Pete Wedderburn BVM&S MRCVS (aka PETE THE VET)
I saw a Wicklow Collie with a sore foot today. On examination, there was a purple-red soft swelling developing between his toes. The purple swelling was soft and seemed to contain
a bubble of fluid. I suspected an abscess, and under local anaesthesia, I used a sharp curved scalpel blade to nick an opening into the swelling. A teaspoonful of dirty fluid gushed out,
and I then gently probed the inside of the hole with fine-nosed forceps. The ends of the forceps bumped against a hard object, so I squeezed them closed and pulled. A sharp splinter of wood emerged, about half as long and twice as thick as a match stick. The dog had obviously stood on the splinter – it had penetrated the skin between his toes. By the time I saw the dog (probably a few weeks after the wood had first entered the foot), an abscess had formed. The dog went home on a course of antibiotics, and the owners have instructions to bathe the wound with salty water. An uneventful recovery should follow. Hopefully the dog, like Androcles and the Lion with the thorn in his foot, will always remember my assistance with gratitude!
This case is an example of a common problem at this time of year.
There is a profusion of new plant growth underfoot, and dogs don’t wear shoes, so their feet are vulnerable to damage. The soles of their feet have hard pads over the toes, made of
thickened black skin, which provide essential protection, allowing dogs to walk on rough surfaces without seriously damaging their feet. (How many of us humans would be able to run barefoot through dense thorny undergrowth?) However, the skin between the pads is soft and thin. If a dog stands on a sharp object which protrudes from the ground, the
object may puncture this soft skin. In most cases, this will just result in a small wound which may heal naturally. If the object penetrates the skin and then snaps off, the
story becomes more complicated. The initial small penetration wound will often heal perfectly, but the small fragment which has entered the inside of the foot causes problems. Sharp grass awns, pieces of glass, or splinters of wood commonly cause problems like this. Animals’ bodies are very good at recognising objects which are
not supposed to be ‘on the inside’. Such objects are referred to as ‘foreign bodies’, and the body usually attempts to eject them. The body’s defence mechanisms surround the foreign body with cells and fluid ( so-called ‘pus’) and as this pus accumulates, a soft blister like swelling develops – an abscess. In the ideal world, this abscess bursts, the foreign body is ejected along with the pus, and the wound heals naturally. In the real world, an abscess can cause pain for weeks or months. When it finally bursts, the foreign body may not be ejected at all. The whole process of the body trying to eject the object then begins again, with the animal remaining in pain for a prolonged period. When a vet lances an abscess, he/she will check that there are no foreign bodies remaining on the inside, so the chances of long term complications are minimised. It isn’t always easy to find tiny foreign bodies, and they don’t usually show up on x-rays, so this apparently common problem can sometimes get very complicated. I’ve even had to send dogs for expensive MRI scans to track down hidden grass seeds that cause repeated abscesses.
Perhaps it is time to think of putting shoes on your dog’s feet, after all!
Bravopets Ireland 