I took Lucy to see the vet today. I wanted the vet to look at the sore on her toe-pad and to make sure the nail she broke off on Saturday was not infected.
The vet said that the toe was slightly infected and re-wrapped it after cleaning it a bit — it looks like one of those casts that football players wear on a broken hand. She prescribed some antibiotics as well and we’re headed back next Wednesday to see how it’s healing.
My vet is still not convinced that we won’t have to amputate the leg. If we can’t keep get the toe to heal it will be a never-ending battle with the ulcers and eventually the toe will become very infected. I asked if perhaps instead of taking the whole leg we could just amputate the outside toe, since it is not really a weight-bearing part of the foot. The vet was not sure that would help, since the ulcers appeared to be caused in part by Lucy’s unorthodox walking manner.
The vet was impressed by how much Lucy uses the leg and how well she walks and carries her weight on it, but she is really trying to manage my expectations by keeping the idea of amputation in my mind.