He chewed a hole in his foot!
This is not the same leg he was chewing the fur off, that was further up his leg at the back. On friday he came back from his early morning walk and had his legs washed off in the yard. When he came inside he started licking his front paw. Greg crated him & went to work as usual but said he was limping a bit, only AFTER he had been licking his paw, probably from having his foot turned in while he was licking it. When I got up he was limping and still kept licking his whole foot, it seemed to be irritating him, he was licking all of it so I had a look and there was a tiny spot right inside between the pads. I thought that was the cause and put some chew deterrent on his paw. I put a sock on & he kept pulling it off and licking the chew deterrent, his whole foot seemed to be irritating him, he was licking all of it. We bought a cone to put on his head to stop him licking. Over the last few days the limp has worn off but yesterday I left him in his crate without the cone and he chewed a deep hole in his pad (the one further up the leg) when I came in there was blood on his fur and I saw the hole, washed it and put antiseptic cream on it then we put a wrist support over it to keep it closed and stop the blood. This morning I washed it with salt water but it's still open although not bleeding. I've put more cream on & covered it up. We don't know what caused the irritation as he was licking his whole paw. I think when we washed his feet he might have got disinfectant on his paw from the night before. Does anyone know what we can put on it? Antihistamine cream? It's the front paw so I have to keep it covered because he pees on his legs 
Going to the vet tomorrow. |
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| OH geesh.... Let us know what the vet says. I have no advice- so I am not any help at all. But Please tell what the vet thinks it is.
Hope it heals quickly!! |
| Oh no! It doesn't sound good. Do you think he might have stepped on a bee? I have no idea what to put on it unfortunately, but I would love to know what the vet says!
Do you know if he is in pain at all? Give him hugs for me, pls!  |
Poor guy.  |
Went to the vets. It was a GRASS SEED  he has a hole 3cms wide and an abscess. The vet gave him an injection after pulling out the grass seed and he has antibiotics for the next 10 days. It cost £70 but I'm so glad we went because I had no idea that thing was in there. Ru is getting used to his cone, but I have bruises on my shins where he keeps walking into me 
My nerves are on edge |
 A GRASS SEED?? 
Wow. Good thing you took him in & the vet got it out before it got too infected!!! I bet Ru feels better already. |
ah poor Ru, hope he's feeling better soon  |
| Yes, a grass awn or seed head. Whenever my guys get serious about foot licking and chewing I know we have an awn caught up there. I won't get all technical but there are several species of grass that are particularly nasty about getting into the skin.....they work their way under the skin and can migrate further. When we first ran into it the vet mentioned he's dug out grass awns from scrotums and vulvas as well as from paws. Nasty and has called serious infections and sceptic dogs and death. Let the vet anesthitize her and dig around. Lately we've had false reports....maybe the dogs got the awn and were just cleaning up.
Now we are very, very careful about pulling the "bad grass" in our yard before the dogs find it. Look for grasses with awns or barbs or "hairs" on the flower head or seed capsule.....rather like wheat or rye. For us it is usually brome grass. |
Yes the vet pulled it out, it was shaped like an arrow with things sticking out. He seems better already 
No walks for 2 weeks though to avoid further infection or dirt |
| Glad you got to the bottom of it.
Poor old Rufus. |
| Had a springer in and it had a large hole, when I looked further it was a grass seed that had gone in and was making its way back out.
there really nasty, this dog needed antibiotics just in case Val |
Archies Slave wrote: Glad you got to the bottom of it.
Ditto! Hope he's feeling better. |
| Oh, poor Ru - and poor you!! As everyone has said, at least you got to the bottom of it and he's on the mend.
A grass seed, eh? I have never ever heard of this happening before!!! To clarify, we are actually and literally talking about a seed of grass? Like, on your lawn, a loose grass seed got stuck to Rufus and then he, what, licked it and pushed it into his skin?? And it's particularly grass that looks like wheat - we should be picking these out of our lawns? How do they get in there? I'm glad Ru is feeling better. Even though I'm sure he isn't jumping up and down that he has a giant plastic cone around his head, he's certain to be very grateful that right now, that's all that's bothering him!! |
| I think we call those foxtails...we had dogs get them up their nose in my youth...surgery to remove. I hope Ru feels better soon. |
| Yes, foxtails, that's another name for grasses with the fuzzy awns. The seed is just seed, the awns are nature's capsule for getting the seed dispursed.....in this case catching and holding onto passing animals.
Glad the offending material is out of the paw and discomfort gone. It must be awful for the dog........like a big honking thorn or splinter for us. |
| Aw, poor guy. I can't believe the seed wouldn't just die before it caused him so much trouble.
Here's to hoping it never happens again! |
| Glad you found out what the problem was, how are you going to cope without walks for 2 weeks?
Hope he feels better soon! |
| Oh Cassie that sounds bad but good on the other hand as you know now from the Vet why he actually was licking his paw!
With soo many hairs on the Sheepies its hard to find the problem! Glad Ru is fine now! I can imagine you will get some problems with Ru not walking for 2 weeks! That sounds endless long but you will get him there! .... but £70! Wow, the Vets know where to take the money from!!! Kisses from Charlie (and us!!) to Rufus!!!  |
| He's getting better thank you everyone.
To be honest, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner, with all the running on grass he does. I found this page with some info foxtail grass seed |
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