# My Dog's feet are swollen DVM Mommy... your input please



## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Not sure what is going on with my Olga.  Could just be old age. She is an 11 year old Rottweiler. Seems like in the last couple of months she has aged a lot and her 2 front feet are swollen. She lays around all the time and that just isn't like her. She acts depressed probably because she is hurting. She limps. She is slightly overweight, but not bad, just a little "fluffy". Last night I gave her 2 aspirin in a meatball. This morning she seemed somewhat better. I gave her 2 more aspirins this morning and she has seemed better today. Do you think this is arthritis? Does it usually affect their feet and cause swelling? I can't say as I have ever seen one with swollen feet before, but they are definitely painful. She stays inside our fenced in yard so she hasn't been out running too much or anything. Am I giving her enough aspirin? Will this hurt her stomach?


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## SALTCREEK_Nubians_Linda (Nov 13, 2007)

Goodness. Has she been getting a lot of extra exercise or walking on hot pavement? All four feet huh? Poor doggie.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

um snake bite or got into an ant bed with her front feet


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

In an older dog this is generally a sign of poor circulation as a result of heart disease or decreased kidney function- edema. You can massage to help move the fluids out.
Have you checked the pads for cracks? You may need to put some emollient on the feet if they stay swollen it can cause discomfort in the pad skin.
L~


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## dvm-mommy (Feb 5, 2009)

Hey Christine..

Any way you can get a pic? Not being from Texas, have no idea on the things that may be peculiar to your area (for example in San Diego, where i did a specialty stay with a very good clinic there..80% of the time if a dog came in with any sort of swelling or what-not...it was usually caused by a fox-tail)....but here ...if an older dog came in with swollen front feet, the things that would come to mind are circulatory issues from impaired lymphatic flow, heart issues, or problems with kidneys causing fluid retention (just as in people).
Can you tell if the swelling "pits" or not? As in if you press with your finger....is it soft, squishy and leave an indentation when you take your finger off? Other things like Sondra mentioned...bite/sting/etc....trauma of some sort, immune mediated disease causing "leaky vessels".....and hate to mention this, but in a rottweiler, we see an awful lot of cancer, especially bone. So if a tumor was postioned just right to impair lymphatic drainage to both front legs, I suppose this could cause it too. Less likely though. More often, a bony tumor causes a problem in a single leg and intereferes with drainage in that leg. Seems a bit unlikely to have a tumor in both front legs, but just thinking out loud. There are also 2 lymph nodes that sit in front of the shoulders at base of neck...prescapular lymph nodes..if theres are grotesquely swollen, as in a bad infection or lymphoma, they can also fail to drain front legs properly.

Any other symptoms? Vomiting, diarrhea? How's appetitie? Any changes in urintating or drinking?

We don't usually see arthritis cause swollen feet. If using aspirin, must be buffered or coated. When you ask if too much, depends on what strength (baby which is 81 mg, 325 mg or 500 mg), what size the dog is and how old. I generally go with a dose of 10 mg/pound of a BUFFERED OR COATED (cannot stress that enough)...you can tear their stomach up otherwise. Also would not use for a long period (more than a week)...can damage kidneys/liver. Keep to twice a day only. If there is any doubt to kidneys, I would discontinue aspirin until you get her checked out by vet. There are safer pain relievers we use in dogs if we suspect a compromise metabolically. I like Tramdol a lot- cheap and effective.

Things you can do now..if a pitting edema...massage upwards and use epsom salt soaks, can give benadryl, 1mg/lb three times a day in case you suspect bite/sting/etc.....hope she feels better...get her to a vet if you can.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Thank you so much for your responses. She does have a quarter size lump on the back of her neck that I have been watching for about a month. It has not changed. It is covered with hair (no hair loss in that area) and right about where the neck and shoulder meets. It is medium density, neither hard not soft. No hole in it, no draining. I really need to load her up and take her in to the vet. Thanks to you all.


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## shizny (Mar 27, 2017)

*My Dog has swollen paws and a quarter sized ...*

Hi Christine,

My 9 year old husky has recently been diagnosed with bone cancer. He has one leg amputated and now (4 months later) it seems that the remaining 3 feet are all swelling and he is low on energy and I can tell it hurts him to walk. He also has, and I kid you not, a quarter sized bump on the back of his neck. I'm guessing this is probably all related to the cancer but I wanted to check to see if you ever found out what was wrong with your pup in case it was something different than cancer. I know the post is so old... but worth a shot I guess.

Thanks,
Josh


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