Don't Know What Else To Do..... "dog"

I'm not sure where else to go at this point. We have a little black cooker spaniel, what started as what we were told was a behavioural condition has now turned in to a major issue spanning 2 years and has continued to be at the point of it being a major health concern.

Case history:

Started off on rear left paw. Excessive kicking to the point of leaving open sores. Then exacerbated by getting constant licking. Vet visit, anti biotics, bandage, fine.. same thing reoccurs. 10 times worse. And now includes the rear right paw, his shin and wrist equivalents on his front paw. Vet visit, antibiotics, as they got severely infected and anti inflammatories For severe swelling.

At this point the dog left the rear left foot alone, the pads have all healed and regrown in to 2 pads instead of 5. His focus then shifted on to the other leg But much worse. Larger wounds lots of blood loss, and the dog collapsing. More vet visits antibiotics cleaning, bandages, even photographs for a behavioral case study. (Then told another cockerspaniel of the same age is also showing the same behaviour)

Was advised on all the things I could do to clean and manage the wound which was at this point a gaping hole. The dog had no pads left. Continued to help him. Walks became more limited as this made it all worse. The foot showed signs of healing. I could see some pads reforming.

Now: out of the blue the dog went full hog, back to basically devouring his foot. He now has no pads left. You can see sinew, I've been cleaning out all the infection. this morning, the bandage I had on was as I eXpected, torn to shreds on his bed, blood again pouring from the wound. Managed to clean it out again, stop the bleeding re bandage with anti bacterial powder and a manuka honey covering. It's now wrapped with a plastic bag over the bandage to keep it dry when he goes out to do his business.

It's now at a point were we're financially exhausted and can not afford another vet visit. I have tried every chew deterrent available in pet shops to stop him from licking, that doesn't work, I think he might like the taste Grrrr.

Sorry for the war and peace up there. Any advice or suggestions at this point woukd be most welcome. It's now got to the point where we feel we might have to consider letting him go. The dog will be 3 this year.

I would say you have answered your own question.

Will1234 said:

It's now at a point were we're financially exhausted and can not afford another vet visit. ..........................................................

................ It's now got to the point where we feel we might have to consider letting him go. The dog will be 3 this year.

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Our resident vet has not seen this thread, he is the only one that could give some advise. However I would suggest that he would not be in a position to definitely answer has he has not been able to examine your dog.

One question I would ask is this, has your dog worn one of those collars at any time? This would restrict your dogs impulse to chew his own feet. It does not look good from what you describe, and as a dog owner I can only sympathise with you.

Thanks for the answers folks, yes I have tried collars. He has gone through 3 of them. No matter how long they were he has always managed to knock them and bend them to a point where he can lick his foot again.

However, I've bought one of those more reinforced collars at the weekend and this has so far been helping the last few days. I've been able to keep his foot clean with antiseptics and fresh bandages that I haven't come down to find all over the floor or ingested this time. I cleaned it out again just 10 minutes ago and it is already showing signs of improvement because he hasn't been able to open the wound again.

He's now had a dose of anti inflammatories and is laying on his bed feeling sorry for himself, in his cone of shame. This one seems to be holding out as I've seen him have a good go at removing it and failing. Wish us luck that this works 4th time round.

would there be anything else I could do to help ease the irritation or if this collar continues to hold out, any suggestion for pain relief?

Wow. I missed this thread and for that I am sorry.

I don't know where to start. From the information given I'm unconvinced of a simple behaviour issue. It sounds like something is making the pads incredibly itchy - whether that is an allergy from the outside or some kind of immune overstimulation from the inside.

YOU CANNOT TREAT THIS DOG AT HOME WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF A VET.

I'm sorry that you are short of money, but that is absolutely no reason to let the dog suffer. The only way you will get to the bottom of this is a thorough investigation - it is borderline cruel leaving a dog with an irritated foot with only a collar to stop the dock bothering it. Imagine you having an itch and I tie your hands behind your back.

You need to think long and hard whether you can provide for this dog. If not you need to sign it over to one of the rescue charities or have the dog put to sleep. I'm sorry to sound harsh but those are your two choices. Dressing and 'treating' the wounds at home are simply not acceptable.

is this  possibly a separation anxiety issue, ie you leave the dog at home alone a lot?

Thanks for your response apache. Need to give you an update. before i even seen your response i had already come to the same conclusion and now have already taken him to the vets again, this time a different vet.

Hes well strapped and cleaned out because he responded well the last time to the same treatment to see how it heals. Once shes monitored him for a few weeks were going to see if we need to be referred to a skin specialist which wasnt mentioned the last time to investigate for irritations. she said that if he continues with it the way he is going then a drastic amputation would also be on her list of fixes, but shes hopeful this will work along with, as you say above, further investigation Which wasnt discussed on my last visits either.

Hes on antibiotics and painkillers, hes been more active and his playful self albiet with a cone and larger sturdier bandage than the last visits and looks to be much more comfortable.

Are there any common skin irritations that would occur in spaniels? Or would it be specific to the dog? She is also going to take samples for testing this time once hes healed a bit.

Binky - the dog is very rarely left alone as there is usually my wife at home.