Any advice information appreciated

Hi Folks,

I am clutching at straws trying to figure out what is going on with Louie's foot. To cut a long story short about 8 months ago Louie was limping on and off, after 3 visits to the vet they had to take him in to knock him out, you know how pugs are getting their feet touched so it was almost impossible for the vet to examine him properly as he just kept freaking out we tried antibiotics etc to no avail!

Well the vet called the day of his op and said he has never seen anything like it in his 40 years of consulting, Louie's paw pad was absolutley packed full of hair, now not ingrowing hair but hair actually growing inside his foot, he sent samples for analysis and we could not get a definitive result, he said the closest thing is furniculosis.

Forward to a month ago, Louie starts limping again, this time I can actually see cysts between his toes, again another op at the vet to drain them and clear them out. Vet said he has an allergy and it is also affecting his armpits WTH was given shampoo to use 3 times a week to leave on for 10 mins each time (not easy) and some Atopica tablets. To be honest I am not 100% convinced about this allergy thing, but OTH I have been with the same vet for 13 years and usually trust him fully.

Has anyone ever heard of anything like this before, with hair growing inside a paw? Just to top it all off, he has started limping again this week, I have managed to inspect his paw and no cysts etc but know something is going on!

Any information or encouragement would be much appreciated. Sorry to rant on but I just cant seem to see a light at the end of the tunnel !

That sounds really weird. I am guessing the shampoo is Malaseb - Snifter has that for his apparently yeasty tootsies and I know what you mean about the difficulties of keeping it on for long enough. If you feed him on an easy clean surface could you try applying it before you start preparing the food so it has time to soak in whilst you prepare and he eats and then you rinse it off later?

I think the hair thing sounds really weird. If you think it might be the hairs causing the latest problem I would suggest trying to get him to see a specialist.

No useful comments to offer except that my pug is so allergy prone. She has monthly allergy jabs which sort the problem out with varying degrees of success. Haven't come across problems specifically foot-related (although Hattie tends to lick her paws a lot), but I'm sure others on this excellent forum may have done so.
I think I remember that furunculosis (?awful spelling?) is quite common in other breeds in this country.
I really hope you will be able to sort this one out. Poor Louie, it must be wretched for him.

Hooli has had a lot of paw related issues due to cysts. Not only is he a giant baby about having his paws touched, he will lick and irritate it constantly so it was really hard to heal because all the licking caused moisture which would make it worse. We have been battling a cyst for awhile and I think we finally got it under control-we had him on antibiotics and I also wipe down his paws after going out in the grass and give a weekly soak in epsolm salts. I haven't heard of the fur issue before though.

The leaving it on for the 10 mins is a tough one too-I have tried the trick of smearing peanut butter on the side of my tub while we have to soak, it seems to work pretty well. And at least keeps him occupied.

Saira that is brilliant......I might try it....when I put Louie in the tub to rinse/soak his feet I was sitting outside the tub feeding him pupporoni nonstop.....I like the peanut butter idea....LOL

Saira wrote:Hooli has had a lot of paw related issues due to cysts. Not only is he a giant baby about having his paws touched, he will lick and irritate it constantly so it was really hard to heal because all the licking caused moisture which would make it worse. We have been battling a cyst for awhile and I think we finally got it under control-we had him on antibiotics and I also wipe down his paws after going out in the grass and give a weekly soak in epsolm salts. I haven't heard of the fur issue before though.

The leaving it on for the 10 mins is a tough one too-I have tried the trick of smearing peanut butter on the side of my tub while we have to soak, it seems to work pretty well. And at least keeps him occupied.

This is pure genius!

I don't know what the shampoo is that you use, but here's an OTC version that is equally as good for yeasties and other nasties--called Nizoral and my vet suggested it over the vet dispensed ones as she felt it was equally as good.

Poor Louie, however.

Hair inside the pad? Very weird, never heard anything like that.

Emma, I've never heard of this so don't have any advice, just lots of support and good wishes that you find answers! I agree with Bella though, I would be getting a second opinion. Nothing against your current vet, just sometimes another brain and another outlook can sometimes help. I truly hope you can get to the bottom of this!

Aussie Witch wrote:Emma, I've never heard of this so don't have any advice, just lots of support and good wishes that you find answers! I agree with Bella though, I would be getting a second opinion. Nothing against your current vet, just sometimes another brain and another outlook can sometimes help. I truly hope you can get to the bottom of this!

I agree here. Second opinions can be invaluable.

Thanks everyone, yes Bella it is Masaleb and what a great idea about peanut butter!!

I will go back to the vet to see if he can refer me to the animal hospital in Edinburgh to see if they have an idea, poor Louie he's had a hard time of it.

Emma:
Here's a link to the Merck's Vet Manual about interdigital furunculosis that might be helpful.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/70800.htm

Interdigital cysts are common here with a few pug lines - there is a grand old girl not far from me who gets them constantly, no antibiotics can help her as she is allergic to ingrown hairs, which is what usually causes this problem - because of the foot shape, hairs growing in the webbing between the toes are forced back on themselves and become ingrown. It can run in families because foot shape does.
The ingrown hairs can cause a bacterial infection (which can actually worsen if the wrong antibiotics are given), sometimes it is linked to atopic dermatitis as you have been told. If this is true then antihistamines should control it.

Your vet can be a very good vet and still not be an expert on everything - I would consult a veterinary dermatologist to see if the atopic allergy does indeed exist.

Louie sounds like an extreme case, if they can't link to a specific cause, would it be of any benefit to depilate his armpits and foot webbing? I am thinking that if there is no hair at skin level it CANNOT ingrow. You would need to consult a veterinary dermatologist to determine a safe way of doing that, I imagine.

Blanche thanks so much for the link, it has kind of confirmed what the vet was telling me, but it explains it a bit better and I have time to read it properly rather than standing stressed at the vet because Louie has nearly done himself an injury trying to escape when we are looking at his feet!

Wow Angela the foot thing sounds spot on, although Louie has bald armpits, he's never had hair there !!

I will definatley ask to see a specialist dermatologist even if just to confirm the diagnosis.

Thanks All !