Raw paw pad - Page 1

My 2 yo male chewed his paw raw, and the vet, after giving a steroid injection, scripts for antibioticcs and pregnasone, and wrapping the paw for a few days, said the cause could easily be allergies. He has been chewing his other paw as well, and gnawing some on his flank. I have an appointment in a few days to remove the bandage. Any suggestions on specific questions for the vet? I understand that this is a fairly common problem, and am interested in your experiences.

While I have heard that mites can cause this type of condition, I would think they would probably show themselves much sooner on another body part. I tend to think that it is an allergy rather than a mite infestation. An allergy to what; who knows? Possibly the particular brand of food that he receives. Possibly some chemical substance in his environment. Past that, dogs do have sweat glands on their feet, and one (1) could be infected. But, you said that he is chewing another paw and his flank. So, it is probably not a sweat gland inflammation. The steriod injection and the prednesone (another steriod) work by suppressing the immune system so that the pain/itch will subside and allow the body to heal. Steriods really do not fix anything by themselves, but they do allow the body to make repairs without interference by parts of the immune system. They ARE NOT a long-term solution for any type of malady, and I am sure that your veterinarian knows this. Finding the cause will be time-consuming, and I would first look at the easiest thing to change, and that would be the brand of food. Can anyone else offer more advise for this situation? Bob-O

Hi Phoebe, Bob-O is right - have a look at the food that you are feeding. You may need to change to something containing lamb or turkey as it's primary ingredient so that you can rule out a food intolerance. Canned food is notorious here for causing these sorts of issues. The other likely culprit when we have this problem in Australia, is grass allergy. Australian grass sure isn't growing at present but I presume that American grass is? Pads are affected first because they have the most contact with the ground and then usually bellies and flanks follow, sometimes even faces are affected. You may also be coming into contact with other allergic ground covers, such as Wandering Jew, so have a look around. See if you can get some paw protectant such as Paw Wax, that provides a physical barrier between the pad and the ground - that usually helps if you are able to keep it on the pad by frequent application. Good luck with solving this.

Sounds like Canine Atopy - common in GSD had one myself. You can get an allergy test done which will tell you the culprits and then try desensitising injections which will cost the earth and really does not do much. There is a drug on the market which does help which uses the drug to stop organ rejection again very expensive. The best I found was natural diet, a good antihistimine and several fish oil capules a day I think I used 6 per day in food. This is for life. If you have a flare up you may need antibiotics for any secondary skin infections. usually worse in summer than winter - more pollen etc around. If bathing use cool water and baby shampoo - tried all the oatmeal, colloidial, special shampoos all failed baby shampoo the best.You want to soothe the skin not irritate it. Maybe a zinc/biotin supplement also. Good luck

Bottom of Paws versus the Top I was talking with my vet last week about allergies and he mentioned the following… 1) When you dog is licking the bottom of his paws, the most likely cause is walking through/exposure to some type of cleaning solution, or some other foreign agent that the bottom of his feet were exposed to. 2) When dogs lick the top of their feet it is most likely environmental, pollen or other common allergies.