My dog's limping with a painful toe and long nail. Can I use old meds?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Hank. I am concerned that his toe is not healing. Infections in the nail and digit can be hard to treat. Sometimes aggressive antibiotics are needed. I will usually prescribe two separate antibiotics for a broader spectrum of coverage. However, I am always suspicious of cancer when there is a non-healing on a toe. In this case, you may discuss amputation with his veterinarian. I hope this information helps!

Poor Spike Lee (love his name!). No, unfortunately you can't treat this yourself, an infection requires oral antibiotics to treat and only a vet can prescribe them for him. I would take him into the vet tomorrow to have his nail treated. Tonight, you can try soaking his foot in an Epsom salt bath to give him some temporary relief. I hope this helps!

Please don't give any over-the-counter pain medications; they can be toxic to dogs at even low doses and giving them will confound your vet's ability to treat the pain with appropriate medications. The reality is that most of these nail injuries end up getting infected, and even if there's no infection they are exquisitely painful. You can compare it to losing your fingernail completely, but then having to walk on the uncovered cuticle. Patch likely needs to have the area numbed and the remaining nail pulled, then have a very soft/cushioning bandage placed, followed by antibiotics and pain medication. Please take him in to see his vet as soon as you can for this.

The Cephalexin bottle should have an expiration date on it. Also it is not recommended to give antibiotics if you cannot give them continuously for at least 7-10 days duration. So if you don't have enough or if they are expired, then I would not proceed with giving Nike the Cephalexin. Also it is good to get Nike re-evaluated because he may not even have an infection if there is no pus or bumps on the skin. The antibiotics in this case would be unnecessary and would not help with his itching. Instead he needs allergy medications +/- topical medicated shampoo's sprays available through your vet. Until you can get Nike in to the vet, you can try over the counter pet formulated fish oils, which helps to provide a natural anti-inflammatory property to the skin. You can also try an oatmeal based or aloe based shampoo topically if you want to try an over the counter approach. Just keep in mind however that most pets with true allergies require stronger meds at the vet. I would also recommend ensuring that Nike is on a high quality flea preventative such as Nexgard, Comforitis, Trifexis (flea and heartworm prevention), Bravecto, Seresto collar or Simparica. This may be a flea allergy that he is having. I hope that you get his itching resolved soon. Best wishes and take care.

I recommend booking an appointment with a veterinarian to have Lexie’s nail evaluated, as it is likely causing her pain, as indicated by the limping. Pain medications meant for humans can be very dangerous (and even deadly) for dogs, so I do not recommend giving any to your pup without consulting with your vet. Your veterinarian can prescribe safe medication to help with the pain, and can clean and treat the injury to help reduce the risk of infection. In the meantime, I recommend putting an e-collar (cone) on Lexie to help prevent her from licking her paw an reduce the risk of infection. I hope Lexie feels better soon!

Hi, I think the old nail should be removed. It would also be great if we could prevent Marley from licking the area as this can cause inflammation and infection. I know this is tricky given Marley’s breed ! Another thing you could do is bathe Marley’s paw in diluted Chlorexidine twice a day, dilution is normally 1:10 (i.e. one part of chlorexidine to 10 of water ) but even to make a very diluted pink solution will do and dry up with a clean cotton cloth afterwards. Hope this helps !

My biggest concern is that he could also have a bladder infection that is causing him to lick a lot and therefore also causing an infection on his penis. Without seeing him to determine exactly what is infected and whether or not the bladder is also infected, I cannot say that the cephalexin will work. I would strongly recommend to have him seen by your vet. If there is a urinary tract infection and it is left untreated, it could get much worse and even start to affect the kidneys. Your vet will be able to determine if the cephalexin you have will work or if you need something stronger. I would also put a cone collar on him to prevent him from licking it any more and causing more irritation. I hope this helps and he starts to feel better really soon!