more paw chewing
we thought he had food allergies before because he was puking a lot so he is now eating nutro ultra lamb and rice, which i heard was very good for allergies. but he was still chewing his paws so the vet gave us some medicine that would supposedly help with 'allergies' to grass that might be irritating his paws. hes been on that for about 2 weeks and it has not been helping. any ideas of what it might be? he seems to be doing it compulsively, maybe it is just out of habit? any ideas on how to stop it? |
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| I am sure you asked about this in the past, and I don't know if this a repeat response, but one of my previous dogs (a Wheaten) did this when she was bored. Would just occasionaly sit there and lick and chew on her paw. Those days we just tried to get her interested in something else. |
| Our Flannigan chews on right front paw. It is not a flea or tick bit. Took him to the vet. She said it was nerves. Try and distract him when we catch him chewing. We also changed his food t Pro Plan lamb and rice.
Have you gotten anything new that he might have gotten into. With us it was a puppy ( Fergie) he groweled at her snaped and wanted nothing to do with her. That was months ago, they are best friends now. They play together everyday. He still chews but not as much. Good Luck, 
Deana |
| One of our sheepie-girls, Darby, started itching terribly... she scratched so hard she drew blood on her head. We thought she had a food allergy and also switched her to Nutro Lamb Meal and Rice while we awaited results from a blood test (I guess the RAST blood tests are not very accurate for food allergies though).
While we awaited the results, we had her on 2 Diphenhydramine 3x a day AND 2 Hydroxyzine Pamoate 2x a day but she still itched and chewed on her feet and legs. Then CassiesMom (oh, doctor Diane, what is your new screen name??) told me about Clemastine Fumarate. I found some info online at http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_tavist.html . We asked our vet about it and he said to give it a try. He told us we could purchase it over-the-counter at the drug store as Tavist... NOT Tavist D... just plain Tavist. It's worked very well for Darby and gave her much needed relief. Her poor feet have turned the brownish rust color from licking and chewing so much. I don't know if it would help your sheepie but it might be worth a call to your vet to see what he/she thinks. We got the test results back about a month or so ago and she is very allergic to mold and dust mits so they made up the serum and she started receiving allergy shots a few weeks back. Hoping we can eventually get her off her daily allergy meds. |
| Hey,
I was reading your post and everyone's reply's and it reminded me of my OES who recently passed. She had the same thing going on. She used to chew her front paws mostly and we noticed it came up more during certain seasons than others and the vets in Europe said that she had pollen allergies and they made her paws itchy. She then nibbled on them which made them turn reddish. I have a shampoo from the vets here in the US that really helped that. Its greenish but I'm not sure what it's called. I can look it up if you are interested. nina |
| Heather, because of Walter's history, I would suspect anxiety first. He may have a chronic anxiety problem, and dogs really do not exhibit anxiety the way people do at all so many don't recognize it. Have you tried giving him something like Rescue Remedy daily? I would try that, or something similar and give it at least a month before expecting to see changes. Things like paw chewing can become a habit even after the cause is remedied too, so I would distract him from it every chance you get. |
| im not sure if it is anxiety, because he does it all the time... even when hes totally relaxed. and he was a paw chewer even when he was on anxiety medication. but im getting worried, its gotten very bad the last couple of days!
nina could you please look up the name of the shampoo you have been using? thanks! i am going to go to petsmart this weekend and see if i can find something topical (does anyone have any recommendations?) that i can put on for the time being. |
| Heather-
Try going to www.homevet.com and asking there. A vet runs it and usually is very helpful and replies quickly. He generally recommends some type of homeopathic solution, maybe that will help Walter. Good luck! |
| Hi,
Blue always seems to do this as well at certain times of the year. My vet said it was okay to give him a Benadryl tablet. Perhaps check with your vet if this may work for Lil Walty. It seemed to do the trick with Blue so I suspect it's allergy and anxiety related as well. Blue seems to suffer from anxiety too. Merlin did this for the first time last week and I noticed a spot of blood between his toes. Apon closer inspection it turned out to be a mat between his toes that he had been chewing on. I clipped the area and applied an antibacterial cream..but a trip to the groomers for a shave did the trick. Hugs to Lil Walty and I hope he's feeling better. Marianne and the boys |
| he has been licking his front legs so much that they have become very matted in some areas so we cut the mats but he still chews.
do you think if i got him clipped that would help? |
| Allergy or stress? We have a Border Collie that licks her front legs before she goes to sleep... it's a soothing behavior to her.
If you think the chewing/licking is from allergies, I really encourage you to speak with your vet about the Tavist or Clemastine Fumarate to see if it will give your boy some relief. It is the only thing that helped our sheepie who was suffering terribly from allergies to dust mites and mold a few months ago. She was on Diphenhydramine (which is Benadryl) and another med along with it but they did not work for her. She did the same thing... chewing and licking her feet and legs until it left stains but she also scratched her head and just behind her front legs. http://www.pomeroys.com/EmmaDarby/Stains.jpg  We tried the Colloidal Oatmeal Bath which is supposed to sooth skin irritations... tried conditioners designed to stop itching, etc. but nothing worked for her until we tried the Tavist.
The licking and chewing has stopped and we were recently able to take her off the Tavist completely. Since we were able to determine the allergens causing the trouble, we were able to take steps to lessen the problem... allergy shots (I gave her her first "home-shot" this morning), a true hepa filter air purifier, a dehumidifier, frequent dusting & vacuuming, etc. I guess the first step is to determine what is actually causing the licking so you can find a long term solution to the problem. I know how frustrating that is. Good luck! |
Dancer has been licking too, her butt and belly are stained pinkish red.  I hope the blueing shampoo works to get it out. |
Can you let me know if the blueing shampoo works? I just use plain ol' shampoo and conditioner but it'd be nice to whiten them instead of waiting for the hair to grow out.  |
It actually worked really well for Sky... but Dancer's staining is darker so I'm not sure. I'll let you know.  |
| Hi everyone,
I understand about dogs having allergies. My dog started to get allergies when she was 6 or 7 years old. I have tried many things to try to help, but it is expensive and it takes some time before Fido starts to feel better. I'm not a vet but I will share with you what the vet told me, but please check with your vet about anything that you might try. We don't want to give our wonderful furry friends any side effects from medicine that we give. First my do started to chew at her feet til they would bleed and scratch her face til it was bleeding too. We were given prednesone to stop the itching. It did work, but it made her go to the bathroom alot and she wouldn't even get up to go outside, she would just sleep in it. It was horrible to find something that works, but has such side effects that it might not be sutable for your doggie. Next we started to give benadryl to my dog at 50mg 3 times a day. The vet did this by her wait, plesase don't give medicine unless your vet says ok. Benadryle help a little, but not enought. She continued to bite her feeting and her fur falls out in chunks even in the winter, it is as if she is shedding all year round. We were then told to try some Allergy Free pet food. This stuff is not cheap. We got no relief. We also tested for mites but we didn't find anything. Well, guess what the next step was?? We had to call a doggie dermatologist!! Can you believe that, dog have there own dermatiologist, and just a dermatologist for humans that are not cheap at all. Well the dermatologist looked for mites. He didn't find any but put my dong on revolution a topical flea, mite product. He said some dogs have miites and no matter how hard we try we can't find them, so we give the revolution to kill any possible mites. Well we did that and had no success. He suggested that we use some over the counter allergy relief. This is not an exact science and there isn't much info on allergy medicine on dogs. There are several that you can try, it is a hit and miss type thing. Benadryle was the fist thing we tried, because it is one of the better ones that dogs get some relief from. It didn't work, so then we tried Travist and it was a bit better, but my dog was still in pain iching. The Vet also said that fish oil that contained omega3's added to her diet with the Allergy medicine has proven helpful in many cases. CAUTION.. Allergy medicine comes in many different forms and can make your dog sick if you get the wrong kind. Example you want to use Travist not Travist D which has a decongestant I believe in it. Some others contain advil, which can be bad for there livers if I remember correctly so talk with you vet first and make sure you get the right one. Well the Last option was to having allergy testing done. Very expensive. I think it called $400. I had been out of work so I couldn't afford it, but now that I am back to work she got tested for common allergies. She is allergiic to Human dander, molds, grasses, tress, etc. They didn't test for food allergies thought. We have just started the Allergy Treatments today and you give a dog a small shot every week for around 4 weeks and then you reduce it to 1 every 2 weeks and then 1 a month. Your doctor will give you the information you need to do this. It isn't hard at all to do, except to look at the needle. I was told to continue to use benadrl or Travist, possibley another allergy medicine because each dog responds differently. So we will continue to give the Allergy Shot, and the Allergy medicine and Fish Oil to help with the itching while we continue to do the shots. The shots take some time to work, they said possibly 5 months or more. The Shots cost me around $190 dollars for a vile of tf the allergens to be given. This one vile last 6 months, because you only give a small dose weekly and then monthly so it will last some time. Too soon to tell what will happen, but maybe you can ask your doctor about some things I mentioned if you haven't tried them. The allergies also caused my dog to have chronic painful ear infections which should stop if the allergy treatment works. You can use a medicine in the ear, but it seems with my dog he gets it again within a week of treatment. Also my dog had a funny smell to her. It turned out that she had a yeast infection and in dogs it appears on the skin. We were given medicine to help with that and told to give yogart every day to my dog to supply the benifical bateria that helps to control bad bateria. If you try this approach you need to get a yogart that has live cultures. I was suggested that I get Stoney Farms(I think that was the name of the brand) because it contained several strains of the good bateria. It did help. I will let you knwo how the allergy shots go in a few weeks. I have to be patient. |
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