Corns

Discussion dedicated to promoting the well-being of your dog through diet, exercise and general health tips.

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Erica
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Re: Corns

Post by Erica »

Hope he's recovering well and has let you access your chocolates! :) And fingers crossed that this sorts out the issue.
Delta, standard poodle, born 6/30/14
JudyN
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Re: Corns

Post by JudyN »

I HAVE A NON-LIMPY DOG!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D

Things I have learnt: (1) Rimadyl can help with the pain of corns, (2) Corns can cause symptoms of being uncomfortable when getting up and walking on carpet, and ease after a bit of walking, (3) X rays can be the most expensive part of a diagnostic work-up, but knowing that your nearly-9-year-old dog has excellent joints (and teeth) is priceless :D

Now to research 'How to prevent corns from recurring in a dog who won't wear socks.' And to work on sock desensitisation without time pressure.

ETA: Might have spoken too soon - there was a bit ot limping later, and it's possible the pain meds are still having an effect. Time will tell...
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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Nettle
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Re: Corns

Post by Nettle »

This is all such important knowledge for the future. Sorry you and Jasper are having to go through it, but it is an education for all of us.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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JudyN
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Re: Corns

Post by JudyN »

Thanks, Nettle. I'm reasonably sure I can keep him comfortable enough to enjoy his walks to the full, and if the worst came to the worst, he could always have Rimadyl temporarily for 'respite'.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
JudyN
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Re: Corns

Post by JudyN »

Time for an update...

After three weeks, Jasper is back to limping pretty much as he was before the op, and the corn, which had looked like a depression where it had been removed, is now flush with the surface of the pad again.

Oddly, though he is maybe a little better out on walks, he seems to be worse around the house, and really hobbles when he gets up from a nap and even on carpet, which doesn't seem to tie in with corn symptoms. But it doesn't really look like stiffness - he seems reluctant to put his foot down, until he gets going, then he's not so bad.

I had a phone consultation with the vet who did the op this morning - I wasn't going to take him up to that surgery again if it wasn't necessary. She wonders if, being such a sensitive dog, he is reluctant to put his paw down because he remembers it was painful, which could account for some of it. She said the symptoms don't really tie in with soft tissue problems as then he'd be worse on walks. She suggested having the corn removed surgically, but the problems with dressing the wound, the fact that they often reoccur, and the stress sedation causes him, make me think that's not a good route to go down.

She's going to send his X rays to a specialist to make absolutely sure she didn't miss anything on the X rays and assuming that comes back OK, then it's a case of persevering as far as possible with standard corn treatment, and considering long-term anti-imflammatories. She also mentioned trying verucca plasters, though she said it was a bit unprofessional of her to suggest that as it's not a standard treatment for dogs.

My first thought is that he's not suffering enough to justify long-term medication, as he still enjoys long walks and playing in the garden. He seems no worse than many a human who is getting a bit creaky and takes a while to get going. However:

1) I don't know how much he's really suffering - dogs can be good at hiding pain, though no one could ever describe J as stoic;

2) I've read something to suggest that continual pain meds can be a lot more effective than 'saving' them for when things are really tough;

3) Continual use can also break the cycle of pain being felt because it's expected - having fibromyalgia, I know only too well how the brain can interpret sensations as pain;

4) Looking online, research seems to be saying that long-term use of Rimadyl isn't anything like as dangerous as it's thought to be by many, and that unwanted side effects are likely to show up early, rather than being a cumulative effect. Having said that, 6-monthly blood tests are recommended and with J, that would involve sedation... Quite honestly, I think sedation is very harmful to his mental health, it's probably the equivalent of spiking someone's drink with LSD when they already have a mental health condition.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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Nettle
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Re: Corns

Post by Nettle »

I think a short course of painkillers would establish whether or not there is pain. There are more modern ones than Rimadyl which allegedly have less in the way of side effects, but you may have to research these yourself. My own practice will not use R or Metacam, but I don't know what they do use. Vet practices in UK are often owned by large companies that do deals with Big Pharma, so their hands are tied, but the practice I use is independent so can pick and choose.
You have nothing to lose by treating it as a verruca if J will tolerate this.
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JudyN
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Re: Corns

Post by JudyN »

He's had a couple of courses of Rimadyl and they make a significant difference so there certainly is a degree of pain. But if it's not stopping him wanting to walk to his favourite places, run when he gets the urge, and dig for Britain when he's just had a poo, then I'm not sure it's worth medicating for - just as I don't medicate for the odd tweak I get.

There's an article about Rimadyl here: https://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted ... versy-6509

And from Wikipedia: 'Several laboratory studies and clinical trials have been conducted to establish the safety of using Carprofen. Clinical studies were conducted in nearly 300 dogs, coming from different breeds. The dogs were treated with Rimadyl at the recommended dose for 2 weeks. According to these studies, the drug was clinically well tolerated and the treated dogs did not have a greater incidence of adverse reactions when compared to the control group'.

I've also found long-term (90 days) studies that showed Rimadyl to be safer than alternatives, but they were from 2007, so I do need to look for more recent alternatives and their evidence base. So much available information needs to be discounted, or at least treated with a huge amount of scepticism, such as anything in 'Dogs Naturally' or on a website called 'Cannabis for Pets'. So many 'natural' remedies - as well as the standard ones, to be honest, simply haven't had rigorous testing. And we all know that if you read the list of side effects on pretty much any human medication you'd be convinced it was going to kill you or at least give you headaches, constipation, diahorrea, a rash....

I can put duct tape on his corn (and I've worked out how to make it stay on - put it on the night before so it's well stuck by morning), so if I can put a verucca treatment pad/blob in the middle of the duct tape, or get a verucca patch to stay on it would be worth a try.

He's been sporting a small patch of duct tape on the top of his leg for days now. It must have been lying around somewhere and become thoroughly stuck to him. You remember how much removing plasters hurt when you were a child if they were on hairy bits? Every time someone notices it I ask if they fancy pulling it off and so far, they've all declined :lol: It must fall off eventually... surely?
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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