# Anyone here with a dog who has had paw surgery?



## Nellybelly (Jul 20, 2009)

Looks like the surgery on Monday to remove what we suspect is a foreign body from Bella's paw is unavoidable as I have seen no improvement. Bella is on antibiotics and has been for 3 weeks now. The vet has used a tweezer like tool 3 times to enter through the opeing in the cyst and see if he can find any forgein object without needing GA or an incision and stithces, just local anaesthetic...but ths has not bene productive and the problem is persisting so we have had to resort to the surgery route.

I will obviously be discussing this with the vet, but I was wondering any of you had any experience that you could share with a very worried owner.

The problem is her front left, and the affected location and between the 2nd and 3rd digits. The inflammation/blister/weeping is happening from the top of the paw (dorsal). The vet thinks 2-3 sticthes will be needed to close up the incision site, but he will only know once he starts opening up and depending on how soon he finds the foreign body.

Anyway, my concerns are:
Veyr unhappy about the GA, as is my vet who really wanted to avoid it all costs. She coped fine when we spayed her, but GA is never a good thing (and the fasting part of pre GA is also not fun at all!).
Bella only poos in fields off lead - I don't knw how this will coexist with keeping the paw clean. And I don't lie when I say she is very peculiar about her pooing habits.
Bella loves running ver fast off lead. This has an easy solution of course, but I hope it wont be too hard for Bella on lead for a while.
Now that the weather is nice Bella enjoys running around in our garden and even though she doesn't dig holes as such, she likes rearranging the dirt with her paws.
And of course how will she leave her paw alone? When she was spayed a baby grow did the job...but I think it will eb trouble keeping her paw bandaged up and we may have to resort to the dreaded buster collar as I doubt she will leave her paw alone

Anyway, enough complaining.
Just wondering have any of you ever had si,ilar surgeries performed on your dogs. WHat was the recovery like?


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## Guest (May 28, 2010)

Yes. Muddy had a claw removed.It really easy with paws to keep them clean while out, with bandages and plastic bags to cover it.
It's also not an operation that I would think you would have to restrict because of further injury, so if she isn't limping too much, I would think she will be able to do fairly reasonable lead walks.
Your main problem wil be keeping her from chewing. 
Best of luck with that one


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## Nellybelly (Jul 20, 2009)

rona said:


> Yes. Muddy had a claw removed.It really easy with paws to keep them clean while out, with bandages and plastic bags to cover it.
> It's also not an operation that I would think you would have to restrict because of further injury, so if she isn't limping too much, I would think she will be able to do fairly reasonable lead walks.
> Your main problem wil be keeping her from chewing.
> Best of luck with that one


Thanks Rona.
Will be keeping the paw covered while out, but I am very worried about the chewing
I doubt the buster collar will go on if I have to be honest - instead I wont sleep for 10 days, will shower in a matter of 3 minutes while I get my mom to watch Bella, and I certainly won't be going anywhere away from home without Bella.
I hope you are right about being able to do fairly long lead walks. She is too brave my girl, I doubt she will be limping much SHe really is brave!!


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## Guest (May 28, 2010)

You could get her a little basket muzzle


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## Nellybelly (Jul 20, 2009)

rona said:


> You could get her a little basket muzzle


SHe has one, but it doesnt fit well, and we've been to pet shops looking for a better fitting oen but cant find. Her snout ( i dont know if this is the rigth term) is very long and thin (even though it doesnt look it because she has a moustache!!!), and the end of the muzzle touches her nose, but the bigger size is too lose nearer to the eyes and wobbles.
Se we have the bigger size one but it's not a good fit. The reason we have the muzzle, by the way is not because Bella is a people eater and dog shredder to pieces-er, but because in Greece (where she is coming this summer) dogs are only allowed on public transport if they are muzzled. We dont think we will be using public transpot, but just in case.


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## Guest (May 28, 2010)

I just thought you could pop it on if you take a shower or over night so that you can sleep. Overnight, it wouldn't matter if it was too big, because hopefully she will be sleeping


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## Nellybelly (Jul 20, 2009)

rona said:


> I just thought you could pop it on if you take a shower or over night so that you can sleep. Overnight, it wouldn't matter if it was too big, because hopefully she will be sleeping


It might be an idea for when I take a shower
However, I dont think I could leave it on her overnight, I'm too much of a softie. I dont know how comfortable it would be, although definintely better than an e-collar.

I'm dreading Monday. I've already got it all planned out. The last meal on Sunday, how to keep her busy without her evening chew and training session with treats. No water Monday morning either, so a short walk not to get too thirsty, but a nice walk too. Then she expects her morning titbits when we get home after our play session, so we will come home play and then just drive around until it's time to be at the vets, in aircondition, so she doesn;t get even thirstier. I get to stay with her until she is alseep, and I get to see the paw as soon it's all stitched, but she can't come home with me until lunch, or possibly even afternoon......It's such a minor operation and yet I'm so worried...my main worry is that we dont find the cause of the problem paw... then what??


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