Sucking on paws....
Just wondering....  |
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| 2 things come to mind - it can be a habit (usually a nervous habit); but more often it is a sign of allergies. Foot licking is a common sign of allergies in dogs. If they continue, those pinkish rusty stains appear. On feet and legs, butts, - wherever they lick. I know some here have issues with this - perhaps they can post pictures. |
Pearl, 14 years old, licks her front legs.... . I think it is an old age thing with her. When she was younger, she never did this. Here is Heart's stuffie after a evening of comfort sucking.....  Now, my almost 3 year old, Heart is a 'sucker' and a "paddler"..She has a couple of OES stuffed pups that she sucks the nose on and paddles like she is nursing. Have you tried enticing Felix with a stuffie to use in place of his paws??? At least you won't have to worry about pink hair...  |
| Hudson was a foot sucker. It was awful. He also had lots of ear infections. Our vet told us to take him off chicken and wheat. He's now on turkey and barley food and is doing much better. The vet suspected allergies and I'm he was right. He'll lick a dirty paw from time to time (and has been licking since he swallowed that chicken breast whole) but other than that, he's pretty much stopped. (Hudson I mean - not our vet. I'm pretty sure he's not licking any paws.) I'd look into allergies. The paw won't look any different at first, but our vet said the licking alone is a pretty sure sign. |
| Allergies huh? Well...his food is free of the most common grains, with Barley...but...it could be anything right? He's not as big of an eater as Ferdi is either, though he doesn't weigh as much. I'll have to ask the vet about it!! Has anyone gone "raw" with their sheepies? I've read and heard a lot of positive stuff about it....but, I still am scratching my head about it. Any ideas, info, etc? |
| I thought of allergies too. Barney licks his paws like there's no tomorrow. And his (as far as we can tell) isn't related to food; it's environmental. And the earlier you get whatever the cause is figured out, the better, since it might start off as itching from allergies, but then becomes a habit, which can be hard to break. Good luck! Oh, and we are NOT raw people, lol. I just don't have the time to bother with that sort of stuff right now. He gets regular old dog food  |
| Is Felix licking the top of the foot, or turning his foot over and licking the pads? Oscar has done both. When Oscar licks the top of his foot, it is an OCD behavior issue, and we discourage it by distracting him. When Oscar turned his front feet over and obsessively licked the pads, it turned out that he had a yeast overgrowth. (His feet smelled like Fritos.....) We started keeping the fur trimmed very short between his pads, drying his feet when he comes in, and washing them with special shampoo. (We use KetoChlor, but alot of folks on the forum use Malaseb shampoo and wipes. KetoChlor is by prescription only, while Malaseb is available "over the counter" online. I tried the Malaseb but it was too harsh for Oscar, and I was worried about him licking it off his feet.) Once we got the yeast under control, Oscar no longer licks his feet. Sometimes he goes into a trance licking the top of his leg, and we know it's a self-soothing behavior, so we distract him in order to break the cycle. Laurie and Oscar |
| He shoves the whole paw in his mouth and sucks...like a baby. He goes into an almost orgasmic catatonic state and falls asleep doing it. It is BIZARRE. I will check into the yeast!! They do have damp feet most of the time as we are in the snow rain sleet mud season here in Montana......So that might be it. Come to think of it...he does have a warm bread-ish smell about him...I really like it, like puppy breath, but...if it's yeast.........it will have to be fixed. Time for probiotics to the rescue!!!!!  |
emerging butterfly wrote: Allergies huh? Well...his food is free of the most common grains, with Barley...but...it could be anything right? He's not as big of an eater as Ferdi is either, though he doesn't weigh as much. I'll have to ask the vet about it!! Has anyone gone "raw" with their sheepies? I've read and heard a lot of positive stuff about it....but, I still am scratching my head about it. Any ideas, info, etc? We feed raw. The dogs all do well on it - our 10 y/o Irish setter is like a puppy again We started out like most people, buying on eof the prepared foods and moved on ot buying meat from a restaurant supplier in bulk. All in all its comparable price wise to a good quality food - I actually think I spend a little less thna i used to. Most days the dogs get a ground food (either beef - which is not humna grade) or ground chicken backs. To htat I add some carb source - like carrots or butternut squash. When I have the time I also add raw eggs for their coats. The also get a turkey neck (much bigger that the ones you get in the grocery store) or a chcken back to chew on. They also have had rabbit, duck, fish (they love fish), turkey and pork. With my food crazies I will stuff the mix in a kong to take up some time. Sometimes if a dog is allergic to a food (like chicken hich is the usual culprit) in dog food it is cooked, and doesn't cause th esame reaction when raw. We have fewer ear issues, less scratching etc with raw. When I travel I do use Taste of the wild now - I used to carry raw and my girl wouldn't eat at the hotel and it would get messy. Now she gets a treat food, that she does eat right up. (of course the boys would eat anything, anywhere, anytime  ) |
| My MAIN concern about going raw is all the "issues" we keep having with bones....how do you prevent bones from becoming life and death battles with more than one sheepie? We are having good results with training, but the bones have been eliminated as well, unless I can offer one on one in the kitchen for HOURS. Any ideas? We'd love to give them a raw diet if it's affordable. I spend about 80 a month between the two of them right now. (not counting goodies...heh heh...) |
emerging butterfly wrote: My MAIN concern about going raw is all the "issues" we keep having with bones....how do you prevent bones from becoming life and death battles with more than one sheepie? We are having good results with training, but the bones have been eliminated as well, unless I can offer one on one in the kitchen for HOURS. Any ideas? We'd love to give them a raw diet if it's affordable. I spend about 80 a month between the two of them right now. (not counting goodies...heh heh...) Simple - everyone eats in their own seperate area - that way they don't feel anyone is pouncing. Morgan and B are on eitehr sides of a gate and more than a body's length form the gate; Marley is in her crate (she is most likely to be obsessive about guarding her food as she is the least likely to eat it all) and Cedric is in a different crate upstairs. They don't spend all that long eating actually and it all goes pretty smoothly. Occassionally when I am rushed - or have just washed floors or something I send the two OES outside with their dinners and they seperate on their own. |
| Actually his diet sounds good, add the probiotics cant hurt. If it is allergy related that could be airborne as well, pollens etc in the air. Also it can be just habit, soothing them sort of like sucking on it like a baby does with a pacifier. That needs to be broken or it can lead to all sorts of problems and secondary things like moist dermatitis or inflammed and infection as the constant sucking keeps the skin moist and bacteria sets in. Now firstly get some Malaseb shampoo and wash the foot in that a few times a week that will settle things down if airborne or food allergy related ( which I dont think it is as far as his food in concerned) or kill off yeast spores if it turns out to be that too. Secondly sock or bootie or vet wrap the foot he is sucking at the moment, especially if you have to have him unattended or overnight, even spray bitter apple or some other deterant on the outside of it to stop him wanting to take the sock,bootie,vet wrap off until things have settled down there. Hard to break if it is just a habit he likes to do, but a combination of the Malaseb wash and denying him access to suck that area will help heaps. Hopefully overtime he will stop but it really does need to be broken if it is just a pacifying habit that he enjoys. Malaseb shampoo will help regardless and settle things down there if it is an allergy problem as well. |
| ^^^^ Never heard of that shampoo - I looked it up and will have to get some as my guys keep getting dermatitis on their feet in wet soggy weather. Thanks! |
my sheepie jetson who is 5 has been sucking on a large fleece white shaped bone ever since he was a puppy, maybe 3 or 4 times a day he closes his eyes has the end in his mouth and just RELAXES, then usually takes a nap. The fleece bone belonged to my other sheepie who passed away beffore we got Jetson, I think he will do this as long as he is here. He also has many allergies which i have under control, by having him tested and finding him allergic to all poultry,lamb,brewers yeast,eggs and oats but not beef or bison or wheat. He also had alot of outdoor allergies to certain grasses and pollen, we live in FL and I have controlled this with allergy immunization shots and he is so much better. no hot spots, not licking. I wouldn't worry about the sucking but may want to have him checked for food allergies. Outside allergies are hard to control which is why we do the immunization. Good Luck!  |
| Thanks everyone! This is all such great information! ((HUG)) |
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