Thread: Toe Cancer?
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Old 05-02-2012, 04:53 PM   #1
mpp33
Yorkie Talker
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Tupelo, MS
Posts: 10
Default Toe Cancer?

About three-four weeks ago I noticed that Baxter occasionally started limping. The limping slowly increased and I noticed that the skin around his one toe nail looked red. He licked it frequently, so I tried to keep him from licking it and put antibiotic ointment on it a maybe once every few days. He is now reluctant to walk on our morning and evening walks. I have to carry him to his patch of grass to go potty. He will walk back to the house, but he will not walk away from the house. Anytime he walks in grass, he limps the whole time.

The layer of dark, tough skin that makes up the pad peeled off over the course of about two days. The affected area is still only on that one toe.

I took him to the vet on Monday, who was more worried about giving him his yearly vaccinations which were due on Tuesday, than he was about checking the paw. He barely looked at his paw and was dismissive immediately about my concerns.

He did trim the hair around the toe and clip the nails. I just don't feel like he looked at it closely. I feel like he assumed it was just an abrasion and moved on to trying to get me to consent to giving him a million vaccinations.

(I didn't want to do vaccinations because I didn't want to stress his immune system if there is an infection in his toe.)

I took pictures today and did some reading online. I read this article on Toe Cancer in dogs. I asked my father to look at the pictures and then read the article, and he suspects that this may be a potential diagnosis.

I'm going to take him again to another vet in town for a second opinion. I just moved here and I don't like this vet that we went to on Monday.

Does anyone have experience with skin/toe carcinomas in dogs? What do you guys think?

Note in the pictures that on the bottom of the pad there is a lot of discoloring. There is a dark circle surrounded by varying shades of white. There is no puss that I have seen. There does appear to be a circle of skin beside the toenail that looks as if it is a blister with no liquid in it.

There are no noticeable abrasions, he is in excellent health, and is his appropriate weight. He is fairly active and not particularly sedate.

I would appreciate any comments you guys have. I can't bare the thought of Baxter being in pain.
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