Paralyzed Toe?

[colliewog]

I just took the dogs outside for 'poop patrol' and noticed Malcolm was walking oddly in the sand. When I got him onto hard ground, I noticed his toe is paralyzed!! It's not painful, he's had no injury, his reflexes are normal (except for the toe) ... he just can't hold it in normal position. He's got old dog feet, so they aren't as tight as they were when he was younger, but I'll provide comparison pics as well so you can see how odd it looks ... like a turkey!

Bad toe (side view)


Good foot (side view)



Bad toe (top view) - note scar on hock is 8 yrs old.


Good foot (top view)


Anyone have this happen with an old dog before?? History: Malcolm will be 10 in May and is very active. His toe was fine yesterday, so this happened overnight. He has a bad disk in his neck and if he jumps and lands wrong, it causes him to develop Horner's Syndrome for several days, but otherwise, he doesn't have any ortho issues.

[colliewog]

The crooked 'normal' toes are a normal thing in older Collies (and other long toed breeds I'm sure), so that's not a symptom of anything either.

[OutlineACDs]

Weird, I would get an xray just to see if its really not broken.

[colliewog]

Originally Posted by OutlineACDs

Weird, I would get an xray just to see if its really not broken.

Except for the fact he hasn't been anywhere or done anything since yesterday to have broken it, plus I can't illicit pain (he does have normal feeling) ... and there's no swelling.

[smkie]

Because of the type of arthritis Mary had her toes pointed in all kinds of directions that weren't normal. THe eventually swelled to half again their normal size.

[TexasRanger]

Could he have the first signs of arthritis? I just hope it's not CDD (Canine Degenerative Disk Disease)

[CharlieDog]

Wow. That is EXACTLY what Ozzys toe looks like, and I was JUST coming here to post a thread about it. It doesn't hurt him, I can manipulate it without a problem, and just like Mal, Ozzys other rear foot is perfectly normal.

However, I think Ozzy broke his and it healed like that. We play frisbee and he and Enzo play extremely hard in the yard and corner very sharply. He never showed signs of favoring it though, so maybe its dislocated? I don't know, but I'm going to take him in soon to have it looked at.

[colliewog]

Originally Posted by TexasRanger

Could he have the first signs of arthritis? I just hope it's not CDD (Canine Degenerative Disk Disease)

Sadly, I think this may be VERY early signs.

[smkie]

I sure hope it is neither.

[colliewog]

I think he already has arthritis in his neck, because he seems stiffer in cold weather. I'm afraid it's very early stages of spondylosis or something like that, but he's in great spirits and running around (and jumping) so there is no rear end weakness or any other signs of pain. I'm going to watch it for now, but figured I'd post in case anyone had run into this with their own dogs before.