Friday, April 8, 2011

The Paw Saga

Coulee's right front pads have done it again.  This time there is quite a deep crack (or fissure as the vet calls it) and she is limping quite a bit.  In just two days her pad has gone from healthy looking with a crack, to grey and dead.

Taken yesterday before the deadness set in.
We took her into the vet again and there are two options.  1) It is Lupus but the blood test was wrong.  2) She has coincidentally damaged the same paw and pads again.

I'm leaning towards it being coincidence.  It was pointed out if she has a certain gait, it is possible that she keep re-injuring herself in the same place.  I'm not sure why it has never happened before now but maybe it is because she is getting older and falling apart like the rest of us.  :)

So we are going to hold off on a biopsy but we are going to put her on some fish oils - if it is Lupus it may help, and if it isn't, it won't hurt her.  It is also good for her kidneys which we still aren't sure if we should be concerned about.

Anyway, sorry for the boring post.  It is just useful to have this written down for when I need to reference it later.

4 comments:

Stephanie V said...

Not boring...I was just thinking of Coulee and her paw. Thanks for the update.

onecollie said...

poor Coulee, hope the oils help!

scruffy dog photography said...

could it be some kind of dietary deficiency? very curious ...

Paws on the Run said...

A zinc deficiency is one of the possibilities however it is common on homemade diets (Coulee is on high quality kibble) and in breeds that aren't in her genetic makeup (that we know of!). So while possible, my vet doesn't think it is likely. A biopsy is the only way to find out for sure but apparently it is very painful and takes a long time to heal and we aren't ready to do that yet. My vet isn't one to shy away from testing so if she doesn't think it is necessary yet, I'm ok waiting.