Corn or hard skin?

[Jo&Chris]

Hi, my poor Lizzy is lame again, this has been an on off thing for the past year, she gets like a hard lump / patch of skin on her front left pad. The vet has seen it (a number of times because the poor little thing hobbles on it when it is really bad) and he says he thinks it is a corn though he has never seen a corn like it. He suggested softening it with E45 cream which has had no effect. We are back at the vet with her again on Monday but wondered if you guys had similar experience and what the solution was.

Normal Foot


Bad foot




Sorry images are blurry I couldn't get the camera to focus and hold her foot

Cheers, Jo x

[samburns]

TBH when I've had a dog with a corn, and recently also with a friend's grey, you could not see much at all indicating that there is a corn. Sometimes the area is a different colour, sometimes the area seems a bit cratered sometimes sticking out a bit. So, what you have there may be a corn.

Usually you can tell its a corn if you slightly press with two fingers in a pinching motion either side of the toe on the pad area (as opposed to pressing the pad surface) and that usually causes them to pull the foot back or sometimes cry.

Corns are extremely painful for them I would be a bit worried if my vet thought it was a corn and then told me to use E45 cream....it won't do anything to help. Vets, unless they are very greyhound savvy, are not good at diagnosing corns and treatment is still a question of debate, although I do know of one vet currently getting great results with his own developed treatment.

Has your vet not considered x-raying the foot? Could you go to another vet more experienced with greys? I really would not want to leave Lizzy without a diagnosis, especially if it has been going on for so long (we had exactly the same trouble with our first dog Jazz).

Hope you can get her sorted.

Sam x

[Jo&Chris]

I'd always considered my vet very savvy, we have been going to him since we moved here and I've always trusted him completely but now I'm very worried. We are seeing someone else on Monday so I'll see what she says. If it is corns, what is the treatment? You can't really see it in my blurred photo but the pad has a raised hard patch, she dosen't flinch when I gently pinch, she dosen't want to put any weight on it.

[andywillow]

Sasha had a corn, it was huge and she had it removed but it grew back in no time They are so painful for them. Jake went lame last year and ended up in for xrays, I did say I thought it was a corn but the vet said he didnt think it was. When I rang up to see if he was out of theatre they said yes and it was a corn which they removed Touch wood it hasnt come back

[samburns]

Aug 7, 2010 12:41:38 GMT -5 Jo&Chris said:

If it is corns, what is the treatment?

The real trouble with corns is that although they can be removed surgically under GA (although there is a technique called hulling which is digging in and levering it out, which does not require a GA) the trouble is that they quite often come back (this is also what happened to Jazz when his were hulled )

Sometimes vets recommend that the toe is amputated. It seems horribly draconian, but if the corns keep recurring and the dog is in crippling pain then its an option.

I know of two greyhounds who have had a new treatment which involves surgical removal and then a specially developed ointment and neither have had a recurrence of the corns. This vet though is in the home counties so a long way from you and I do not think the treatment he is using is available elsewhere at the moment, so I think he must still be trialling it

The trouble is that it is only greyhounds (& lurchers with greyhound in their mix) that get corns, so even if a vet often sees greyhounds, they may only rarely see corns (one of my friend's vets told them that corns do not exist in dogs : and very little seems to be known about them and how to cure the dog of them

Let us now how you get on on Monday and give Lizzy a gentle squidge *hugs*

Sam x

[Jo&Chris]

Thank you so much x When we go back to the vet on Monday I think I'm going to insist on x ray, at least that way we will know. Thanks again

[julies]

Tig had a corn on her pad, I rubbed it with sandpaper then rubbed some Neem Oil into it .. I had to bandage it cos the Oil gets everywhere but it did go in about four weeks and hasn't come back ... The Neem Oil was from Mekuti or Neem genie

J x

[Emma]

I can sympathise, I had a corn between my toes and it was agony. I am not advising this for dogs paws, but I froze it with that verruca freeze spray and its gone now (handy hint for us hoomans)

Hope you get it sorted for her, she must be very sore, bless her. x

[Flaperoo]

Flash had a corn for months . Took him to the vet several times. The vet thought it was a corn and whilst he was having a dental he removed the corn. Sadly it came back and within six months he was hopping about again. I bought a boot for him, which he got used to and I as discussing with the vet whether to have hs toe amputated when another greyhound owner suggested rubbing vaseline in 3 times a day and keeping the boot on whilst out.

It went within a month and has not come back (this was three years ago)

I do know of three greyhounds who have had toes amputated and they all recovered very quickly with no ill effects.

Good luck

Mx

[FeeFee]

That looks exactly like Jess's two worst corns go if I don't keep filing them down (she has four corns - two on each front foot).

I use a foot file to file them down flush with her pad which makes them a bit less painful for her. I also soften them with baby oil, which helps a little bit.

I used to get the vet to hull them out regularly, but although it's not supposed to be painful I think it was uncomfortable and she started getting really stressed about having it done, and they seemed to be back within a couple of weeks anyway so I gave up. I now exercise her mainly on soft ground and she wears padded boots if she ever has to walk on hard surfaces.

My vet said last time that he'd heard anecdotal evidence that human corn plasters were effective for some dogs and should be safe to use, so that sounds worth a try - has anyone else tried this?

[ragsysmum]

Never tried corn plasters but when Sonny's corn returned after the vet removed it, I used Bazuka verruca gel on it for a long period as instructed on the box. It seems to have worked as the corn finally disappeared and has not returned in nearly a year now. I have heard of dogs having the toe removed but the corns appearing on other pads on the foot, so I guess even that solution is not exactly guaranteed!

[julies]

I did read somewhere (maybe here) that the other thing to do is have the dog checked by a chiro (sorry to be monotonous) as a corn can indicate the dogs putting too much weight/pressure on one pad/foot and if you get them balanced (hope you're not yawning ) the corn shouldn't come back ...

J xx

[andywillow]

Read this on another forum. Sounds interesting.


www.hershamhounds.org/#/corns-a-recipe-for-success/4542249916


Sue

[samburns]

I know two greys treated by Daniel Doherty in Uxbridge for corns and the corns have not returned in either dog

[Flaperoo]

Aug 10, 2010 6:32:16 GMT -5 andywillow said:

Read this on another forum. Sounds interesting.


www.hershamhounds.org/#/corns-a-recipe-for-success/4542249916


Sue

I can't believe it and what a coincidence - Arrow the dog featured was going to be my dog!!

We reserved Arrow and the day we were due to collect him my Dad was assaulted by some thugs and hospitalised. By the time we could get back to collect him from WGW he had gone . I am made up to see he is still going strong and doing so well ;D.

I have no regrets as we got the fabulous Flash instead but it is lovely to see him again after all this time. That has made my day

Mxx