Blog

One of my favorite cases was the case of a limping dog.  He had become very lame very suddenly and the owner brought him to be examined.  His right front leg was painful and he was holding his paw up.  Upon further examination I noticed a small wound on what would be the underside of his wrist.  It was minor and healing.  We took a radiograph of the leg and saw nothing abnormal so I put the leg in a splint for a week and put him on antibiotics. 

A week later I removed the splint.  As I was unrolling the bandage material and got to the last layer I noticed something under the gauze wrapping next to his skin on the upper side of his wrist.  As I slowly rolled the gauze wrapping away I saw a foxtail (piece of plant material), stuck in the gauze and exit a hole on the upper side of his wrist.  

 The foxtail had migrated from the underside of his wrist, navigated around the tiny wrist bones and the soft tissue, and exited from the top side all in a week.  That was one of the most remarkable "foxtail cases" I have ever seen.