# Sores between toes??



## BrennasMom (Mar 2, 2008)

I just noticed Brenna has oozey sores between all of the toes on both front feet! What could cause this? I feel like a terrible dog-mom!







I'm going to take her in to the vet ASAP of course, but does anyone have an idea of what it could be?

I guess allergies are possible, but why not the back feet then? And she's never had allergies before.









She did have an oozey benign tumor between her toes on one of her rear legs but it was an obvious raised bump so I don't think it's related.


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## scannergirl (Feb 17, 2008)

I have no idea what it is but I do know you should NOT feel like a terrible dog-mom.
Here's a terrible dog-mom:
"Brenna has oozing between her toes but I don't care at all what it is and I don't think I want to spend the money on a vet"
That ain't you. Get it?
Let us know how Brenna is.


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## BrennasMom (Mar 2, 2008)

Thank you, Lucina, that did make me feel better!







I think I may have figured it out (but will still go to the vet of course). It looks like they are probably interdigital cysts.

I have a pic of it:









I cleaned them with betadine, here is our temporary solution. Wish me luck in keeping her from eating her socks:


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## acurajane (May 21, 2008)

O that poor thing. If only dogs understood that we to such funny things in their best interest. I hope it gets better


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

A little aloe or hypericum cream is what I'd recommend.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

She looks SO unimpressed with her socks. Hope she keeps them on.

And Lisa is 100% correct. You are NOT a terrible dog mom.


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## JenM66 (Jul 28, 2005)

I'm sorry. I had to laugh at the socks. I tried (notice that is in the past tense) that ONCE with Gracie. She worked and worked until she got them off. What do you think it is? Licking from allergies? They are terrible right now.

As for being a bad dog mom, we're all guilty - we can't watch them every minute of every day. Gracie's new thing is to hide when she wants to lick her paws.
















You're an awesome dog mom - you cleaned and bandaged her. Keep up the great work


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

Is VA having first rains of the season? 

If so, that could be bringing up stuff from the ground that's normally pretty inert. Oil that drips on the road/pavement, the summer's worth of herbicides/pesticides on the park's grass, pollens that were ground into the roadway. When we get the first rain of the year, all that stuff comes back up to the surface, but usually there's not enough rain to wash it away. Not yet anyhow. Takes a few good rainstorms to wash everything into the drains or deep into the soil. 

My guess anyhow. 

And hey, my dogs have socks just like those! (I guess that means you and I wear the same kind of socks!)


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## BrennasMom (Mar 2, 2008)

It hasn't rained too much lately. Though it could be allergies, I guess it just confused me because she only got them in her front feet. I felt the webbing in her back feet and I think she may have some unopened cysts in those but it's hard to say because I could also just be paranoid. lol

Those are probably my brother's socks actually, I was looking for the shortest ones and came up with the ankle-free kind. A trip to walmart for some kid's socks is in order!


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## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

Grass mites, or "chiggers" could be the cause. Grimm's front feet looked exactly like this 1 month ago! Between his toes was a mess... just like in your photo of sweetie Brenna. The treatment (for Grimm) was 5 days of Amoxiclav, not too expensive, and I gave yogurt 6 hours apart from it, to protect his tummy.. keep his gut flora happy. The prevention (please check with your vet) is Frontline Spray, get some rubber or latex gloves, and massage it deep into the skin. (done when the sores are HEALED and no longer open) Hoping darling sweetie-grrrrl Brenna is feeling better soon!


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

I just use peroxide on these. Indy used to get them from running in the woods and she would get "stuff" in those toes. Max would get them from food allergies.


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## BrennasMom (Mar 2, 2008)

Thanks for the advice!

$130 later (she's lucky I love her) and I have malaseb wipes and 2 weeks of antibiotics.

After that pic I added duct tape (not touching the hair) and amazingly the socks stayed on over night but I took them off once we got to work because they were starting to scoot down and get floppy.


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## kmaot (Feb 25, 2005)

So what exactly was the diagnosis then????


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## BrennasMom (Mar 2, 2008)

One reason I want to switch vets...There was no diagnosis, I was told it's "probably allergies" and that's it. The vet didn't even handle/manipulate her feet, I held them up for her to see...I guess she was scared of Brenna?









There was no diagnosis for her more recent issue either, $600 for vomitting and diarrhea and she ended up with flagyl and I made her chicken/rice. I'm definitely switching vets, I only went back this time because it was an emergency and I wanted to get her in that morning.









Ok...tangent over! As of now, her paws are doing OK, I think they may still have cysts, it could be my imagination but it feels harder between the toes than before. There isn't any swollen, oozey, infectedness at least.


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

You should have a read here, 

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=689948&page=3#Post689948

where we talked about Lip Fold Pyoderma.

The lip fold dermatitis we talked about is a bacterial infection on the lip- your dogs interdigital furunculosis's are said to be caused by deep bacterial infection.

If I were you I would try the creme we that was mentioned in the above thread, Penaten Creme. For those of us that have used it on the lip bacteria have seen GREAT results, me included. I would certainly try this before I would try the standard antibiotic treatment.

If you decide to try it let us know how it goes!


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## littledmc17 (Apr 9, 2008)

Brady has it right now and is on pred. Not as bad as that
allergies


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## BrennasMom (Mar 2, 2008)

Thank you, I'll swing over to that thread and check it out!

I ought to just start dividing the would-be-exam fees between the posters here.


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

I think the hypericum/calendula creme would be really good for this problem. I've used it on similar types of sores on my dogs and it's worked great. It really accelerates the healing and the hypericum takes care of any pain too.


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