QUESTION
Our 4 year old Lab has been to the vet twice with a paw problem. It started out looking like a puncture between his toes. The vet thought he might have a seed or similar stuck below the skin level. We did antibiotics, soaks, ointment, etc. It never got any better. It now looks like a black lesion. I noticed yesterday that another place is starting on the other paw. It looks exactly like the other one when it first started. This is painful because he limps and resist having his paws touched. Do you have any suggestions on what this might be. I don't think there is something stuck in his paw.
Regina Seeley
ANSWER
Dear Regina,
When you get swellings between the toes like that they are usually associated with either a foreign body like a grass seed or with a cystic structure. Labradors are quite common to develop cysts which the only way of eliminating is surgical removal. They are however very common to be multiple in the one dog so I tend only to operate where they are causing a problem. Often these cysts when they form are actually impacted with hair and sebaceous material and it is when they rupture that the dog becomes lame.
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