[Litz]

Check out this thread...another dog forum.

Growth between my dog's toes - Need advice! THX! - Pet forum for dogs cats and humans - Pets.ca

WOW! The first picture in the thread that you've linked to is *exactly* what we are seeing with Emma. I was hoping to hear that someone had a final resolution, but it sounds like it's still a bit of a mystery. If it's papilloma that would make it viral which means it can not be treated with antibiotics. I also wasn't happy to read that their dogs developed those other, more nasty looking growths.

Hopefully we can get it figured out... I will post an update after the visit. In that other thread, someone mentioned seeing a specialist. What would that be called? Would it be a K9 dermatologist?

Thanks!

 

[msvette2u]

just when you think you've seen everything . What the heck is that?

That was my first thought as well...!

 

[BowWowMeow]

My first guess would be an alien and my second is a wart. :crazy:

 

[carmspack]

lol -- I think alien . It does look like a parasite .

 

[msvette2u]

I hope I don't have nightmares tonight
I think I would if I found one between my dog's toes!

 

[blehmannwa]

I saw something very similar between Felony's toes. I thought it was an infection or a tumor as Fel had lymphoma. One vet said that it could be a growth that had something to do with histamines--allergic reactions? Fel's growth got smaller with benadryl...and eventually vanished.

 

[Courtney]

WOW! The first picture in the thread that you've linked to is *exactly* what we are seeing with Emma. I was hoping to hear that someone had a final resolution, but it sounds like it's still a bit of a mystery. If it's papilloma that would make it viral which means it can not be treated with antibiotics. I also wasn't happy to read that their dogs developed those other, more nasty looking growths.

Hopefully we can get it figured out... I will post an update after the visit. In that other thread, someone mentioned seeing a specialist. What would that be called? Would it be a K9 dermatologist?

Thanks!

Yeah, I was disappointed that there was no final update. Like I said I was grasping at straws when I posted the thread...just did a google keyword search as I have no experience with what your seeing on your girl.

If it were me I would just stick to my regular vet right now & get the first appointment scheduled. He/she may take one look at know exactly what it is. Specialist sometimes are hard to find in ones area & I would hate to see digagnose/treatment delayed.

Does she notice the growth & mess with it? Was that blood in the picture?

Again, keep us updated. There are many of us that want to learn from this.

 

[Litz]

We have appointment for tomorrow morning. She does know it's there and will lick at it occasionally, but it's not yet become and obsession (as something are with her). There was no blood, but there was red inflammation in her webbing. No punctured skin though.

Interesting about he Benedryl remark, as Emma *does* suffer from allergies of an unknown origin. We tried a course of a couple different antihistamines, both with no results. When she was on the Benedryl the trainer at her daycare stated that she was more irritable than normal, although we never noticed it at home.

So the info that I have so far is that it could be: a wart from papillomavirus, a tumor, a foreign object (doubtful to me), or it could an allergic reaction.

In the past she has chewed on her paws, probably due to itching, and that's when we treated her with the Rx spray I mentioned earlier. The inflammation went away and she stopped messing with them.

We lost our last GSD to canine megaesophogous which triggered aspiration pneumonia... I guess we are now "worry-warts" (pardon the pun) whenever there is anything out of the ordinary.

 

[Caledon]

Be interested to know what ths is. It looks scary.

 

[Courtney]

Remain calm...I am also a worrier & can't help it! Be prepared when you go to the visit tomorrow. It always helps me to bring a list of my concerns, what I think is going on & what I am observing because I will forget once the vet starts talking. Maybe even print the pictures you posted on here & bring them eps. if she might throw a fuss with her feet being inspected.

I am sorry to hear about the passing of your other GSD

We have appointment for tomorrow morning. She does know it's there and will lick at it occasionally, but it's not yet become and obsession (as something are with her). There was no blood, but there was red inflammation in her webbing. No punctured skin though.

Interesting about he Benedryl remark, as Emma *does* suffer from allergies of an unknown origin. We tried a course of a couple different antihistamines, both with no results. When she was on the Benedryl the trainer at her daycare stated that she was more irritable than normal, although we never noticed it at home.

So the info that I have so far is that it could be: a wart from papillomavirus, a tumor, a foreign object (doubtful to me), or it could an allergic reaction.

In the past she has chewed on her paws, probably due to itching, and that's when we treated her with the Rx spray I mentioned earlier. The inflammation went away and she stopped messing with them.

We lost our last GSD to canine megaesophogous which triggered aspiration pneumonia... I guess we are now "worry-warts" (pardon the pun) whenever there is anything out of the ordinary.

 

[msvette2u]

Well I didn't have nightmares

I can't wait to hear what the vet says!!

 

[RebelGSD]

Teratoma?

 

[Good_Karma]

Wow, that is concerning. Hope that your vet can shed some light on the mystery (and may it be an easy solution!!).

 

[selzer]

The extra toe does look like a rear dew claw. If they are going to remove the growth-thingy, then you can have them remove the dew claw (if this is a rear foot) at the same time. No big deal, but the breeder should have cut it off within the first couple of days.

What is between the toes??? Well, I am leaning toward some type of allergy or fungi as well, though it does look like a Weird tale of the ER where the baby was emitting maggots from between her fingers. It was some type of cow-fly, maybe a horn fly larva. But you say it is not some type of worm, so maybe it is an allergy/fungi. One of my girls used to get the area between her toes red like that, inflamed, she would lick at it. Some say it is from eating corn if they have an allergy. But it could also be a yeast infection. My vet had me spray the toe area with Micotin. That was years ago, and I do not remember what type of success I had, but I do keep Micotin on hand just in case.

That is the area around the growth-thing. Let's hope it is some type of fatty tumor or growth that is easily resolved.

 

[Litz]

Update: We just got home from the vet. She (the vet) really had never seen anything like this before, but seemed to not be all that concerned. She listed off some possible causes which were similar to what we've discussed here and what I have seen on other forums. Here is the strange part... we walk in and the vet pulls gently on the "tufts" of hair which were coming from the inflamed area. The hair literally pulled out in clumps that looked like pulling feathers out of a bird. Sort of a central bulbous shaped follicle/root was at the bottom of each tuft. The fur was not attached firmly, this was just a gentle pull and the tufts were popping right out. She continued, and sure enough, all of the hair that was on the "growth" was completely removed. At this point we could see that the growth was actually rather small, I would say the size of two green peas sitting side-by-side.

The decision we made was to just clean up and bandage the area, which was bleeding at this point, and take a wait-and-see approach. The vet said it was plausible that this was a matter of ingrown or abnormal hair growth, possibly stemming from a small injury or infection.

BTW, the claw showing in the pic is not the dew claw. Dew claws were removed by the breeder... this is once of her normal toes that feels like it is no longer attached by bone. We assume that it was injured/stepped-on when she was very young and the injury went unnoticed. We call it her "lucky toe" like Nemo has a "lucky fin"

Side note: Emma will be 2 years old in July and she weighed 53 pounds when we saw the vet last fall. Today she weighs only 54 pounds, so very little weight gain. We figured that she was going to be small framed since her dad was only 85 lbs and mom was 65 lbs, but I did expect that she would have added some muscle over the past six-months. Vet said she's healthy and as long as she is eating that we shouldn't worry about it. I guess she's just always going to be our "little girl".

CL

 

[JakodaCD OA]

I can just picture removing that hair ugh Makes sense it could be like an ingrown hair follicle, probably removing the hair did make it smaller,,did she try to 'pop' it?

Freaky me, I would still have said, take it off right now!!! LOL

 

[Litz]

I can just picture removing that hair ugh Makes sense it could be like an ingrown hair follicle, probably removing the hair did make it smaller,,did she try to 'pop' it?

Freaky me, I would still have said, take it off right now!!! LOL

No popping needed, at least at this point. Once the hair was pulled there would have been some oozing had there been anything "juicy" in it!

 

[msvette2u]

I am trying to get the mental image - was the hair they pulled out, covering the brownish thing between the toes, or was it just the hair from around it?

 

[JakodaCD OA]

ok not to be gross here, but I think the 'thing' was surrounded in hair, which made it look worm like, so I believe she is talking about removing the hair that surrounded the 'thing', what was left was two little pea sized balls I guess you'd call them

 

[Litz]

It was the fur that was growing out of the area, not around it. Have a look at the attached pic.