Oct 08, 2020

Hunny's Superficial Flexor Tenotomy

Hunny is a corn sufferer. She's what's affectionately known as a 'corn-dog". Corns are peculiar to sighthounds, with almost no other breed afflicted by them.

We've been superficially managing Hunny's corns for almost two years. That's included participating in controlled global experiments with cancer creams, two bouts of unsuccessful surgery involving many weeks of post operative recovery, along with countless hullings and manual corn removal, only to have them grow back.

The most current ones are small, do not protrude her paw surface and are very deep. What is noticeable is these smaller corns are more painful then her original larger corns. It is as though all the treatments have caused them to evolve into a 'hybrid corn' that is really quite nasty and extremely painful.

She's been ok wearing boots on walks, but barefoot in the house, she has been sullen, lame and wouldn't eat.

Her vets, Dr Bec and Craig Goode who had been on her entire journey put her on a course of antibiotics and pain meds to make sure she wasn't carrying an infection in her three affected paws.

The difference in Hunny's demeanour was nothing short of miraculous. She was clearly happy, playful, hungry, eager to go on walks, and frolicked in the park like a spring lamb!

As soon as she came off the pain medication, she withdrew to how she was before. We collectively decided it was her time for the Superficial Flexor Tenotomy (SFT) procedure on three of her feet to improve the quality of her life.

An SFT involves the releasing of the tendon, which relieves the downward pressure of the affected toes. This newly modified procedure again drops the toe, but not as radically as the initial concept. The end result is a more natural looking toe, pain almost instantly relieved and a corn that will exfoliate itself in a matter of weeks.

If you have any doubts on whether your greyhound is affected by corns and pain in their lifestyle, ask your vet for a short course of pain medication and see if there's a difference in their demeanour.

In Hunny's case, it was night and day.

Hunny had the SFT procedure last Monday under the care of Drs Bec and Craig Goode of the Port Phillip Animal Hospital in Melbourne Australia, who kindly documented her day in the hospital with photos to share.