OK forum friends, help please to think through this one! For the last week Pongo has been licking and licking at his paws. All four - not any one in particular. Seems to be particularly licking and nibbling at his toes and claws - not so much the pads, more the top of the paws and toes. I can't see anything wrong with them, but I'm a bit concerned that all this licking is going to end up with raw patches / sores. So I have been trying to come up with theories for why he is doing this. Here is what I have so far....can you add any or give any advice / thoughts on what's most or least likely? 1 Something on the ground. Farmer is stockpiling nasty manure alongside our normal walk, so it's possible there is something there that is either irritating or delicious. But he licks his paws all day, not just when we come back from walks. 2 Picked up something in kennels. We put Pongo into kennels for the first time ever last Tuesday - just for a day. It is since then that he is doing the licking. But surely he'd have licked anything off by now? That was seven days ago. 3 Stress from being in kennels. As I say, this was the first time ever that he has been in kennels (rather than at doggy boarding). And I know paw-licking is sometimes a sign of anxiety. But he seemed to cope very, very well with the kennel experience, when we collected him he was completely normal / calm, seemed happy and not fazed at all by it. 4 Other stress. He's had a funny few weeks - we were away on holiday for a fortnight in early June so he was in doggy boarding and then with our daughter (so play play play play full on for a fortnight); then we've had several visitors over the past few days, which is quite unusual; so his normally fixed routine has been a bit disrupted. 5 Allergy / skin issue. Pongo does get a touch of hay fever and has a tendency to skin reactions...but they've been pretty much sorted out by salmon oil on his meals. I'm going to increase his salmon oil dose to see if that helps. So.... what do you think? Am I missing anything obvious that might be an underlying cause? Any suggestions for what I can do (other than upping the salmon oil)? All thoughts welcome! Thank you....
My vote would be for an allergy as the cause - either in the environment or in his food. If that's the case then increasing oil won't help, unfortunately. It'll need vet help (eg steroids and or antihistamines if an environmental allergy).
Have you tried submerging his paws in fresh water when he comes home and then drying them off just before coming into the house? That way you might be able to wash off any allergens. Although, having said that, Snowie always had a dip in our pond when he got home and he was still chewing his paws, licking, busy with them non-stop 24 hours a day. We put him on a course of prednisone (first time ever that we'd used a course of steroids, previously it was a tablet here and there) and I am pleased to say the paw licking/chewing stopped -- he was on the preds for a month on a very low dose -- eventually just a 1/4 tablet (1.25mg) every other day. He's been off the preds for almost a week now and sadly he started licking his paws again, although nothing like before, usually around 5am and only for a few minutes (I tell him to stop, it keeps me awake when I should be sleeping, and he does stop). I will watch this thread with interest because I, too, would like to get to the bottom of Snowie's itchy paws rather than keep treating with cortisone. But I must say that I think the cortisone did help him in other ways -- it gave him the opportunity to rest when he needed to instead of constantly scratching and chewing, and being so rested he was far more active on our walks and appeared so much happier in general, back to his old puppy self. He also lost weight -- seems ironic since cortisone increases the appetite, and did he beg for food!!! -- and I think the lost weight was due to his being so much more energetic out and about. Of course there were other factors, and possibly his bulging disc which is much improved might also have lent to his being more energetic. But again, not having to twist to lick and scratch might've contributed to helping his disc to heal. Really difficult knowing exactly what works and what doesn't!!! We try our best...
Hi there sounds like allergies I'm having same trouble with my 8 month black lab he bites his feet all 4 of them and scratches took him vet as he had rash to said it was allergy probably pollen and time year!! He had steroid injection which helped for while then started again with vengeance so took him back and vet told me keep him on piriton from chemist what we would have all threw summer and have also started him on coconut oil as supposed really help allergies along with cost and lots other things !! Hope this helps X
most likely an allergy. the grass pollen is really terrible at the moment. Could be a nail bed infection or it could be something like SLO, but would be unusual not to see any nails splitting and falling off. They do lick when the pain from SLO really kicks in, then they start to shed nails
I would also vote for allergy. It could also be a food-based allergy, my previous dog licked at his paws and when we changed foods from chicken-based to lamb-based, he stopped. Although he also had other symptoms like very pungent gas
Tilly has a similar problem. The vet thinks it is probably a food allergy. Tilly's problem is not severe and identifying a food allergy is not easy. We seemed to get some improvement when we changed from a Salmon based food to a Chicken based. For some reason the licking got a lot worse when we were in the midwest this June. It was especially bad at night, and kept us awake as well as Tilly. Benadryl helped a lot, and is considered very safe for dogs.
I remember reading here somewhere that dogs will chew their paws if they are itchy somewhere else they can't reach My gut reaction would be to wash paws down after every walk though
Is Benadryl an antihistamine? Unfortunately in our case, Snowie is epileptic and antihistamines are to be avoided for seizure-prone dogs. The last time we gave him two Allergex (antihistamines), he had a seizure the next day. Not sure if it was coincidence or causative. His seizures are pretty much under control right now, so if his paws become so itchy again, we might try the Allergex because cortisone comes with it's own set of side effects. When he lost weight, of course I was worried it was from the cortisone, although it wasn't a marked weight loss and he definitely was more energetic and exercising more, so we came to the conclusion that it was normal weight loss.
Benadryl is an antihistamine. I don't know about the side affects on an epileptic dog. For most people and dogs they reduce itching and inflammation and make you (them) a little sleepy.
I thought they were improving, but tonight he's licking again... but perhaps a little less. I'm hoping they'll be better tomorrow. In other news.... yesterday he found one of Harley's tennis balls in the garden and was SO HAPPY! He has spent the whole day carrying it around the house and garden. Just carrying it. So sweet!
Thank you everyone for the suggestions! We have been washing his paws off and keeping an eye on him, and I think that perhaps they're getting better.... although still quite a bit of licking going on....
I'm glad he's licking less Bless him I can imagine him carrying it around hoping she will pop up somewhere
Paw licking doesn't necessarily have anything to do with what his paws are coming into contact with.... Hopefully it decreases though If not, might be time for an allergy specialist.
