fourleg.com

Hello!

I saw a 1 1/2 yo MN Corgi yesterday for his annual vaccines. On his exam I noticed that the dorsal surfaces of his toenails of digits 3&4 on his LF leg were very worn. It was only these two toes and only on this leg. The owner said that it has been like this since she had him. She hears him scuff/drag this leg when he walks on hard floors but I didn't appreciate this in the room during the exam. He doesn't limp on the leg, normal PROM. Nails are now crusted and deformed from chronic scuffing. He does have some carpal valgus in this limb. The owner would like to increase his exercise and start taking him on longer walks/hikes but is concerned that he will traumatize this foot more with increased activity. I recommended a bootie for protection but do you think it is worth doing proprioceptive exercises (cavalettis, scrunchie on foot, etc), swimming? The owner was wondering if he might have had a brachial plexus injury as a puppy and is scuffing from permanent nerve damage. He doesn't have CP deficits and can walk without scuffing so he doesn't drag the foot all of the time. We talked about doing rads just to look at orthopedic conformation of the carpus but I'm hard pressed to place blame on the carpal conformation because I've seen lots of dogs with carpal valgus much worse than his that don't have nail issues.

Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance for the advice!
H.

Hi H,

So, I’d look at rib and cranial thoracic spine, as well as shoulder (i.e. MSI).
It does sound strange. I double that it’s residual from a brachial plexus lesion - that would be more severe… but some minor proprioceptive or orthopaedic thing that would cause a gait alteration / slightly abnormal leg movement might result in the dog not lifting that leg high enough to clear the floor.

And yes, why not get him doing some proprioceptive exercises. No harm in that. I like the idea of cavalettis in particular to help improve foot lifting awareness.


All the best,

Laurie

Agree with LEH to look at the ribs and thoracic spine. I would also add that the leg the patient scuffs on is not necessarily the problem leg. eg: is it a failure of the scuff leg to properly flex, or is it a failure of the contralateral limb to fully extend and give the scuff leg the clearance it needs? Is it the contralateral hindlimb causing the dog to increase it's FL weight bearing leading to increasing scuffing or tripping? IMHO when that happens, the thoracic spine is generally involved to some degree. All 4 limbs plus the back deserve careful scrutiny... then again, I say that no matter what the presentation is.