Score has a torn pad too...

[TheRedQueen]

He tore his pads this past weekend at the flyball tournament, it was so wet all weekend...we walked through puddles everywhere we went...and the rest was sandy with pine needles and pokey/sticky gumballs. Not great for bare feet! He's got pretty tough feet, so I wasn't worried.

By the middle of Saturday's racing, I noticed that he was a bit lame in the right rear...but then he took a big poop, so I figured he just had to poo and had a hitch in his get-along. Then he limped more. Checked his feet, after I discovered blood all over my pantlegs (he releases from the tops of my thighs).

He tore a rather good sized hole in his right rear paw pad...the big one. Then a smaller hole on his left rear paw. He was very footsore and had to be pulled by the end of Sunday. I tried wrapping it, but it fell off (I'm not good at wrapping for flyball).

I put some "Protecta-paw" balm on it all weekend, and a few times during this week. He's no longer tender to the touch...but I'm worried because we have another tournament this weekend. I haven't let him run around much this week, so he is staying off the feet unless it's for pottying (no chasing balls on the rocky backyard).

Should I continue to put balm on...or is it better if I let it get roughed over...rather than softening it up? Any opinions? I'm thinking about doing a major wrap job on the back feet for this tournament.

[Hundilein]

I'm no help, but wanted to give you my sympathies. Renee didn't tear all the way through her foot, just through the top layer of callous, so my vet told me not to worry about it, and she's pretty much completely back to normal now.

I would think definitely wrap him this weekend. My last team wrapped a lot of their dogs with vet wrap. They'd rewrap for every race to keep it from getting too tight. It always seemed to stay on pretty well, but I never watched real closely what they were doing, so I can't give you any advice on that. Sorry!

[Marinepits]

How does the pad look? Is the torn spot growing over yet?

How "soft" does the balm make his pad -- is it more of a wet-soft, does it look pruney like he's sat in a bathtub too long, does it make it moisturized soft?

[Jenn]

Poor Score, hope it heals soon!

[iluvk9]

OUCH!

[TheRedQueen]

How does the pad look? Is the torn spot growing over yet?

How "soft" does the balm make his pad -- is it more of a wet-soft, does it look pruney like he's sat in a bathtub too long, does it make it moisturized soft?

He just tore it on Saturday...so it's not grown over yet. He tore off a M&M sized piece off...like the top layer of the pad only. The skin underneath is getting as rough as the normal layer now.

The balm makes it moisturized soft...

[Marinepits]

I'd let it dry out until the weekend, but maybe put some balm on it before it's wrapped for the race.

[Malli]

IME with Oscar, it can take weeks for the pad to regrow, so I'd definitely wrap the feet. If you wrap the whole foot, it would be difficult for the wrap to get too tight over the day, but you may need to re-wrap every race anyway, I'm not sure how well the vetwrap would hold up?