I’m Emily and my dog Huxley’s front right paw has swelled significantly and it has yet to go down.
First two images from 7 am when swelling was found
Last image from around 9:30 pm the same day
Huxley is a blue Weimaraner and ten years old. I noticed the paw this morning and checked for any foreign objects stuck in between the toe pads but found nothing, nor any obvious indications of injury or insect bite. I gently pressed around on the swollen parts, which encompass the full paw, all toes, and extends up into the ankle, he neither cried nor tried to pull his paw away from me at any time leading me to believe it’s not painful when pressed. We have been dogsitting for a few family members at our home the past few days and he was more active than usual outside but I was with him the whole time and don’t remember a moment when he had cried out or otherwise seemed to have injured himself (but being so clumsy in general, a fall wouldn’t have been unusual).
He is favoring that foot a little when he walks but he also has an unknown genetic disorder which makes him incredibly poorly coordinated and unable to use his back legs independently so the extent to which it’s impacting his walking is hard to tell. He has been on a course of steroids for this problem consistently for the last 8 months or more but is not on any other medications. We gave him Benadryl throughout the day but saw no improvement in the swelling. Ice packs also didn’t seem to have much effect.
The paw is a little redder than usual but doesn’t seem to feel warmer than usual. His behavior is still pretty normal, still engaged and happy and he’s eating and drinking fine. He does have a habit of licking his front paws frequently that he’s been doing for the past several months or more
Overall it’s only been around 18 hours since I noticed it but since we don’t know the cause, it hasn’t gone down, and it’s so swollen the paw is ‘stiff’ or ‘tight’ with the amount of fluid inside we are wondering about what to do. Please help!!