's healed up well, and doesn't seem to bother her at all, but I'm wondering if anyone else has gone through this? She's 12.5 years old now, so been retired for the most part for awhile, we are still doing a little agility and occasional herding just to keep her in shape, but she's mainly my hiking buddy now. 

What I'm curious about is the resiliency of that little lone toe. The vet said it will be fine, but it just looks to me like while out hiking on uneven surfaces, scrambling over rocks, logs, etc it could get caught, bent the wrong way, and either dislocated or even broken. For now I have a set of muttboots and she wears a boot on that foot when we hike.

Anyone deal with this before?


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

The dog of a woman I used to train with had to have one of it's toes removed due to cancer. It didn't seem to bother the dog at all.


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## Christopher Smith (Jun 20, 2008)

I work with a dog that lost the same toe due to snake bite when it was under a year old. He is now 5 or 6 and he has not had any noticeable problems.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Cali's toe is looking really good, Kadi. I think I'd probably keep on doing what you're doing and keep a dog boot on that one, just in case it snags a nail. I have heard on the human side of things that removal of a toe, especially the big toes, makes you retrain yourself how to walk. I am assuming it'd be worse for bipeds though. My Lily has horizontally cracked a nail over a month ago and it's taking for-ev-er to heal. I think I will probably just order a pair of boots for her as taping with vet wrap is both kind of pricey and doesn't work well when she goes in the water on some of our hikes.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

a pita, but frequent trimming will make the quick recede and then you trim much shorter and wouldn't need to keep such a long nail on the toe if you were concerned with snagging


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

Maren Bell Jones said:


> My Lily has horizontally cracked a nail over a month ago and it's taking for-ev-er to heal. I think I will probably just order a pair of boots for her as taping with vet wrap is both kind of pricey and doesn't work well when she goes in the water on some of our hikes.


Not to be an alarmist, but this is how it started with Cali, the crack went from the tip of the nail right up the top into the nail bed. I just thought it was a typical broken nail that would eventually heal on it's own. Kept trimming the edges back, eventually Cali tore the entire nail off herself, got some antibiotics and the vet wrapped it for a few days just to keep her from licking/picking at it. About a month after the initial crack, when things still hadn't healed, she was still limping, and the toe was still swollen despite a few weeks of antibiotics, we got suspicious.

Oh, her nails aren't normally as long as they are in the photo either  Being wrapped for a number of weeks, between the initial nail injury, then the surgery and subsequent healing, let them grow out quite a bit, they are normally about 1/2 that length. Not quite show dog nubs, but worn down reasonably well.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

I had her on two rounds of antibiotics and meloxicam and looks okay lately, but if it doesn't heal up pretty soon, I'll take her in for radiographs. It's P2 (the most inside nail besides the dew claw) on her front, so she uses it all the time. :-? How was Cali's diagnosed?


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

Maren Bell Jones said:


> How was Cali's diagnosed?


X-ray. Once my vet took a shot of the foot, we could clearly see the bone pitting and deterioration, in just that month she'd lost about 50% of the first bone in the toe, and the nail bed was gone. Luckily it had barely started on the second bone, so removing the entire toe took care of it. I'm just glad we caught it early, as aggressive as it is I don't think it would have taken much longer to start to spread past that toe and into the foot, or other parts of the body.


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## Zakia Days (Mar 13, 2009)

You must also take into account the age of the dog and how circulation, nerve endings, frequency of use of the part, etc. will affect healing and/or recovery in older dogs. If you can keep her from little bumps and bruises as best you can, she should fare well. But, be wary of her age and her various activities.


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

I actually healed up really well, both my normal vet and the one who took the stitches out were very happy with how it looked. I was out of town and wanted a vet to look at it, or I could have pulled the stitches myself, but ... No swelling even right after surgery, no issues with infection, excess bleeding, etc. Anyway it's healed up, I just want to make sure that little lone toe doesn't suffer future damage, and not sure how conservative I really need to be about it.


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## Martine Loots (Dec 28, 2009)

I think it won't bother her too much, but on uneven surfaces I'd make her wear the shoe. As you already said the little lone toe is vulnerable so I wouldn't take any risk.


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