Quinn's toe fiasco.

[mrose_s]

So a couple of weeks ago I asked for vibes for Quinn's leg. She was periodically limping on it, after rest or moving to fast and turning.

Vet trip led to antinflammotories and "go careful on it". Vet couldn't get a good feel of her leg because she freaks out about people handling her. Injections she can deal with but having someone want to hold onto her leg is too much.

Over the next week she seemed to get much better, she had a week with very little fun, generally either crated or leashed. I tried to allow light play with Poppy but everytime she turned on her foot she came up lame so I took that out. She had 2 weeks off herding.

I almost took her to the vet again last week because she was still periodiclaly coming up lame but as soon as I thought that she started improving very quickly.

By this time we thought it was likely her toe, not her knee. Lameness was only when she turned on her back foot and the outside toe isn't sitting in neatly with the rest of her foot. Toe seems tender but not overly painful when touched.

So today she went back to herding, she hasn't come up lame in about a week or so now. I've gradually built up her excercise over the last 5 or 6 days to where I'm comfortable letting her run and chase the ball again, still limiting any jumping after the ball because thats how she hurt herself to begin with.

At herding today she (understandably) was doing more fast running with turns than she's been allowed to for a while and while she didn't pull up lame she did seem to have something a bit off about her gait but I can't put my finger on it.

So my question. Do I vet her again now? Is this something that will cause more issues?
I'm leaning towards going to the vet with her this week anyway to discuss options for getting her speyed so if they need to get a closer look at her toe it might be an option to have a good look while she's knocked out but I don't know what they'd really do with it anyway.

This is stressing me out a bit, thoughts?

 

[Lizmo]

Blaze used to dislocate his toe. He did it quite a few times (maybe 3 times max) as a young dog (under a year), but as he grew up it stopped happening. However, it did cause some arthritis in his toe that made him come up lame about a year ago. The vet said to wrap his foot so the toe does not move and give it a few days for the swelling to do gown. Worked like a charm and has only been a problem once since then. Wrapped it again, gave him a few days off, back to normal.

Like Quinn it sounds, Blaze has a high pain tolerance. So while he did not come up lame this past time, his gait was "off" and sure enough his toe was swelled a little beyond normal.

I would have it looked at. If nothing else, muzzle her while he's looked at her. IMO, he needs to lay hands on her or take some x-rays to see is any thing is dislocated/broken/arthritic. Injuries were they come up lame at the drop of a hat are ones that stop a life time of herding or sports.

 

[mrose_s]

Yeah, I think I'll book her in the day after tomorrow (first avail chance) to have a look at her.

Its not that she tries to bite when she's handled, she's just incredibly strong. The vet and I together both couldn't physically hold her still enough for him to check her leg properly.
Seeing as I'm planning on desexing her soon if they have to desate her to have a look it might be a good chance to do both at once.