Paw Licking

[rocco24]

Hello everyone! It’s seems I’ve had a problem with Rocco licking his paws for quite some time now and I’m not sure how to get him to stop. I fed him Victor puppy food as that was what the person we got him from was feeding him so we continued. After I found you guys I switched him to the Fromm puppy food instead but didn’t really make a change to the paw licking and only made the tear stains worse. I tried to switch it to the Fromm White trout recipe but he threw that up so I stopped giving it to him. I recently starting adding home cooked recipe of ground turkey, brown rice & veggies which I was eventually hoping to just transition him to this completely with no kibble but I feel that now the paw licking has gotten worse. Not really sure where to go from here so any tips would help!

 

[anatess]

Okay, paw licking can be caused by many different things. I'll just mention the most common here. If this becomes troublesome, might be a good idea to talk to your vet.

1.) Environmental allergies - as it seems focused on the paws, this one can possibly come from certain types of weeds or grass in his walking area. If there's a place you can take him that is soft (soil) but grass/weed free (like an urban jogging trail or something), see if it helps. Or, maybe get one of those dog boots.

2.) Yeast infection - usually starts in the space between toes that doesn't get aired out. The tear stains would also be caused by this. When it gets even worse, the ears would start to stink. This can be alleviated by going either low-carb or no carb at all (e.g. all meat nutrition).

3.) dermatitis - this can be caused by many things including food allergies, excessive baths, dog shampoo used, parasites, etc. Only way to find out what it is, is through trial and error.

For now, until you figure out what's causing it, what I would do is rub coconut oil onto his paws. It can soothe the skin and it's fine if he ingests coconut oil. And yes, you'll have coconut oil marks on your floors, unfortunately. You can also try an oatmeal soak - 1 cup of regular, plain oatmeal per 2 gallons of hot water, leave for about 30 minutes to soften up the oatmeal and cool the water to comfortably warm, then soak feet for at least 10 minutes (I was never successful with this because I can't get my dog to stay in the plastic tub for more than a minute). These are just comfort treatments and are temporary until you figure out the root cause.

 

[rocco24]

Okay, paw licking can be caused by many different things. I'll just mention the most common here. If this becomes troublesome, might be a good idea to talk to your vet.

1.) Environmental allergies - as it seems focused on the paws, this one can possibly come from certain types of weeds or grass in his walking area. If there's a place you can take him that is soft (soil) but grass/weed free (like an urban jogging trail or something), see if it helps. Or, maybe get one of those dog boots.

2.) Yeast infection - usually starts in the space between toes that doesn't get aired out. The tear stains would also be caused by this. When it gets even worse, the ears would start to stink. This can be alleviated by going either low-carb or no carb at all (e.g. all meat nutrition).

3.) dermatitis - this can be caused by many things including food allergies, excessive baths, dog shampoo used, parasites, etc. Only way to find out what it is, is through trial and error.

For now, until you figure out what's causing it, what I would do is rub coconut oil onto his paws. It can soothe the skin and it's fine if he ingests coconut oil. And yes, you'll have coconut oil marks on your floors, unfortunately. You can also try an oatmeal soak - 1 cup of regular, plain oatmeal per 2 gallons of hot water, leave for about 30 minutes to soften up the oatmeal and cool the water to comfortably warm, then soak feet for at least 10 minutes (I was never successful with this because I can't get my dog to stay in the plastic tub for more than a minute). These are just comfort treatments and are temporary until you figure out the root cause.

Thank you! I will definitely try these remedies until I can figure out what’s causing it.

 

[2BullyMama]

Thank you! I will definitely try these remedies until I can figure out what’s causing it.

@anatess … totally got you covered