When our greyhound got a hard yellow lump on his paw, we feared the worst. But life can give you lemons in a good way – Helen Martin

Our new greyhound Barney had a front paw pad problem in his first few weeks with us – pieces of grit in his pad.

The lump mystified staff at Helen's vets until the most senior vet arrived to reveal it was, in fact, a lemon drop

He was limping and had to have the grit removed, the pad sewn up and was wearing a baby sock and a greyhound boot for a couple of weeks. Then he completely recovered.

The other night he appeared to be chewing his rear foot. It was the next morning I examined his paw and in between his pads was a discoloured, yellow, hard, pus-appearing lump looking like a horrific infection.

He wasn’t limping but he couldn’t stop trying to chew his paw. Was it a tumour? Why was it so large and discoloured?

We had an urgent appointment at the vets, and at first among the vet and nurses, no-one had seen this condition before. It was a mystery.

The most senior vet was called in and fortunately he had dealt with a similar “injury” in the last two weeks. He revealed it was... a sticky lemon drop – a sucking sweetie Barney had stood on, and which had got jammed and stuck in between his toes at the bottom of his paw.

Warm water to melt the sugar seemed to be the “veterinary process” and it eventually popped out.

Helen Martin's new greyhound Barney developed a hard, yellow lump on his paw that he kept licking, prompting a trip to the vet

Anyway, its removal, thanks to such an expert, cost £44! Happily it was not something dangerous and a medical disaster costing hundreds. But I will not be claiming that from Barney’s insurance, it’s just too embarrassing.

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