Diagnosis: dainty feet

No soon as I'd settled myself back at home in Aberdeen, than I was bundled into the car first thing Tuesday morning and told we were going on some sort of a 'special' visit to Glasgow.

I should have realised it was not going to be a good sort of 'special' when Gail refused to give me any breakfast.

After hours of driving, and some not very polite language from behind the steering wheel as we negotiated the complex tangle of city centre motorways, Gail pulled up on this rather unpromising looking street.

We then went for a short walk around the neighbourhood and for a moment I got quite excited when I spotted the famous Ibrox stadium, thinking perhaps we were headed for an 'Old Firm' football game, and wishing I knew the lyrics to 'The Sash'.

But then we turned around and I was directed up the steps of a fine sandstone terraced building.

And the reason for the 'special' trip became clear.

I confess, having seen the other patients in the waiting room, to being somewhat relieved when I was quickly ushered in to the office of dermatology specialist Peter Forsythe.

Gosh Mr Forsythe asked a lot of questions about my paws. He tried to examine the pads, although I was not too keen on that idea. He observed that I have very compact, dainty feet, well formed but with deeper clefts between the pads than is common, and this combined with the abundant wiry fur between the pads means that mud and dirt gets impacted (despite daily paw washes) and this is likely the root cause of my interdigital cysts.

He said it wasn't worthwhile testing for allergies as I didn't have any other symptoms of 'atopic dermatitis'.

He said a lot more stuff too, which I can't quite remember.

Then Gail abandoned me (again!) and things went a bit blurry for a couple of hours. On waking up, my paws felt oddly clean and bare, the fur between the pads having been trimmed away.

And so ended my 'special' day in Glasgow.

PS from Gail: Bertie's frequently recurring problem with inter-digital cysts prompted the regular vet in Aberdeen to refer Bertie to a dermatology specialist. I had expected the specialist to test Bertie for allergies, but he explained carefully why he thought that the problem lay elsewhere, saying that an allergic condition would affect more that just Bertie's feet, and in fact the rest of his skin is in great condition. So the current theory is that dirt combined with hair gets impacted in the deeper than normal clefts between Bertie's paw pads and 'foreign bodies' enter his feet causing an inflammation reaction which manifests itself as swellings (the so-called interdigital cysts) on the upper side of his paw. Until now, I had been concentrating on washing the upper side of Bertie's paws but the new instruction is to try to clean the undersides thoroughly too, still using the antimicrobial solution 'Hibiscrub' (containing chlorhexidine) as before. I am not confident that Bertie will cooperate with a routine of rigorous washing between his pads. We shall see… The situation will be reviewed again in a couple of months. I'm pleased to report that, at least for the moment, Bertie is walking fine and his paws are not swollen.

Not so sure about this Apoquel stuff...

The vet gave me some new pills last week, a drug called Apoquel, to calm down my inflamed paws. (Both front paws are now affected with these horrid interdigital cysts.)

I took my first tablet on Wednesday evening, with my meal, and it slipped down nicely. But in the middle of the night, I started to feel queasy and my supper reappeared in slightly altered form on the bed I share with Gail.

When Gail woke up in the morning she didn't seem too happy. 

But she gave me another tablet in the morning, and went to work looking worried, leaving me in my lampshade.

By midday when my dog walker George arrived I had 'decorated' my lampshade with my regurgitated breakfast. I totally refused to go out for a walk with him.

A little bit later my nice neighbour Neil came over and carried me across the road to his and Yvonne's house. I like it there, and I even roused myself for a few minutes to explore their back garden.

When Gail turned up later, muttering something about a busy project at work, I thought she might have sprouted a few additional grey hairs.

She did cook me a nice dish of chicken and rice, and gave me another of these tablets.

Since then, I have been having chicken and rice and Apoquel twice a day but I must say my paws are still very itchy and very sore, and I have been feeling so tired and generally unwell these last couple of days that I can't even be bothered to follow Gail around the house like I usually do when she is at home. I just lie immobile on the sofa, feeling sorry for myself. 

As for walks, well NO THANK YOU!

I guess Gail doesn't like her new grey (strictly 'even greyer') look because I heard her say on the phone to a friend that she is "tearing her hair out"...

Oh and apparently I am due to visit the vet again on Wednesday.

PS from Gail: A big thank you to all of you who responded to my last blog post with helpful suggestions. I do appreciate your advice and support. I am trying soaking his paws in warm water and Epsom salts (which he seems to find soothing at least), and am reconsidering his diet. Bertie has had these interdigital cysts before, but has never been as lame or miserable as he is just now. I shall continue giving him the Apoquel tablets until we next see the vet, but as far as I can tell they are not doing him any good at all. It has been a difficult week.

Bertie's poorly paw

Gail here:

The photos above sum up Bertie's last couple of weeks. His problem with inter-digital cysts has flared up with a vengeance, and it has become increasingly clear that the root cause is an allergic response to we know not what. He is very reluctant to put any weight on the affected paw, and becomes (understandably) aggressive if I go anywhere near it.

The vet is on the case and has today prescribed some new medication (Apoquel). Googling this drug comes up with a lot of scary stuff, but just now Bertie is clearly in pain and thoroughly miserable too, so, with some reluctance, I have decided to go along with the vet's recommendation and give him a short course of these tablets in the hope of calming the inflammation. He has been on antibiotics and painkillers for twelve days, and although these may have done some good they have not resolved the underlying issue. It has reached the point where Bertie will scarcely walk at all. If I take him outside he just stands in the street looking bewildered and disorientated.

I so miss having my wee pal bouncing happily around the house, and hate to see him in distress. I hope to have something more positive to report before too long.

Bertie is working hard (bless his cotton socks)

I want you to know that I have been working hard analysing the data you all so kindly provided for my Pee-hD thesis. Gosh, when I asked you to tell me how long you can go without needing a 'comfort break', for sure it was like I tapped into a full bladder of information and it all came gushing out...

I am aiming have my thesis ready to present (and defend) on Monday 21 November.

If you are wondering why I am wearing these silly socks, well it is 'cos this week  I have had another flare up of the horrid interdigital cyst problem I get from time to time. Gail is making me wear the socks indoors to stop me licking and chewing my paws.

I was limping so badly earlier in the week I even had to go to the vet. Can you believe, she actually wanted to touch my paws, despite them being ever so sore! I was prescribed some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory tablets.  By this morning my feet were feeling a bit better and I enjoyed a wee run in the park before knuckling down to my research.

In the wars

I had a wee argument with Gail, my 'owner', about the content of today's post.

You see, I wanted to tell you about some health problems I've been having lately. But Gail said that I shouldn't bore everyone with these issues as they are not too serious, and why not show some nice photos from our recent weekend in Torridon instead?

I countered that certain other members of her family never hold back when it comes to discussing their ailments at great length, so why should I be expected to behave differently?

To which Gail replied, OK Bertie, you have a point.

So we agreed a compromise. I'll tell you about my sore paws and my cough, interleaved with some images from our west coast trip.

Now, you might remember I had problems with a so-called 'interdigital cyst' on my left front paw earlier in the year. Gosh, I swallowed bucket loads of anti-biotics but it just kept getting reinfected. Later, in June, another cyst thingy appeared on my right front paw this time. It was ever so painful for a while but eventually both paws healed up.

Then a few weeks ago, same thing again, left front foot. Gail knew by now that regular post-walk soaks in chlorhexidine solution were key to keeping the sore spot from getting reinfected and it went away quite quickly this time (although Gail wants me to tell you she did sacrifice going on her annual geological field trip with her colleagues to stay home and care for me at the end of September).

Just when my feet were fine again, a new trouble, I began to cough. Occasionally at first, and then more and more often. I thought that thing whereby the vet squirts horrid stuff up your nose once a year was supposed to prevent these coughs, but it seems I got the worst of both worlds this time. And Gail was all grumpy 'cos she said I kept waking her in the night. As if it were my fault. At least she got to meet some early morning guests.

BTW, the only dogs I was allowed near while I was coughing were these rather wooden fellows we spotted in a little park by a church in Keith.

I would have liked to visit with this fellow (the dog not the skeleton) last weekend, but Gail said I must keep away.

By Monday this week I'd stopped coughing and guess what?

The next day I woke up and my left rear paw was all sore. No way was I going to put any weight on it, so I made sure Gail carried me downstairs to breakfast.

And that's how things are just now. I'm told yet another trip to the vet is in the offing...