Interdigital cysts

Anyone else deal with cysts on their paws?

A few years ago I had Katy and her beagle brother with a kennel that I'd used several times in the past. When I picked them up, though, I saw her paw was swollen and bleeding! I was livid that the kennel hadn't noticed! So I took her straight to the vet, he said that she had a very "angry" interdigital cyst that had ruptured.

Antibiotics, Prednisone, and a type of shampoo just for her foot was the prescription, and it went away within about a week.

After that, though, she had a large cyst show up on her back, another one on her butt (unseen until it ruptured), and about every 3 months she has another one in the same place on her front paw. It's been a few years since she's had a cyst anywhere other than her front paw.

It seems like cheese could be a trigger :-O Which really sucks, since she loves cheese so much!! But yesterday I made dinner with shredded cheese and one piece fell in the floor that she nabbed, and today it looks like a cyst is coming up. Even with her at the end of a round of Prednisone!

Any other treatments I should consider, or triggers that I should avoid?

 

Yes, the first several times he gave her an antibiotic and Prednisone. By the third time they didn't seem to work as well anymore, and I got worried about her having so many antibiotics for fear of creating superbugs! And I'm concerned that could be a potential cause for her stroke; bacteria built up in her blood that wouldn't go away.

He hasn't suggested anything else, and acts like it's nothing to worry about. But it sure looks painful, and they obviously bother her!

 

That's a good thought, I'll try it tonight. I usually use the drying shampoo that the vet gave me (just on her paw, not all over), it seems to help a little but it's a pain to do. You have to keep massaging it for several minutes! She doesn't like for you to hold her paw for more than a few seconds, anyway, so it's a constant fight.

Bentonite clay was another recommendation, which we have on hand for our own facial mud masks (mix with Apple cider vinegar). During a previous flare-up I tried it, keeping it dusty for her and spread it on by hand. It didn't seem to have an impact, she just licked it right off :-/ With this being on her toes I haven't found anything that will cover it to keep her from licking.

 

Update on this:

Long story short: L-Lysine for the win!!!

Long story:

A few months ago I was researching ways to prevent a flare up, and came across a list of foods to avoid: popcorn, peanut butter, and other things that are high in arginine.

Now, when I was younger I would get cold sores ALL the time (often lasting for months), and at some point in my life I came across that same list as triggers for cold sores! Since then, I began taking L-Lysine as a preventative (1g /day as a preventative, every other hour during a flare up), and now I might get a small one once a year! Which is a HUGE improvement!! But I also know that arginine is a trigger for the cold sores.

So when I saw that arginine is a trigger for an interdigital cyst, too, I started researching L-Lysine for dogs. Lysine is found naturally in food (especially in beans), so it's a natural amino acid that is perfectly safe. And you can't overdose on it; if you take more than your body can process, it'll just pass on through like food.

I found this on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RYZY6VS/

I've been sprinkling a heaping 1/8 of a teaspoon on her meals every day since early December, and the cyst has almost completely gone away!!

There might be better or cheaper brand options, this was just the one that I chose. The container is still about 1/3 full, so I guess it will last another month or so. I know it's working, though, so I'll probably stick with the same one.

Full disclosure, in the last couple of weeks she's started having red and itchy pads, primarily on the same foot as the cyst! But with warmer weather and obvious weed growth in the yard, I think it's an allergic reaction to allergens and totally unrelated to the cyst or lysine.