I received the following question from Regina as a comment to another post on toe amputations and I asked Dr Riggs, one of our advising veterinarians:
Regina's question:
I have a 8 year old Boxer mix that has a bad foot infection from being poisoned. She will be loosing the two middle toes on her left hind and some dead tissue with it. Will she be able to run and play normally again?Dr Riggs' answer:
I just did the same type of surgery on an 18 year old cat with a lymphocytic tumor of the the left rear paw. I had to remove the two middle toes and subsequently gave her a "Spock" like look to that paw. She is walking great. Dogs and cats are amazing. They can compensate so well. Your dog will not miss a beat. I was just at a lecture given by a surgery professor from Colorado State, about reconstructive surgeries of the feet. Her quote was "dogs and cats are born with more toes than they need" and she showed some pretty interesting cases to prove that. Your dog will do fine.
Pretty interesting don't you think? I had a friend who lost his big toe in a construction accident (a human friend, not a cat or dog!) and he said it did hinder him more than he thought it would so I had no idea cats and dogs could be so flexible.
Have any of you had to have some of your cat or dog's toes removed? How did it go?
Related articles:
Toe Amputations for Cats and Dogs
Ask Laura: the impact of toe amputation surgery
Ask Laura: dog weight bearing toe amputation appropriate or not?
Ask Laura: infected ingrown toe nail on cat
Ask Laura: to amputate or not to amputate the cat's toe, that is the question
Corns on a greyhound's toe: Dr Riggs discusses
