Fun with pets
20-Sep-02
Tonight we went down to the dog park again. Hammer had a lovely time, but his foot was still bothering him. His new friend Petals (female greyhound, probably between 3 and 5 yrs. old?) was there, which was very nice. Even though he doesn’t race other dogs anymore (cause of injuries), he sure recognizes other GHs and perks right up when he sees one.
So, we took him home just as the sun was setting. I got out a bowl of warm water and some iodine and soaked his foot while John made dinner. Then, while dinner cooled (bad timing, I know), John & I tried to pull whatever was embedded in there out. I think we got it all– John had to really dig in and pull to get the last bit, but it did come, and without any bleeding, too. What a relief! It kind of looks like there’s still some little bit– perhaps just a “seed” callous or something– left behind. So, we plan to soak it up for a few nights and see if it’s a problem or if it heals up OK for him.
Already, I think I see a difference, though. I imagine this was kind of like having a jack or Barbie shoe stuck to the bottom of your foot, or John suggested it might be like having a splinter up under your fingernail. It only hurts when you touch it or put weight on it, but then it’s quite painful. If that’s the case, I’m glad we took care of it. I wonder if this is what was bothering him last summer, though, when he was limping and nothing seemed to help. We kept suspecting a shoulder injury, but he wouldn’t respond to the vet or to cortisone– just to pain killers. And two rounds of x-rays showed minor arthritis, but nothing to cause the limping unless he was especially sensitive. While Hammer may be sensitive to sudden, surprise pain (like from having his nose touched), he generally isn’t that big of a baby about consistent pains.
So, we hopefully treated whatever was on his toe successfully. I’m going to keep taking him back to the dog park, and maybe in a week or so we’ll see if he’s ready to run!