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My diabetic pug's infected toe isn't getting better. Should I worry?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Pug | Male | neutered | 11 years and 6 months old | 25 lbs

I took my 11 yr old diabetic pug to the vet 1 week ago for a swollen toe. He said the nail bed was infected and there was a cyst and gave him a shot and Clindamycin 150 BID for 2 weeks. First photo was before vet. Second is today. Should I be worried? He has 1 week left of meds. Just concerned that i should see more improvement. It leaked for a couple days last week and not much since. Hasn’t missed a dose of meds at all. He acts fine. Eats and is alert. Doesn’t “baby” the paw at all.

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Linda G, MS, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on March 30th, 2022

Hello. I am so sorry for your worries with MuShu. It looks like the toe has made great progress on the antibiotics, so stay the course on the antibiotics & hopefully the toe infection will be resolved once the antibiotics are finished. If not, do stay in contact with your veterinarian in case another round of antibiotics are required. Thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on March 31st, 2022

    Poor MuShu! I agree that there doesn't seem to be much significant difference between the left-hand photos and the right one, considering that he's been on antibiotics for eight days now. With a swollen toe like this that is not responding to meds, we often become concerned that something more serious may be going on. Certain types of cancer can present like this (particularly things like squamous cell caricinoma, or melanoma), but it could also be something less common such as a fungal infection, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection, or osteomyelitis (infection of the underlying bone). Given the lack of improvement, I would recommend taking MuShu back to the vet for a recheck, to discuss what they would suggest as the next diagnostic steps from here. Possible options could include x-rays of the affected digit, a needle aspirate or biopsy of the area, bacterial culture of any discharge that may be present, or even amputation of the affected toe, so that the entire thing can be sent to the lab for histopathology. I do take non-improving swollen toes quite seriously in my patients, since cancer is such a common potential cause for this - so I'm glad you asked, and I would definitely get your pup back in to the vet's office to have it rechecked and discuss next steps.

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