Sore and Swollen Paws

[my3beagles]

My 4-year-old Beagle (Lady) has all four paws swollen and raw. Our vet has her on an antibiotic and a steroid for a possible autoimmune issue. Unfortunately her paws continue to get worse and not we are seeing some of the same skin lesions starting on her nose.

Here is the history. Around 4 weeks ago she came in with a limp on her front paw. We watched it for a day and brought her into the vet. The vet thought it a strain and prescribed Rimadyl. After a few days’ sores started to form on her paws and they became very tender. Lady stopped walking in the yard and had to be carried outside to go to the bathroom. (After she was done she would run back inside). We stopped the Rimadyl and took her back to the vet. At first they thought it was a chemical burn from something in our yard. We explained we do not use lawn chemicals in the dog’s area and that our other two Beagles were fine. The paws were bandaged and she went home with an antibiotic (Seftbs). After a few days the paws did not improve and she seemed to develop a fever. We brought her back to the vet and they decided it was an autoimmune issue. She was given a shot of Prednisone and had her paws re-bandaged. The vet also ran a CBC which came back pretty much normal (slightly elevated white blood cell count). The next day Lady’s paws started to swell and my wife had to cut off the bandages. The paws smelled quite bad and were about 1-½ times their normal size. The pads were raw and some of the pad skin had come off. We took her in again and she was given a shot of Seftbs and has the new pills of Antirobe and Presdnisone.

Aside from getting the paws healed, we are also looking for what set her off. As mentioned above our other two dogs are fine. Here is what we see as possibilities:

1) Food allergy - We ran out of her normal food (Nutro) and did give her Iams for two weeks. She has been back on the Nutro for about three days now.
2) Stress - We did have the Neighbor’s dog over to play right before the limping started. They did not get along but there was no fighting.
3) Bite - A few days ago we did find a small snake in our yard. It slithered out of the fenced area before we could identify what type it was. It was only about a foot long and best guess is a Garner Snake.

This is our mystery. Any input would be helpful.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

What your describing, it all sounds to me like the classic clinical signs of toxicity. I'm afraid I can't really give you any ideas as to what it might be though.

One thing that does come to mind....do you use a water softener and if so, where do you keep your salt?

[my3beagles]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately we don't have a water softener. The yard is pesticide free. There are some strange looking mushrooms/fungus that do grow occationally.

There was one more piece of information. She does have a yeast infection in her ear. What we learned from the previous owner that she is pre-disposed to getting these.