inverted papiloma viral-related tumour

[Lawana]

I was looking for info and found a post by a lady with a Great Dane in June 2008 who seemed to have the same trouble on his front paw. My 9 year old Eskimo, Tundra, went in to the vet in February because of a small protrusion between his toes on his right front foot. It was determined that he would need surgery as it was getting worse and not responding to antibiotics after one week. The mass was sent away and it was determined to be this papiloma tumour. Our vet assured me it was benign. Before he healed from the surgery the tumour returned much bigger. It has been 13 days now since his second surgery and my little guy still acts like a 3-legged dog about half of the time. He spends the vast majority of his time outside day and night; and being April here it is snowy/slushy/wet so I have his 'vet wrapped' foot in 2 baggies tied off with an elastic and then his winter boot over that as a moisture barrier. For 5 days now I have been able to keep him inside for a couple of hours at a time and keep the bandages off. We go for short occasional walks still. He has also licked his dew claw and area very raw now too.

It seems like such a long time healing that I wonder if there is something I can do to help his body heal or his immune system fight this. He is a raw fed dog and his appetite is normal. The second surgery removed tissue the size of 1/3 of my pinkie. Instead of stitches he was cauterized. He was on antibiotics for 10 days and a painkiller for the first 4 days. He used to have ointment too. I don't know if he is just healing slower than I would hope or if it seems longer because this is the second time around. Or, if the growth is coming back! I don't want to spread his healing tissue to give you a picture. Fortunately this is the only time we have ever needed our vet beyond annual checkups. Any thoughts on how I can help him or on his condition would be much appreciated. Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give you enough info. so you knew what was going on. Thanks so much.
~Lawana

[rainbow]

I remember that thread ....do the pics look the same as the growth on your dog?

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=611917

[rainbow]

If it is not bumpy in appearance it could be an interdigital cyst ...

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/in...m/bc/70800.htm

[Lawana]

Hello Rainbow,
Thanks for your response. It did look similar to the Great Dane's tumour but both the growth and the foot were quite a bit smaller! Tundra's is very low between his toes, just barely above his outer pad. It is difficult to get a good look at it as it seems to cause him a lot of discomfort and I am leary of spreading his toes much since surgery as I don't want to disturb the new healing tissue. The first growth was fairly smooth but the second one looked more bumpy. Thank you for the link. We sent away the first one to 'the lab' and they came back with the results of it being a papiloma tumour. I saw the piece that was removed the first time and the part that was inside the foot was smooth and football shaped; reminded me of the cartilege found when cutting a chicken. Now, it is quite runny still as there is goop left on the gauze everyday and we are at day 14 now since surgery #2. It is very pink and raw looking inside, but not red. Around the one outer edge of the wound seems like a raised little edge that is whitish and kind if spongy looking. I'm hoping it is just the tissue healing and not evidence of the growth returning once again. Tundra has had a very sore/unuseable foot for over a month now!