Any ideas how to stop paw licking / chewing

Dopeydapple

Dopeydapple

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Anyone got any idea of something to put on Talas paws to stop licking. Not sure if it's licking due to the pain in her leg or something else but she's made the skin quite pink and sore looking. Can't keep a buster collar on, tried diluted apple cider vinegar but that's just made her far worse. She is a habitual licker which the vet thinks was stress in the kennels but is now habit, everytime she comes in from a walk she starts cleaning herself but then it seems like the habit part takes over and she licks excessively. She's on piriton in case there's an allergy element to it and I've taken chicken out of her diet. Until she started limping I thought it was just habit as it had reduced from very regularly to only after a walk but now it's back to a problem. Anyone know of anything topical that's safe to put on which will deter her?
 
Teaselmeg said:
I would do more investigation re pain and diet, rather than just put something on it to stop her licking.
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She's been to the vet for the pain, she's on metacam and restricted exercise this week then if no improvement she'll go back to see the ortho for CT scans as vet suspects maybe elbow displacia. Obviously I don't want her licking her paws raw and being in pain for that which would just confuse the lameness issue. I've never known a dog get a buster collar off so quick, even when attached to her own collar.
 
You can get no-chew bitter sprays, I've used them on dogs before to stop them messing around wounds etc. with mixed success.

Our spaniel is a paw-licker, he does it as a bit of a displacement behaviour I think when something in the household is upsetting him (by 'upsetting' him I mean, somebody went to take the bins out and he wasn't allowed to go with them, he's a typical spoilt brat spaniel :rolleyes: ) and he does the same thing where he'll start cleaning his paws after a walk and then it becomes almost obsessive. I usually give him a chew to distract him or play a short game with him and once I've broken him out of his paw-licking trance he forgets about it.
 
KikiDee said:
You can get no-chew bitter sprays, I've used them on dogs before to stop them messing around wounds etc. with mixed success.

Our spaniel is a paw-licker, he does it as a bit of a displacement behaviour I think when something in the household is upsetting him (by 'upsetting' him I mean, somebody went to take the bins out and he wasn't allowed to go with them, he's a typical spoilt brat spaniel :rolleyes: ) and he does the same thing where he'll start cleaning his paws after a walk and then it becomes almost obsessive. I usually give him a chew to distract him or play a short game with him and once I've broken him out of his paw-licking trance he forgets about it.
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Thanks, she can be distracted quite easily when we are in, the problem is when no ones home, I think with her only doing 10 mins round the block walk she's probably bored too so that doesn't help, she is enjoying the "find the food" games though lol
 
It was a bit of a last resort rather than having her tail amputated (which we couldn't be sure would actually solve the problem with the possibility of phantom limb stuff) but when our little cat was going beserk overgrooming her nerve damaged tail we found that Hempine CBT reduced the stress behaviour by about 80%.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
I keep getting FB pop-ups on my feed: which say that if your dog does this i.e. licks paws, then there is very likely a gut/yeast/biome imbalance. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the FB info, just sayin'.

Might be worth asking your vet?
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Vet didn't seem to think it was that, more likely allergy hence the piriton and no chicken as a starting point, previous vet thinks it's behavioural from having spent 18 months in kennels. She is on raw and prebiotics so shouldn't have a yeast problem but will check.
 
Daughter's lurcher reacts badly to the carpet. She (dog) has to stay out of the carpeted rooms, and has a cotton sheet over her bed to lie on. Sheet washed in non bio detergent. If the children forget and let the dog on the carpet, she is biting and chewing paws and belly within half an hour. We think it is the stain block chemical that is incorporated into the fibres.
 
Tried socks, they get ripped off and partly eaten. Haven't tried boots. Honestly don't think it's itchy (piriton is just in case as it won't hurt). Think it's like Kikee Dees spaniel, she has formed an obsessive compulsion in kennels, she reduced the frequency as she settled in with us except for cleaning her paws after a walk whereby the compulsion part kicks in again, if you distract her in anyway she stops, however I think the leg pain is making her do it more frequently. Going to call vet in the morning and see if we can book CT, she seems very quiet and flat at the moment 😢
 
It could be that the pain has been there at low level for a long time (licking paws is often an external expression of internal pain) and has just been exacerbated by more frequent exercise in her new home? I know if ED was even a query and she'd been physically lame for a while despite meds I'd be looking for x-ray or CT ASAP.
 
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Highmileagecob said:
Do you feed a complete kibble type diet, or something else? The ingredients in the complete diets don't suit all dogs.
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She is raw fed (80,10,10), extra portions of salmon a few times a week, collagen chews and knuckle bones. She has roast beef / turkey or kibble for treats and is on riaflex plus probiotics. None of the 3 vets that I've mentioned the licking to think it's an allergy, they think she stress licked in kennels and now has a habit / compulsion that takes over when she starts licking, normally just grooming after a walk but in the case likely being set off by pain in that leg ( asked for referral for CT).
 
CorvusCorax said:
You can also just ask for an x-ray, it's a common diagnostic for ED, might be quicker, if it's a vet used to doing BVA or other grading systems, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
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I did say to vet should she have x rays he said they prefer CT scans, I'm happy with each but I guess if it's not ED something else may show on a CT that wouldn't be seen on an xray?? Just want to know what it is to make a plan, I'm not good at being in limbo, she was brighter when I came home this morning though.
 
Well if I was the client, I would prefer an x-ray to rule it in or out. X-rays are used all over the world by many different kennel clubs and breed organisations to determine if a dog has hip or elbow dysplasia, or not.
I had a dog's hips, elbows, spine x-rayed in midlife (he'd been scored at 12 months) for no other reason than to make sure everything looked OK before I started competing with him again. I asked for them, got them and paid for them.
 
CorvusCorax said:
Well if I was the client, I would prefer an x-ray to rule it in or out. X-rays are used all over the world by many different kennel clubs and breed organisations to determine if a dog has hip or elbow dysplasia, or not.
I had a dog's hips, elbows, spine x-rayed in midlife (he'd been scored at 12 months) for no other reason than to make sure everything looked OK before I started competing with him again. I asked for them, got them and paid for them.
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I'll give them a call and see if trays would be quicker, the practice is part of a hospital so they aren't referring externally so don't think there should be much wait but worth asking, thanks
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I'll bet my boots that CT is more expensive than x-ray.
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Not that I'm rich, far from it but I don't care if it's more expensive, if it saves her going in twice ( better imaging to show more things) then I'd rather go straight to that even if the XRays may have been good enough, that said if she's going to wait considerably longer for the scan then I'll ask for an x-ray. They didn't call me back yesterday so will pop in this afternoon.
 
CorvusCorax said:
Will the likes of the BVA/SV/FCI/PennHIP/CHEDS et al be switching to CT eventually, do you think?
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Unlikely, I would have thought, due to availability of CT but I dont know. PH is good for hips and they dont need CT AFAIK. Plain screening rads for hips are not good enough for breeding IMO and arent allowed in some countries.
We had a Golden in this week who is lame and sore on elbow flex/extension xrays all NAD.. off for CT
 
KEK said:
Unlikely, I would have thought, due to availability of CT but I dont know. PH is good for hips and they dont need CT AFAIK. Plain screening rads for hips are not good enough for breeding IMO and arent allowed in some countries.
We had a Golden in this week who is lame and sore on elbow flex/extension xrays all NAD.. off for CT
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Really, what countries?

Anecdotal I know but I've collated hundreds of sets of results over the years (including supplying lists of passes and fails to vets who took the x-rays) and I can tell which lines, by now, are going to throw up problems.
Even dogs graded as 'still OK' under the SV scheme, start to show signs of wear and tear relatively young-to-midlife, IME, compared to dogs with 'none' or 'nearly none'.
And it's much more apparent than HD, where dogs with even 'severe' HD I've known, weren't visibly lame until much later in life, if at all.
It's obvious harder with schemes which don't have a cut-off point/the concept of a breeding or competition ban.
 
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