[myivyandluna]

Hi all,
I am desperate for some advice. We have 2 GSDs. One (Luna) is 6 years old and her sister (Ivy) is 3 years old. Luna is a purebred rescue and Ivy is from a breeder. When we got Luna, she had a limp, and honestly, we took her because I knew no one would rescue her. She has a carpal deformity, which causes her foot to splay out more than usual, but when she is healthy, she runs and jumps with her sister.
Soon after we got her, her pad split and we have now gone through a nonstop cycle of the pad splitting, having it wrapped weekly by the vet, walking her when wrapped, and about 2 months later, it heals and we take off the bandage. The longest the wound has stayed together is 9 months.
But once we moved from CA to Maine about a year ago, she and her sister run on our property which includes woods. Here, the wound has not stayed healed for more than 3-4 months.
We have sent her to specialists, had xrays that cost $1500 to confirm the paw deformity, I can't possibly add up what we have spent on this problem.
I think the pad wound will not stay stable because of the pressure of the foot being splayed.
It is now worse than it has ever been, and we are just wrapping it ourselves and changing the bandage 3-4 times a day because it gets wet every time she goes outside. (From the rain in Maine)
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!
The photos are of the wound, and one with her sister...she is the black one. The paw that is injured is visible in that photo. The last photo is when we adopted her (her right paw).

 

[Mary Beth]

I would suggest trying dog boots and a brace or splint:

Dog boots:

https://ruffwear.com/products/grip-trex-boots

Reviews of dog boots:

http://www.treksw.com/dog-hiking-boots/

Braces:

https://www.mypetsbrace.com/dog-carpal-brace-front-leg


https://amazon.com/Walkin-Splint-Canine-Carpal-Style/dp/B0089BOSF0?

Braces & boots:

https://www.therapaw.com/

 

[myivyandluna]

Wow, those are great options...thanks so much ! I'll look into all of them. We tried one boot, but it chaffed against her leg. The therapaw website looks especially good. I really appreciated you taking the time.

 

[Courtney]

Ouch - poor girl. That looks painful. She just wants to run and be active.

I'm not sure how much help this will be but will offer some suggestions.

My boy had a paw pad injury. I used the Vet Aid Sea Salt spray. It promoted fast healing. No stinging, it dried fast.

https://www.amazon.com/Vet-Aid-Woun...006I01HBC/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Because we hike often, and his pads are exposed to sometimes harsher terrain. I started using Tuf-Foot ahead of big hikes. Not sure if this stuff would help. But it would be if you could get the wound to heal and close up. This would maybe be a preventative from it breaking open again. You can buy it on Amazon now.

Tuf-Foot for Dogs

Not sure if using vet wrap on the wound would help.

https://www.amazon.com/Wrap-Adheren...25791990&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=vet+wrap&psc=1

She's very lucky to have you. Beautiful girl!

 

[Magwart]

I know these injuries are awful to heal -- we had one in rescue that seemed like it took months.

I wonder if the dog maybe needs to be splinted to keep weight off the foot for 4-6 weeks or so to give it time to heal. Maybe ask your vet team/specialists if that might help?

With these kinds of wounds, I also worry about deep-in-there infections getting all the way to the bone. I know one that lost a toe because there was a deep, deep infection from a wound like this.

 

[Suzy25]

Great ideas for keeping the wound clean above ^ it might help to keep it moisturized as well to help with the cracking and promote faster healing. I love Paw ointment from both The Natural Dog Company and Legendary Canine, have used both on my dogs super dry and cracked paws, as well as when they have gotten cuts on their pads. both work amazing and recommend both and both are pretty much the same price, the only real difference is shipping, Legendary canine is in Canada and the other is in the US.

boots would help for sure and keeping it wrapped, and giving it time to breathe between wraps will help as well

best of luck with it!

 

[Thecowboysgirl]

Well, I had one cut her pad worse than that and once it was stitched, she had vetwrap and a dog boot for potting and crate rest for awhile
I have used Tuft Foot and Musher's Secret.


I have super glued some smaller cuts, including paw pads, when they were fresh and right after I had thoroughly cleaned.

I have always had good luck with vetwrap as bottom layer, then one of those PAWZ rubber booties. Once you get good at it this combo can really keep a wound closed and clean for light exercise. I typically wrap it more snug than I would feel comfortable with them laying around with (circulation wise) for walks and then a much looser one for laying around time.

I think the bad cut was maybe a month of basically crate rest with leashed pottying, it was very deep.

Have you ever tried good boots for every run when you had gotten it healed, to prevent reopening?

 

[Thecowboysgirl]

ruff wear boots usually get good reviews