Last Saturday I had a “walk in” – a very cute spaniel that was limping slightly and had a cut pad. The owner thought she might have trodden on something.
A good palpation didn’t seem to suggest the presence of any foreign body and the dog was very stoical. My previous experiences suggest any foreign material produces a lot of pain that is exacerbated by palpation – sometimes with dramatic effect!
However, the insistence of the owner made me look closer and I could just see a glint of a firm object deeply embedded in the pad. A pair of rat toothed forceps later and I extracted a 5mm slither of glass from the pad.
The result was a happy dog and owner, but oh – I could so easily have sent that poor dog away!