Paw Licking

[tasham]

Cyrus is now almost 10 months old. He has always licked/chewed his paws, but it is becoming worse. I've tried putting booties on him but he can get them off. Some days he chews on them so much they are bright red. I know it could be allergies, but I don't even know where to start to try to figure out what could be causing it if it is allergies. I've heard you can give them Benadryl safely. I was thinking of trying this for a few days to see if it lessens his chewing and that way I will know it is probably more allergy related. It also could be just a bad habit or boredom too. Any suggestions? Has anyone found any booties that stay on and that dogs can't get off on their own?

 

[ChristyA]

If you put booties on his feet, he'll just go nuts trying to get them off because they won't stop the itching. He may have a yeast infection on his feet from licking them which will make them itch more. I have used Benadryl on my boy's feet, it made him groggy so I didn't like that.

You might want to ask your vet if you can use some type of allergy medicine that doesn't cause grogginess. Just make sure you check with the vet first.

I know sometimes a medication with steroids are prescribed for allergies. They do good for the immediate problem but can really cause some serious illness later in the dogs life so be careful.

It's probably a food allergy. That's what we have.

Christy

 

[ehayes21]

What are you feeding?

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

When I first adopted my girl she used to chew/lick her feet CONSTANTLY drove me crazy, I finally figured out she was allergic to corn and wheat, so we switched to a food without them (I later learned they were not healthy anyway) and viola problem be gone she was totally fine after that. I would look at the ingredient panel on what you feed to see if there are any common allergens in the food.

Good luck!

 

[ForeverMama]

My Spaz is allergic to grass. She starts chewing on her feet as soon as the grass starts coming back each spring. My vet recommended Benadryl. It makes her a little groggy, but not bad. It definitely helps with the chewing. The rule of thumb is 1 mg. per pound of weight so a 50 lb. dog can get 2 capsules. I give them to her twice a day when she's chewing.

I have also used a hydro-cortisone spray directly on the bottoms of her feet and between her toes. This helped also.

 

[calimomma]

My Spaz is allergic to grass. She starts chewing on her feet as soon as the grass starts coming back each spring.

And here I thought we owned the only dog that is allergic to grass!! I get so many funny looks when I tell people that. In addition to the itchy paws, she breaks out with little red dots on her belly. Poor girl. :(

We've had Abbi on a Benadryl regimen for a couple of weeks because allergies in our area are out of control right now. DH & I are suffering BAD. The Benadryl works for the most part but when it gets really bad, we use a hydrocortisone spray too that we got from the vet. I don't know if you can get something like that OTC though... Good luck!!

 

[tasham]

I feed him Innova Large Breed Puppy. No corn or wheat in it. Our older boxer had horrible allergies to wheat when he was younger. We switched him to a no wheat/no corn diet and it cleared the problem up immediately. Cyrus has been on Innova since he was about 2-1/2 months old. If I try changing food, should I try a different brand? Baxter is on Evo which is completely grain free, but I read somewhere that it is too high in protein for a puppy, so I don't want to switch him over to that food until he's closer to 2 years old. Any suggestions on another brand to try?

I have also thought it could be a grass allergy, but he was actually chewing a lot through the winter when there was no grass and only snow on the ground. We thought then it may have been an irritation from the ice melt used around the sidewalks and on city streets, but now there is none of that since its warm and he's still itching.

I might try the Benadryl. I hate giving him drugs. I know allergy testing can be expensive, but there are days he drives us both nuts with this chewing and I can only imagine how painful he gets his feet sometimes. Poor baby. I wish I knew exactly how to help him.

 

[WAT]

Minx has terrible allergies. She would break out in these bumps that made her look as though she was attacked by mosquitos, her coat would get a moth eaten appearance and her ears would get very stinky. We could not pinpoint what she was allergic to until we had a blood test done. OMG! She is allergic to so many things, food, mold/yeast, & inhalents, I can't even to begin to list all of them. The grasses she's allergic to are: Bermuda, Rye and Bahia. The poor girl is also allergic to Palm, guess we live in the wrong state for her. It is bad here for allergies now too. We so badly need rain, we are very dry. And poor Minxie all the palm trees are in bloom, and she is still bumpy even with her allergy shots.
I don't recall the blood test being that costly. It was done through my vet's office by a company named ALerCHEK, inc.

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

And here I thought we owned the only dog that is allergic to grass!! I get so many funny looks when I tell people that. In addition to the itchy paws, she breaks out with little red dots on her belly. Poor girl. :(

We've had Abbi on a Benadryl regimen for a couple of weeks because allergies in our area are out of control right now. DH & I are suffering BAD. The Benadryl works for the most part but when it gets really bad, we use a hydrocortisone spray too that we got from the vet. I don't know if you can get something like that OTC though... Good luck!!

My boy had a grass allergy on his tummy. If he laid in the grass oh goodness his stomach was RED RED RED with tiny bumps. I thought it was weird to have a dog allergic to grass too but I have since been told it's actually pretty common.

 

[Cainsmommy]

my friends bulldog was always licking his paws turned out to be a wheat allergy. When she changed his diet the paw licking slowly stopped.