Downfall

After earning her forth agility championship, Seven started to have problems. She had a perfect day on Friday, April 22nd and then she popped out of the weave poles early three times on Saturday and Sunday. On video, she mostly looks fine, but she did not feel right.

This whole time we were thinking it was her shoulder causing the evening limping, but I am now certain it has been her foot.

I expected Seven's wrist to be her final downfall. That it would eventually become sore and arthritic, but it is a stupid pressure sore between two middle toes that are forcing her into retirement.

The knuckles are pressing firmly into one another.

They did not always do this.  I took pictures of her feet back in 2012 and there used to be a nice space between them.

But for whatever reason (compensating for a bad wrist, perhaps?), they have changed and now there is a pressure sore on the inside of each knuckle and the toes themselves are hurting. There was never an injury (sprain, break, or dislocation), but I think over time she has just put wear and tear on them and they are getting gnarly.

One sore has been there since February, but has been mostly manageable. I often could put a small square of non-stick sterile wound pads and it would stay there for hours and she left it alone.

But now both knuckles have pressure sores and Seven won't leave them alone. So now I am contemplating surgery. Fusion podoplasty. The skin between the toes is removed and the toes are basically sewn together. The ortho vet and rehab vet think it is a good idea. The only other options are amputating one of the toes or keeping her bandaged and on a pillow for the next 3-5 years.

I am honestly not very comfortable with the surgery, but we could still amputate later if it does not work. And if we could heal the sores, any kind of protective taping or bandaging on a daily basis to prevent the sores from coming back is so impossible with greyhound skin and being out on wet grass all of the time. It is just not feasible. So I think I am being forced to try this surgery. Our appointment to discuss further with the orthopedic specialist is on June 1.

All I want is for her to be able to go for walks and train on her balance discs. Any kind of running or doing limited backyard agility is probably past us.