...foot continued all weekend (a week ago), but by Sunday night, Riley started to look rather sound. Then Monday morning, she is completely sound. Regardless, I take her to the vet and have her ready for surgery should we decide there is a foreign body inside of the puncture that closed weeks ago. Dr. C examines Riley and cannot find anything wrong with her. There is a lump at the puncture site that has been there for several weeks. We discuss whether to open it up and search for a foreign body. I was just about convinced when Dr. C noticed that her outside toe is splayed out further (left side in above photo) than the toe on the comparable foot (right side in below photo).
Hmmm.... Is that something or nothing? We decide to x-ray.... for the eighth time in the last 6 months. Again, all is well. Dr. C decides to ultra sound the area to see if he can find a "pocket" which would suggest a foreign body. Again, there is nothing.
I asked Dr. C what he would do if it was his dog. He said he would open up the lump and look for a foreign body.... but admitted that he was a surgeon and liked to do those sorts of things. Since I am afraid of needles and scalpels, I decided to wait and see what happens.
Of course, I rush home in search of photos of Riley's right rear foot. I want to know if that toe has always splayed out or not. I find this one.
Closer examination....
... it does appear tighter to me. But again, are we really seeing something here or not? I have decided that I am going to start taking pictures of my dogs' feet periodically so I can monitor changes since toes are the number one soundness problem in greyhounds. I know, it is obssessive, but I cannot tell you how many times I have wondered "has that toe always looked like that?"
Hey, don't their nails look great? I am obssessive about that too! I dremel their nails at least once, if not twice a week.
