Help Needed! Interdigital cysts - what is the cause and what is best way to treat it?

Jeffrey

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Aug 10, 2012
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Hi All,

Im looking for some advice. My bulldog Hero has been suffering from interdigital cysts quite often of late. He is 9yrs old and it seems to be getting more frequent and serious each time. We have been soaking his paw in Epsom salt water and had some success but is there anyway to prevent this or is there a more effective treatment for it that we can try?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!
 

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2BullyMama

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They are usually caused by an allergy.... could be food or environmental. Wipe his paws when you come in from outside and see it if helps... Benedryl can help lessen the swelling too (1 mg per pond) up to 3x a day.
If it is food... it could be grains or chicken ... what are you feeding?
 

Biogirl71

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Has anything changed environmentally to maybe aggravate the condition? It does sound like you are doing the right thing with Epsom salt soaks. When Frank gets them, we soak 3 times a day for at least five minutes each time, then carefully pat dry.
An alternative would be warm compresses as well with a topical antibiotic ointment. If Epsom salts aren't seeming effective, a diluted solution of chlorhexidine can be used to soak the paw.
 

Davidh

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Yep, usually allergies. Lucy used to get them until we changed her food, and she no longer gets them.
 

1Chumly

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We had this problem when we first got Monty. The vet gave him some drops called Synotic which cleared it up quickly. I looked it up and it says it is for ear infections but it maybe has other uses! We don't have much luck with the soaks so at the first sign of swelling I squirt his paw with Vetericyn and massage it in all around and it seems to take care of it after a couple of days. Poor Hero.
 

Akburnett

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My dog starting having problems with these as well over the last year and we were doing Epsom salt soaks and using malacetic wipes but they started to get worse this summer especially after we went on vacation for 2 weeks. So we took her to the vet right away when we returned and she felt they we should first try an antibiotic and apoquel ( non-steroidal allergy med) to get the outbreak under control. She took the apoquel twice a day for 2 weeks and now she takes it just once day and age finished the course of antibiotic which was almost 2 months. Her paws are completely healed and starting looking better within the first week of taking the meds. We have always fed her grain free food and typically use lamb, fish, or turkey. The vet told us it could be food allergies or just a seasonal allergy but it can take years to figure out what's causing the issue. So now she takes the apoquel once a day for now. I probably will try and take her off for the winter and see if it's maybe a seasonal thing.
 
OP
Jeffrey

Jeffrey

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Hi All,

Thanks for all the great advice. We feed him Acana dry dog food and is grain-free and he has been on this food for nearly 8months without any problems. We have been continuing with the Epsom Salt soaking twice a day for around 6-8minutes each time and on also applying Daktarin Gold cream after each soak and using a sock so he does not lick it. After around 2-3days there has been improvement so feeling a lot more relaxed now. Here are some pics of how it is looking now.
IMG_4996.JPGIMG_4995.JPG

Thanks for all your help and will post update after another few days.
 

1Chumly

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Do you get the Canadian Acana or the new USA ones? They have recently started manufacturing in Kentucky and they have changed all their recipes. If you get the Canadian food you should be fine. I have just taken Monty off Acana because of this as we can only get the USA formulas now. He had a bad outbreak of yeast. I'm not sure if that was the cause but I am not taking any chances.
 
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Jeffrey

Jeffrey

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Do you get the Canadian Acana or the new USA ones? They have recently started manufacturing in Kentucky and they have changed all their recipes. If you get the Canadian food you should be fine. I have just taken Monty off Acana because of this as we can only get the USA formulas now. He had a bad outbreak of yeast. I'm not sure if that was the cause but I am not taking any chances.

I think it is the Canadian Acana but not 100% sure because we order online. I have another bully called Saber (20months) and he is fine but because Hero is much older (9yrs) i was unsure if it is because interdigital cysts are more prone to older dogs? Anyway, the treatment of soaking the affected paw with Epsom salt twice a day and applying the Daktarin Gold cream seems to be working and the swelling of the cyst has gone down noticeably and not as red as a few days ago.
 

1Chumly

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Glad to hear Hero is much improved!

Just as an FYI, the Canadian Acana is sold in 28lb (13k) bags, the USA Acana is now in 25lb (11k) bags, an easy way to check.
 
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Jeffrey

Jeffrey

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Glad to hear Hero is much improved!

Just as an FYI, the Canadian Acana is sold in 28lb (13k) bags, the USA Acana is now in 25lb (11k) bags, an easy way to check.

Thanks for the info. The Acana bags we order has always been the 13kg Grasslands and Pacifica bags but the prices have gone up and are now around $130 per bag where i am (shanghai) :fie:
 
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Jeffrey

Jeffrey

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rjisaterp

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[MENTION=5683]Jeffrey[/MENTION] We also used Vetericyn after the soaks and it too seemed to help with the cysts.

Because of the heavy morning dew, we are also drying paws after coming in. That really cut down on Jewel and Bentley licking their paws to death (almost).

Bentley has numerous allergies to food and we found a food that now has halted his reactions. We use Fromm's Pork and Applesauce. The food has cut down on him scratching ferociously a while after eating.
 
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Jeffrey

Jeffrey

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Jeffrey, Hero and Saber
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@Jeffrey We also used Vetericyn after the soaks and it too seemed to help with the cysts.

Because of the heavy morning dew, we are also drying paws after coming in. That really cut down on Jewel and Bentley licking their paws to death (almost).

Bentley has numerous allergies to food and we found a food that now has halted his reactions. We use Fromm's Pork and Applesauce. The food has cut down on him scratching ferociously a while after eating.

Thanks for the advice. I will see if we can find Vetericyn here. We don't have any problems with scratching but have been noticing that our boy Hero is shedding a lot lately but our other boy Saber is not so still in two minds on if we should change the dog food. :unsure:
 

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