My friend has a dog that has been going through a medical crisis. The dog has been seen and is still being seen by a variety of vets. I know that sometimes there are more natural healing medicines and stuff that vets don't always know about. I was wondering if anyone would know of something that she could put on her dogs paw to help it heal it is pretty much an open wound from what I can gather and was wrapped in a bootie but gets infected easily. although the antibiotics helped with the infection she is sure it will come back even though she keeps it very clean because of it being on his paw and the constant pressure on it. Being an older dog it is not healing quickly and she is looking for something that might help. Any advise is welcome, I am not expecting miracles but thought it couldn't hurt to ask...
The dogs full medical history is below, I have cut and pasted it from her letter in case that helps at all.
10 year old male West Highland Terrier with a sarcoma on right paw (near declaw). Tumor removed on 12/4/08. The area became infected and was treated with 3 weeks of bandage changes, antibiotics, pain killers, etc. The following is the advice from the vets:
1. Family vet missed the growth when examining him for routine check on 11/5/08. She removed the growth on 12/4 and told us on 12/11 that is it was a malignant growth. She explained that sarcomas recur at the site quickly and can metastasize. She recommended seeing an oncologist.
2. Oncologist (who was not Board Certified) on 12/17 told us that the tumor had invaded his entire paw, with an MRI, and the only possible cure was to amputate his leg. She told us to keep the bandages on and a bootie. His gait began to suffer. The cancer did NOT metastasize (enlarged lymph node aspiration)
3. We took him to a board certified internal medicine vet who said that the paw was infected because of wearing bootie all the time. It has taken us weeks to eliminate the infection. He is eating and moving on all four legs but is wary of jumping off sofas, chairs, etc. This vet also stated that cancer is only proved through biopsy and not an MRI - and it could have been infection and not tumor. She recommended radiation which, after I investigated, is not always successful and has many side effects. He has been though too much up to this point and we are not considering radiation (at least $4000).
4. We have an appt with a holistic vet who, before the appt, has switched all his food to human grade. Our Westie is otherwise very healthy, heart, lungs, skin, weight, eyes, etc.
The dogs full medical history is below, I have cut and pasted it from her letter in case that helps at all.
10 year old male West Highland Terrier with a sarcoma on right paw (near declaw). Tumor removed on 12/4/08. The area became infected and was treated with 3 weeks of bandage changes, antibiotics, pain killers, etc. The following is the advice from the vets:
1. Family vet missed the growth when examining him for routine check on 11/5/08. She removed the growth on 12/4 and told us on 12/11 that is it was a malignant growth. She explained that sarcomas recur at the site quickly and can metastasize. She recommended seeing an oncologist.
2. Oncologist (who was not Board Certified) on 12/17 told us that the tumor had invaded his entire paw, with an MRI, and the only possible cure was to amputate his leg. She told us to keep the bandages on and a bootie. His gait began to suffer. The cancer did NOT metastasize (enlarged lymph node aspiration)
3. We took him to a board certified internal medicine vet who said that the paw was infected because of wearing bootie all the time. It has taken us weeks to eliminate the infection. He is eating and moving on all four legs but is wary of jumping off sofas, chairs, etc. This vet also stated that cancer is only proved through biopsy and not an MRI - and it could have been infection and not tumor. She recommended radiation which, after I investigated, is not always successful and has many side effects. He has been though too much up to this point and we are not considering radiation (at least $4000).
4. We have an appt with a holistic vet who, before the appt, has switched all his food to human grade. Our Westie is otherwise very healthy, heart, lungs, skin, weight, eyes, etc.
. Having owned three over the years I must say they are one of the few small breeds that I really love.
