Our dog has taken his habit of licking and knawing at her paws to the next level, she harms herself...?
Our nine year old Border Collie has always licked or nibbled at her paws but it just got worse. She'll put holes in her feet and we have to take her to the vet constantly. We have an appointment to get a toe that is now infected removed!
She has an obsession even though she is on medicine and her paw is wrapped without her cone on, all she does is go at her foot! Is it allergies, arthritis, anxiety, habits?
Nancy M2008-01-26T20:50:30Z
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It could be a fungal infection or a neurological condition that causes constant tingling/itching. We had a dog once that had lived through distemper (before they had vaccinations) and the fever was very high and caused neurological damage and caused her feet to tingle and she was chewing them off -- she had to be put down as there was no way to make it any better and she was literally eating herself - it was very sad. I hope your dogs is something curable like a fungal infection -- it can take a lot of time and diligence on your part though... good luck...
add: The cone thing might make you feel better but imagine if you were her and you had a foot that itched horribly all the time and you were not allowed to scratch it.... itching is actually categorized in health care as 'discomfort', same as pain - I have had neurological damage to my leg that caused tingling/itching and I would have preferred pain to what it was like...
It may be anxiety especially if there has been any drastic change in your household like absence of a family member or pet, or even if you have moved around furniture which can sometimes confuse and agitate an animal giving way to nervous habits.
It may also be allergy or skin mites, and I highly recommend seeing a vet for a second opinion or if it is of very high concern consider consulting a pet psychologist.
She most likely has allergies (most likely from grains such as wheat and corn, or protiens such as chicken, beef, lamb or pork) that are manifesting themselves in a contact or wet dermatitis or fungal infection. Smell her feet. I bet they have a bad odor.
My dog has food allergies that cause him to get yeast infections between the pads of his feet. We've got his allergies under control now, but for a while I had to wash his feet everyday with a speical antifungal (yeast is a fungus) shampoo.
You should talk to your vet about allergies, and consider switching her to a grain free, alternative protien food. It will be somewhat expensive but worth it. I'd stay away from Science Diet ZD as it contains a few common allergins. We didn't see much of an improvement in my dog's allergies until we took him off that food.
There are many good foods available at specialty dog botiques/pet stores. My dog is on a grain free protien free dehydrated raw food made by The Honest Kitchen (Preference). They also have a grain free, turkey food (Embark). We supplement with frozen raw diets as well (for the protien).http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/index.shtml
Since switching him to Preference a year or so ago, we've discovered that he's allergic to wheat and corn (he reacts w/in a half hour!) and possibly rice and oats. We stay away from the 4 most common protiens I listed above and use things like goat, bufflao, rabbit, phesant and duck as alternatives.
I encourage you to do some research and talk with the employees at a locally owned pet shop that sells high quality food. It's a pain in the butt at first, but it's worth it. Your dog will thank you for it.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me through my profile.
Try UC Davis for diagnosis, they are the best. (In Sacramento) We had a German Shepard that would chew holes in her front paws mostly (dishes, wrapped socks around, towels) she would chew through it all.
Bless her heart part was nerves the rest was she actuaclly had exta bone marrow that was painful. After eight years of not being able to help her we had to put her down. Good luck.