Licking paws
Barney LICKS his paws ALL the time. When we're home and see him do it we stop him by saying no or by distracting him or by grabbing his paw out of his mouth. But when we're not home or we're sleeping, I know he does it. Parts of the new white carpet are turning brown from where he's been lying and licking. How do we get him to stop? |
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| did you ever try that bitter apple? For some dogs it works. Try tea tree oil. |
| Yeah, we've tried bitter apple. Either Barney doesn't mind the taste or the need to lick overcomes the yuckiness... |
| Have you discussed the possibility of allergies with your vet? |
| Yeah, we've discussed allergies. We've given him Benadryl and that hasn't seemed to help. The only thing that has worked is we got him a steroid shot and he stopped licking, but I'm a little worried about giving him steroids on any sort of regular basis (I think they said each shot lasts about 4 months). |
| We are in western Maryland and Chauncey has been licking his paws, rubbing his eyes and sneezing. Our ragweed pollen here is terrible, Bob & I are miserable as well. I give Chaunce a benedryl and that seems to help with everything but the licking. I'm afraid of hotspots so I've been stopping him when I see him doing it. I see your in VA so depending if your costal or mid/western could be your problem. |
| Steroids are powerful drugs that can do a lot to a dogs system but for some dogs there's absolutely no choice.
Yeast and allergies go hand in hand. This is what Panda did to her feet every morning... http://oesusa.com/Yeast/1.jpg Do his feet look like this? http://oesusa.com/Yeast/DarbysFootComparison.jpg http://oesusa.com/Yeast/PandaComparison.jpg Frequent washings of the feet (every 3 days for 2 weeks to start) with Malaseb shampoo controlled the yeast which stopped the itching. The Malaseb pledgets are good for spot treatment. Mine seldom lick their feet now that the yeast is controlled. It's a vicious cycle in some dogs... they lick their feet, it leaves them wet where bacteria and yeast can grow, they get itchy, they lick their feet... Just an idea you might ask your vet about. You don't need a prescription for Malaseb products and it might be worth a try. |
| Jaci, I am always so impressed with how thorough and thoughtful your responses are - and you always have pictures. I'm amazed by how well you document the different medical issues you've had with your dogs.
Is Malaseb available from the vet? or local PetsMart? Beaureguard licks his feet occassionally. It's not an issue, but I like to be prepared. I am fortunate that we have so few medical problems. But, I like to read all this info to educate myself just in case. |
| Rags has a licking obsession with her paw pads.
She reminds me of a cat. If she is not licking her feet she's licking hubby's feet. I don't think her problems is allergies, just compulsive behavior.   |
| Hey... thanks Tammy. I just love this breed SO much and don't want them to suffer with things we've had to struggle to figure out on our own (meaning Diane (3Shaggies) and me).
I order Malaseb products online (see below)... your vet can also order it. No prescription is required. NOTE: You MUST leave the shampoo on them for at least 10 minutes... you don't just soap them up and rinse it off. It has to stay in contact with the skin in order for it to be effective. I found keeping the fur between the pads shaved short helps too. If there's yeast between the toes, consider trimming that hair short too. It allows for better air circulation and faster drying. Yeast likes moist areas so dry the feet with a hairdryer after washing. This is what one of Darby's feet looked like at the start of treatment and before shaving her feet down- http://oesusa.com/Yeast/6.jpg Shampoo- http://www.vetamerica.com/index.asp?Pag ... &ProdID=74 Pledgets- http://www.vetamerica.com/index.asp?Pag ... &ProdID=70 Spray- http://www.vetamerica.com/index.asp?Pag ... &ProdID=71 I've only just started using the spray... I use it more as an occasional preventative. Before I tried steroids again, I'd consider giving at least the Malaseb shampoo a try... every 3 days for two weeks to start. If nothing else works, ask your vet about trying the entire Nzyme program (meaning recommended food and supplements) for 3 months or so... it can be a slow process especially if the dog has been on antibiotics for a long time like Panda was. I don't like claims that a product cures every condition under the sun because it's rather unbelievable. BUT... this approach DID work for yeast. http://nzymes.com/Articles/Instructions ... _Pet_Foods My pack has been on the Nzymes approach to nutrition and for yeast since late April. We adopted this approach a day after our vet prescribed a 20+ pills PER DAY (3 different antihistamines) to treat allergies... we gave them to Panda one day and thought it was nuts. OUR next step would have been steroids too. The approach sounded logical and we had absolutely nothing to loose. I've mentioned this before but this is a good article I came across a short time ago on reddish-brown staining- http://www.esracarolinas.com/7062/7117.html Quote: Rags has a licking obsession with her paw pads.
I have Border Collie-mix that has licked the top of her legs for years... her's is an obsessive behavior too. She does it just before she goes to sleep and I think she finds it soothing. |
6Girls wrote: Quote: Rags has a licking obsession with her paw pads. I have Border Collie-mix that has licked the top of her legs for years... her's is an obsessive behavior too. She does it just before she goes to sleep and I think she finds it soothing. Rags does it before she goes to sleep too. |
| Marley will go through stages when she licks her feet all the time - according to my vet she gets irritated (either allergy or otherwise) and then licks which will trigger a staph infection.
When she starts up I usually take her in for a check up and she gets a shot and a script and stops licking. I know they use doggie prozac for doogs where this becomes and obsession. |
| Jaci, you're awesome!
That's exactly what Barney's feet look like! I will have to try the shampoo. Do you just do the feet? Okay, I'm excited now. |
| If it's just his feet causing problems, I'd do just his feet.
I can't tell you for sure if this will work but it's definitely something to try. You might just ask your vet first if it's ok first (always the worrier ).
I honestly think there are a lot of vets that don't know about yeast. Mine missed the diagnosis despite us asking if we should test for it early this year. After I told our other vet that Panda was getting relief with this yeast treatment, he said we had hit the nail on the head about yeast being the culprit. I think it was a few months later that he attended a seminar on yeast and got up to speed... he even recommended the Malaseb pledgets when Panda had a recurrence in mid-July. I told him I had already started using them the day before  He was surprised I knew about the secret weapon and was already using it
Good luck to Barney and I hope it works. |
| Jaci, pic's are great. I have a dumb question though. Are the black areas on the pads the yeast??? Thanks, Kathy |
| The black spots on the pads are just that... spots. I swear some sheepies are like Dalmatians! Two of mine have lots of freckles and this also applies to the pads of their feet. I was amazed at Panda's pads when she arrived at 10 months of age... her hug clodhoppers were totally pink! She too has gotten some black spots as she's gotten older but not as many as the three "sisters".
The yeast is that reddish brown stuff... the skin is somewhat irritated too. If you look at this picture you can see the yeasty stuff that begins to wipe off when using a Malaseb pledget and that the skin is somewhat redder than normal. http://oesusa.com/Yeast/Darby82807-Trimmed.jpg Quote: I have a dumb question though. Once I asked Lisa about a toe nail that was starting to black. I thought it might be a fungus but was told this... Quote: not fungus of any sorts. Normal with the nail turning black. You know you are going to have that blasted all black nail to trim soon
So there ARE no dumb questions in my book (though admittedly "my book" only has a few pages ). But seriously, that's what I like about pictures... it helps to communicate a thought much more accurately than just words. |
| Thanks Jaci, Chauncey has the black "freckles" in other places but just starting on his pads. I was worried with the licking that this might be the yeast. Thankfully we don't have the reddish areas. Other than the black spots they look good. Your pictures are great. It's easier to see than depend on a written discription, thanks again, Kathy |
| hi folks, my west highland terrier licked his feet constantly and yes, took him the vet and got told the usual about how westies suffer from terrible skin complaints and yes, he ended up on a course of antibiotics and malaseb shampoo but it didn't stop him licking his paws. A relative of mine, who has extensive experience working with both dogs and cats, told me to use manuka honey on his feet as it has great healing powers, is totally harmless as organic and is proven to work. If you do try this you will need to put a medical collar on your dog as it is honey after all and your dog will definately lick his paws!!!!! It worked for us so worth a try. Good luck x |
| This was great my sheepie has been licking his paws for a long time and I never knew why. I called Vet America and they no longer carry this item. However, 1800petmeds does have it in stock and I ordered a bottle of shampoo. I researched this product and found the company (DVM) may have been sold. Also the FDA is investigating DVM porducts which may be related to the sale. So 1800petmeds is the source. |
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