Chewing and licking paws

C

cariad

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 December 2005
Messages
409
Visit site
Hello. Before I go toddling off to the vet, does anyone have any ideas about why my terrier chews and licks her paws and what to do about it! I have read about the possibilities, but none of them fit. She is a Heinz 57 JR type, 3 years old, fit, healthy, energetic, eats well, not stressed, sleeps on my bed and doesn't move all night, we have our own land with a specific fenced field for the dogs, so she can play and potter there and around the house and garden pretty much all she likes as we around most of the time. She can be left, as we have two other dogs (aged nearly 4 and 2) and they don't have any signs of anxiety at being left, though they seem pleased to see us back.

However, she meticulously chews her right front paw and left hind paw. She will lick the tops of them and then turn her paw over and burrow down into the pads and between the toes, nibbling away. It may be a little worse in the evenings. She doesn't do it all the time and can sleep curled up for a long time without bothering, or potter around and not even think about it. She does not break the skin, there is no inflammation, no redness, nothing scaly or powdery, no discharges, nothing. She is not at all lame. I can pull the paws around, press them, open up the toes and there is no reaction, so I'm assuming no pain. Toenails are kept trimmed. It is possible that she could have tingling from nettles or thistles from when she runs about, but why only those two paws? Some sort of allergy is possible, as she does have a runny eye from time to time (but same one all the time!), but again, why only those two paws?

I suppose it could just be something she likes doing; though why I have no idea and it doesn't seem to be doing her any harm or causing any injury, so it may just be something we have to live with. But if anyone has any suggestions or possible explanations, I'd be interested to hear.

Many thanks. C.
 
Dogs lick. However when it's obviously a compulsion something is triggering it. Food or environment usually. Do her ears smell? That could indicate yeast. I've battled it for much of Daisy's 12 years. Sometimes she doesn't do it for months and then something triggers her. Spring can be bad. But we're now trailing another different food (peptide fish and kangaroo meat), and it's certainly better than it had been.
 
AmyMay Again said:
Dogs lick. However when it's obviously a compulsion something is triggering it. Food or environment usually. Do her ears smell? That could indicate yeast. I've battled it for much of Daisy's 12 years. Sometimes she doesn't do it for months and then something triggers her. Spring can be bad. But we're now trailing another different food (peptide fish and kangaroo meat), and it's certainly better than it had been.
Click to expand...
Completely off topic but how on earth is Daisy 12?!
 
Allergies; fabric stain block on furniture and carpets, synthetic fibres, biological soap powder, food, leaf mould, areas that have been treated with weedkiller. High protein diet, burrowing mites. You can wipe her paws after exercise, and either put cotton socks on her, or offer a cotton cover to lie on to see if it makes a difference. Often it starts with stress and becomes a habit, bit like us biting our nails. Hope you can get to the bottom of it.
 
Thanks for your suggestions. I think it might be a process of elimination thing. I could start with diet and if any of you can suggest something suitable, that would be great, biscuits, probiotics/supplements. She does love chicken, but I can cut that out for her (meanie). Fish I can try. Her ears are fine, absolutely clean and there are no adverse signs anywhere other than the licking and chewing. I still wonder if it's a reaction to something like nettles/thistles or something else outside. The Fell ponies do a great job of eating grown nettles and thistles, but they don't eat tiny young shoots, so it could be the running over those. It is worse in the evening, when we come in from being out in the fenced off field now I think about it. We don't use any sprays/weedkillers for anything; consequently, the garden and land isn't exactly manicured!

But definitely some things to try there. I hadn't realised it was so common. Cheers. C.
 
Lamb is usually a popular one andy two with problems can do okay on it. Also Fish4dogs is good. Mine have the small size kibble and love it.
 
An old vet I used to work with back in the day would advise owners to cut out the normal rations and offer chicken and boiled rice. No treats, no biscuits, just a plain diet for a week before starting to add anything else back in. He would have a chat about including table scraps in the diet, but eliminate milk. He reckoned that dogs were basically scavengers, but confessed he couldn't actually tell his clients that because they would probably go elsewhere!
One of the worst itchy dog episodes occurred after the launch of carpet fresheners - Shake N' Vac type stuff, but it became more common when synthetic fibres and bio soap powders hit the market. Do you have harvest mites in your area?
 
They do have leftover veg; in fact, I usually do more than we need so I can give them some. I boil up 2 kilo packs of chicken wings with some veg to make a stock which turns into jelly and then have to spend hours picking the wings clean of the meat to go in it. I wouldn't go to that bother for just us humans! They have rice as well, same thing-I do a bit more when we have it. I have the terrier, a lurcher and a deerhound, all thieves, with the deerhound thinking that as the table is her height, stuff on it must be meant for her. We have learnt over the years to be very careful....

We don't have much in the way of carpets as such. Slate floors and the carpets have Turkish/Indian/Eastern rugs over them. It's not good to use fresheners on those. I don't know whether we have harvest mites. I'm going to observe for a few days, see if I can spot any common factor in timing and look to change diet. She doesn't seem to be too bothered by it herself, though that may seem an odd thing to say. It's sort of like she has a good go at her paws and then thinks, right, that's my paws done and settles down again.
 
If you are going to try diet change use a hydrolysed diet for at least 8-10 weeks (I use Peptide Plus food), no other treats except for the same protein (so if you use the turkey one, only plain turkey as treat either cooked, freeze dried etc). If everything improves at the 8-10 week mark you know it is a food allergy and can look at what that may be. If there is no improvement it is more likely to be environmental at which point it's best to speak to your vet about the options for symptom management.
 
IKW said:
My chicken and Beef reactive small dog can't have turkey or duck either. The only things that dont make her itchy are Lamb, White Fish and Sardines.
Click to expand...

Chicken and beef are some of the most common dietary allergens, neither cross react in the vast majority of cases with turkey or duck (same as in humans) so your dog is terribly unlucky to have the dodgy genetics for so many allergies or intolerances. Thankfully Peptide also provide several hydrolysed options including white fish, turkey and salmon. Being hydrolysed the protein shouldn't cause any allergic/intolerance reaction but if treats are being used of the same protein that does negate the some of the hydrolysed benefits for exclusion.
 
Great, thanks all. Lots of stuff to try there. You wouldn't think chicken was such a common allergen really would you? But there we are. I often see sardines in the reduced bit in supermarkets such as Morrisons. They go dirt cheap as no-one eats them these days, though they are very good and healthy. C.
 
  • Like
Reactions: IKW
cariad said:
Great, thanks all. Lots of stuff to try there. You wouldn't think chicken was such a common allergen really would you? But there we are. I often see sardines in the reduced bit in supermarkets such as Morrisons. They go dirt cheap as no-one eats them these days, though they are very good and healthy. C.
Click to expand...
I think chicken may be an issue because of the diet they are primarily fed.
 
druid said:
Chicken and beef are some of the most common dietary allergens, neither cross react in the vast majority of cases with turkey or duck (same as in humans) so your dog is terribly unlucky to have the dodgy genetics for so many allergies or intolerances. Thankfully Peptide also provide several hydrolysed options including white fish, turkey and salmon. Being hydrolysed the protein shouldn't cause any allergic/intolerance reaction but if treats are being used of the same protein that does negate the some of the hydrolysed benefits for exclusion.
Click to expand...
It's fairly odd as I have her full sister and dad too and neither of those have any allergies. Oafie my big lump who isn't related is okay with Chicken but not Beef.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top