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A Sore That Just Won't Heal
By Kathy Reed
My dog Feeny has a problem. It all started on Valentine's Day. Somehow she managed to damage the sciatic nerve in her back, this damage resulted in a completely paralyzed left rear leg. She dragged the leg at first, with toes curled under. My vet, who is very good, prescribed prednizone and antibiotics (her toes immediately developed a sore from the leg dragging). Within a couple weeks her movement had improved to the point where she was beginning to place some of her weight on the foot and the toes weren't dragging so much. Now she is at a plateau, some three months down the road. Her leg no longer drags, most of the time she has a somewhat "hopalong" gait, and she will place her foot down with the toes frontwards as they should be. But the leg itself goes out of whack often enough that the sore gets bumped and jostled and hits on various things...the table legs, the door frame, her own toes on her opposite foot...and so on. I am at a point now of twice a day foot bandaging, then and placing a heavy duty boot (left over from her search and rescue days) on that foot, this protects the leg from the banging and the bumping, and helps the wound to stay clean and hopefully to heal. She is still on a light doze of prednizone, and FINALLY it appears that there is healthy tissue beginning to form over the raw red wound on her foot. Through all of this Feeny seems to be in little or no pain. One thing about Newfoundlands dogs is that there are very few nerve receptors at the extremities and under the skin in comparison to other breeds, and there is a large layer of "fat" under the skin, since these dogs were bred to swim in icy cold waters. This may be an explanation of why she seems to have little pain associated with the foot. She will tolerate the boot for nearly 8 hours but after that she will begin to fret at it and usually she manages to get it off. So she does have to be watched closely or she will rip off the bandages and irritate the leg wound even more. It's going to be a long haul I am afraid before this thing goes away and indeed it may never go away. For now we're fighting it as best we can. I for one am willing to put that boot on every day and change those dressing ever day twice a day forever if need be. As long as the wound is staying clean, no bad smells, no festering, and she is using the leg to a certain extent, that may be all I can hope for. Feeny is my best friend and companion, always there for me. So now it is my time to be here for her. |
http://www.dogdazedesigns.com
 
My Feeny Dog
A Painting that I did of Feeny
PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE
Pet Designs
Dog lovers gifts, or start your own shop.
www.petdesigns4u.com
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Kathy, I just love the painting you did of Feeny! I have already written to you privately so won't give my suggestions here. Please let everyone know if Feeny is getting better though. I am sure everyone will want to know.
Here's to good health to you and Feeny,
Laraine
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
apparently I never got your letter that you wrote me with your suggestions? can you send it again?
It sounds like you starting to have it handled. It's hard to keep a dog from being a dog...
What a beautiful picture of Feeny. I, too, would do whatever is necessary to take care of her forever. We just had to put our 11 year old Golden down, so I'm particularly "raw" right now and feeling so much for the dogs who love us. Good luck with Feeny and keep letting us know how she is doing.
Kathy, we had a german shepherd a while back and she got caught in some rusty barbed wire and she had many severe cuts. We thought that we were going to lose her. The prednizone did seem to help at first but then infection set in and a friend told us to pour Tea Tree Oil on the wounds. We found some at our local health food store and did as he suggested. Our dog didn't like the smell of the oil so she left the wounds alone. We saw noticeable improvement within the first 3 days. She healed nicely and the hair even grew back in most of the areas where she had been cut.
It's worth a try! I hope that this will help.
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This intel was contributed by knewfy
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May, 2012
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