Chewing Paws!

by **Vanessa** » July 6th, 2006, 6:00 pm

Ozzy has been chewing his paws alot lately. He usually chews his nails but i have never seen him chew them like this before. I have just noticed it in the last 2 weeks or so. Today he has done it so much that he has drawn blood.!!!
I'm really worried because when he was about 8 months he chewed a huge hole in his back and it was right down to the flesh and it would bleed and pus everywhere. It was terrible. I don't want him to start doing that again.
Any ideas on what might be causing this?

by **Patch O' Pits** » July 6th, 2006, 6:08 pm

Could be:
Allegies,
nerves,
or
bordem

by **Purple** » July 6th, 2006, 6:15 pm

We had Dexter tested for allergies. He's allergic to grassses, pollen, trees, which explained his licking and chewing.
We picked up his allergy regimen yesterday, so we will be starting the shots.

by **Vanessa** » July 6th, 2006, 6:19 pm

Oh no!!!! I hope he doesn't have allergies.

by **SpiritFngrz** » July 6th, 2006, 7:09 pm

I think Liz said a while back that Inara does this...

by **pitbullmamaliz** » July 6th, 2006, 10:33 pm

Yeppers, there's a post somewhere further down entitled "yummy feet" or something like that. She's stopped doing it.

I've increased her exercise, so maybe that helped. I'm not sure. What are you feeding Mr. Ozzy?

by **Malli** » July 7th, 2006, 5:01 am

Os is a paw licker.

my vet and I are 99% he has atopic (inhaled and environmental contact) allergies, so thats why he does it.

The next time I notice him doing it, I'm going to start washing his feet daily, with maybe some epsom salts, his symptoms come in "waves", so he has occaisions where he is not itchy...

Malli

by **Magnolia618** » July 7th, 2006, 7:57 am

What do you feed him?

by **Vanessa** » July 7th, 2006, 7:14 pm

I feed him Royal Canin. We just switched about 2 and a half months ago. He has been doing great on it.

by **pitbullmamaliz** » July 7th, 2006, 9:53 pm

How long has the foot nibbling been going on?

by **Vanessa** » July 7th, 2006, 10:00 pm

About 2 weeks. He always chews his nails but the actual paw chewing started about 2 weeks ago.

by **pitbullmamaliz** » July 8th, 2006, 10:23 am

Has anything changed in your home routine in the past 2-3 weeks? Exercise routine? Anything?

by **Vanessa** » July 8th, 2006, 10:57 am

No not anything that i can think of. The only thing is it's been really hot here lately... Not sure if that would have anything to do with it. We did spend a night at my friends cottage. Maybe he was allergic to something there? I certainly was

I did notice the chewing before we went there though.

by **concreterose** » July 8th, 2006, 1:05 pm

You can try diluting about 15-20 drops of clove oil in 8 oz of water and spraying it on his feet. That may deter him from chewing until you can figure out what's causing it.

by **pitbullmamaliz** » July 8th, 2006, 1:20 pm

If it's really hot, could it be a yeast infection?

by **Vanessa** » July 8th, 2006, 1:34 pm

This is going to sound stupid but do dogs get yeast infections in their paws? Is that what you meant?

by **mnp13** » July 8th, 2006, 3:11 pm

Vanessa wrote:This is going to sound stupid but do dogs get yeast infections in their paws? Is that what you meant?

yes, they can.

by **concreterose** » July 8th, 2006, 6:41 pm

Vanessa wrote:This is going to sound stupid but do dogs get yeast infections in their paws? Is that what you meant?

Yep, especially if you don't keep their paws dried off from them licking them constantly. It's also a good idea to dry them off when they come in if they've been in wet grass. Vicki constantly kept yeast infections in her feet until I was more diligent about keeping them dry.

by **Marinepits** » July 8th, 2006, 6:47 pm

My Mac gets terrible yeast-type infections between his toes. My vet rec'd a solution of 1 part white vinegar mixed with 1 part hydrogen peroxide and use it to wipe between the toes, top and bottom, twice a day until symptoms disappear, then use once a day until feet look normal.

Mac would lick his feet constantly and the skin between his toes would get red and infected with weepy sores.

The vinegar/peroxide solution has worked wonders and I use it whenever his feet flare up.

by **satanscheerleader** » July 8th, 2006, 6:58 pm

My foster Bailey has allergies and her feet were not only raw when she got here but seriously had white yeasty goo between her toes. The first thing I did was put a cone on her head so she would stop licking/nibbling them so they would dry and heal up. I even would dry off her feet when she came in from outside. I also washed them a couple times a week by filling a cup with half and half water and vinegar and sticking her feet in the cup. I kept the cone on her for about two weeks until they fully healed up. Her problem is definitely allergies. She has inhaled allergies but food issues as well. Venus, Nyx and Patches will start licking their feet on certain foods too. Maybe he isn't doing as well on the Royal Canin as you think. Maybe try something else and see if it stops.

Chewing Paws!

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