There is a small tree in the fenced in area that i keep my dogs - my blue/plott mix sable must have been jumping around playing with the other dog and got her foot caught in the crotch of the tree too high up for it to get out and i don't know how long she was like that before I noticed her whinning. Last night I was worried that it was broke and she was not putting any pressure on the foot at all. I was told by a freind of mine who runs a kennel for Australian Shepards and she said it would not hurt to give the dog an Ibrophine to help control the swelling so i did this and this morning she looks like she is putting a little more pressure on the foot and she is walking around but limping pretty good but the swelling did not get any worse and looks like it did go down a little.

Besides taking the dog in for xRays is there anything else i should do to make sure her foot heels OK and is there anything I should look for that would indicate weather the foot was broke or just sprained? I just got these dogs a month ago and they are comming along real nice for 6 mnths old and I just hate to see something like this happen to one of them.

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You could try splinting it to keep her from moving it if you think it is broken. It is almost impossible to keep a splint on a coonhound though. I'd tell you our experiences with that but it would take a whole page! Rest her up about 2 weeks and don't let her run around at all if possible. If she still limps with no improvement you really should take her to the vet. A sprain is actually more painful, speaking from personal experience. DO NOT GIVE IBUPROFEN TO YOUR DOG unless you check with your vet first and he tells you exactly how much to give! It can cause kidney damage, problems with liver function, intestinal and stomach damage, seizures and a whole bunch of other side effects. Acetaminophen has its own list of side effects that are also pretty bad.

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I think that in the right dosages, ibuprofin is probably ok for dogs... but I agree, you need to check with the vet and don't give any more until you do.

When my dog was hit by a car, the doc prescribed an nsaid which I had never heard of, and I don't remember the name of, but it's in the same classification as ibuprofin, naproxin, and vioxx. He gave me a box of pre-filled syringes to inject her with, callibrated for her weight. (in this case, it's because she refused to eat or drink anything, so I had to inject the meds... otherwise he would have given me pills). If she's still limping on that foot tomorrow, I'd take her to the vet. You don't necessarily need to x-ray the foot. We never x-rayed our dog, and she was beat up really bad. The emergency vet hospital admitted (when asked) that the treatment wouldn't be any different whether the leg was broken or not; they'd have to cast it regardless. An x-ray just would have been a lot of money for some interesting but ultimately useless information. Your vet can advise you whether the foot needs to be immobilized, and it probably won't need an x-ray to determine that.

-Elizabeth

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http://www.mthoodblues.com

Well it is two days after the accident with my dogs foot and she is doing much better. Yesterday I noticed that the swelling had gone down and she was still limping on it though. This morning she looked like she was putting more weight on it and the limp was not as noticeable. I have been keeping her in the back room of the house as much as possible even though she would really rather be outside to limit how much she is running around in the kennel because she has a pretty good sized area to run around in out there. She looks to be doing a lot better and I am pretty sure it is not broken but I will try to kepp her off it as much as possible till i know it is heelled up good.

Thanks for the info. Especially about the Ibprophine. I did not know it had those kind of side effects. I am glad I only gave it to her twice. The person that told me it would be OK runs a kennel and works in a vets office so I just figured she knew what she was talking about. Thanks again.