Disclaimer, the first photo is of Sampson’s cracked dew claw, it’s a tiny bit gross, just in care you’re squeamish.
There are many days when the technology we live in really can flummox me. Trying to keep up with all the social media, ways to watch movies/television shows, electronic mail, can sometimes be over whelming to me.
The flip side is having instant access to people I care about. FaceTime with my grandchildren as they travel to visit their other grandparents in North Carolina or with my niece in Florida is priceless.
Having access to my vet on Sunday?
Amazing.
Yesterday was D-Day, the day Sampson’s bandage came off and we reassessed his dew claw. As soon as the bandage was off I snapped a picture, and called my vet. After chatting a few minutes she gave me her e-mail address and I sent her off the photo.
That is one angry dew claw.
Five minutes later she said, I had hoped it would be quieter by now. Keep him from licking it either by putting a sock on it, or have him wear the cone. Let’s touch base in the morning.
Initially we had to run out, so I put the cone on. When we came home we could see Sampson at the window and I said to Hubby, I want to paint daisies or something on that cone.
Don’t do that! Why would you do that?
I think he’d look cute, with daisies or rays of sunshine on it.
NO.
WHY do you keep singing, “You are my sunshine?” It’s not funny Mama.
Once we got home, I spent the rest of the day trying to come up with creative ways to keep the sock on. Any of you have any experience with this? What’s the best type of sock to use? How do you secure it on?
I thought I had it secured with vet tape, but when we came back from our walk…the sock was gone.
I always wondered how those random pieces of clothing wound up on the side of the road, and now I know.
Shortly after I fixed the first sock on Sampson, I bent down to give Delilah some love and noticed she had all kinds of debris on her paw. She must have stepped in gum on our walk. Nice.
Boy I’d like to find the douche bag that discarded that gum on the road, I’d give them something to chew on.
Without thinking of snapping a picture, I pulled as much of the gum and debris off that I could.
Nothing like spending your Sunday picking gum off your dog’s paw.
Then I sat down with some rubbing alcohol and a paper towel and set to work.
By picking and gently rubbing I got as much gum as I could off. There were times when she seemed very uncomfortable with me trying to PULL gum off her foot, so I simply did the best I could.
Between Sampson’s dew claw and Delilah’s gum, it felt like a good part of my day was spent dealing with paws. How was your Sunday?
How was our day? In two words, mostly wet. I am sooooo sick of this weather! We’ve had more rain these past two weeks than we had all winter. And all this rain leads to mud everywhere. Yuck! How is it that a dog who sits like a lady – with her front paws crossed – enjoys laying in dirt and walking in mud and dirty water?! That’s my Shadow. But Callie will look for a cleaner, grassier spot to lay down and try to avoid walking in anything but the cleanest water. (((SIGH)))
Sorry for the whining! You asked for help with paws. Callie and Shadow don’t like when I hold their paws to clean them off, but are nonetheless cooperative. Poor Sampson!! That dewclaw does look “angry”. Maybe use a rubber band to hold the sock on? And I wonder if baking soda and warm water would work on the chewing gum?
Try rubbing peanut butter on gum if it happens again. That should take it right off.
I wonder if a long sock would be better than a short sock. Pull it up as high as possible and then tape it. This is a guess. Cupcake has worn a lot of clothing, but never a sock….
Never had gum on a paw, thankfully. Mom taught us the no lick and leave it commands so we don’t bother wounds around the house when she is home at least. For walking, we get some gauze around the injury and then wear one of our shoes. It works well for us as socks and outdoors don’t mix well. Poor Sampson! Maybe take him to a nail salon/manicure place and see if they can do more with it than the vet?
So Delilah didn’t get the gum before you did? LOL That dew claw does look angry. Let us know what the vet says.
We see that someone else has already mentioned PEANUT BUTTER to remove Gum… It Really Works… it takes about 87 seconds to soak in… butt it WILL remove the Gum… EVEN from HAIR…
Poor Sampson! That looks sensitive!
I always put Sherman’s bootie on when we have a nail issue because it stays on better than a sock.
The worst paw thing we have had so far was pine gum on Torrey. That was a mess. Scissors, and cutting fur from between her paw pads was the only cure.
Well in contrast to you I’d say I didn’t spend nearly enough of my Sunday focused on paws–It was more of a whole-dog Sunday. Though there was lots of mud on those paws, that’s for sure. Hope all those paws are doing well!
Ouch! Poor Sampson 🙁 That looks really painful. We had to use socks on Haley after foot surgery several years ago and found that kid’s socks worked best for her. I used regular surgical wrap around the top of the sock and wrapped it up her leg a little bit. It seemed to hold well and was pretty easy to remove later. Bonus: She looked really cute with colorful, girly socks! I hope Sampson is feeling better soon. 🙂
My feets and dew claw was like that once. Mom soaked it a few times a day in medicated shampoo.its better. Hope your gets better soon
Lily & Edward
Well, it wouldn’t take much to have a better Sunday than you did. I hope Sampson’s claw gets better soon. We have not had to deal with that issue, so sorry I can’t offer any advice.
I would want to paint something on that cone as well, and my hubby would react the exact same way!
I probably would not paint the cone – but I would definitely put stickers on it. Your hubby didn’t say you couldn’t do that, did he? Ha – you win on a technicality!
Also, the other commentors are correct – peanut butter works. Also, petroleum jelly. I use petroleum jelly for tree sap on B’s paws. I can’t use peanut butter because she becomes too excited and tries to eat my fingers and then, her paws.
P.S. – That is one gnarly looking dewclaw. Glad I skipped lunch today…
Jodi,
Try using an infant sock with the toe cut off and some Coban top and bottom to keep it in place.
I would also try using a gauze pad 2 x 2 for a little padding in case the sock is a little snug. <3
Good luck to your "little" guy … and he looks more like a Sponge Bob Square Pants (cone) kinda guy.
bol bol bol
Hope Sampson’s paw is better, it looked pretty tender but I’m no professional. I like athletic tape (and it comes in colors!) which has enough stickum to keep things like socks, gauze pads from coming off. As for the gum thing, yeah, nothing like trying to get gum out of a paw especially when said paw has loads of hair in between the pads like poodles have. Ugh. I swear some people…makes me want to wear a body camera so I can suss out every cretin I come in contact with to try and shame them into being at least semi-considerate. Sheesh, people, get a clue! [uh, sorry about the rant-but stuff like that just burns my chops] 🙂
Dew paws are anything but nice. If they are left untreated then your dog will be in a massive amount of pain.
Poor Sampson, I hope his dewclaw is better, it does look angry. And Delilah it’s always something food related with her isn’t it.