SDFT rupture & foot protection

[lehughes]

HI Laurie...

Hope you well! I am still crying a bit for missing your weekend of teaching! Im going to plan better for the next one!

Can I pick your brain:

9 year old Ridgeback cross. Heavy dog - with distal tendon toe injury. Vet suspects SDFT middle toes. Chronic now. Dog in quite a lot of pain. They are looking for a "boot"/ some form of support?

Money is a challenge and I haven't actually evaluated dog. Any ideas on possible supports?

M

[lehughes]

Hey M,

Sorry for my tardy reply. The conference was great... but nothing else gets done. And then I came home with a cold. Ugh... So, I'm apologizing to everyone for my tardy replies.

So, in regards to your dog here, you might need to find something / someone to custom create a boot (or two). One for indoor, one for outdoor? OR, if they can find a boot (something that would work for a sight hound / hare-foot and add extra padding to it. Therapaw.com makes custom boots and 'slippers' (cushy-paws). I'd not go with anything more rigid or encompassing more than the foot (in my opinion)... If need be, then even a sock with padding / sheep skin stuffed into the bottom might work. That could actually be a good way to test if that would work before going further down the path of a custom-made product.

Laurie

[David Lane]

Agreed that it is an SDF rupture... but those usually are not painful on their own unless dog is on gravel or some other uneven surface, so what else is going on here? MCP OA? Sessamoiditis?

Pinpointing the cause of pain may open the door for other treatment options depending on the final diagnosis.