Licking paw non stop

[DngrsDan]

Just got back from the vet's
Josie had a little poke on her paw which she licked into a raw spot. She is bandaged up and is sleeping dead to the world right now. Doc gave her a shot to relax her so she wouldn't chew on the bandage. Worked so well almost couldn't get her out of the car!

Also went to pet store and bought Science Diet for her. Thanks for the concern and advice.

DD

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by DngrsDan

Just got back from the vet's
Josie had a little poke on her paw which she licked into a raw spot. She is bandaged up and is sleeping dead to the world right now. Doc gave her a shot to relax her so she wouldn't chew on the bandage. Worked so well almost couldn't get her out of the car!

Also went to pet store and bought Science Diet for her. Thanks for the concern and advice.

DD

Glad that you took her to the vet. Sadly Science Diet is a poor quality overpriced food. The second ingredients is corn...followed by more corn. and other grains.
You have a dog that may be sensitive to some ingredient in it's food...you said she also had runny eyes. Please read through the Nutrition & Grooming forum...and learn what is in a quality food. Good foods do NOT use corn, wheat or soy...they also do not use by-products. Good foods use human grade meats and the foods are made up mainly of meat.

Take the Science Diet back, and buy the suggested food of California Natural. I'm sure you will see a big improvement in her health.

Gina

[babydollz676]

Originally Posted by DngrsDan

Thank you all for your replies. Although I was a tiny bit hurt by the implications I won't/don't/didn't take my girl to the vet. She is strictly an indoor dog. Whenever we are not outside together, her on a leash, she has a fair sized fenced yard in the back to run around in. While I'll go out with her a lot of times, at others if she wants/needs out she'll let me know, but she comes right back in. The last two times I took her to my vet the verdict was a bruised paw, which she irritates by licking. While she is graceful she will take a mis-step at times-hit the back (concrete) steps at a run and catch a corner, seen her do it. I AM taking her to the vet's, she goes in tomorrow. The night I posted I had just (like 2 a.m.+) gotten home from a trip with Josie. She didn't start doing that until I was halfway to Pennsylvania and didn't really get it to this point until I was about leaving there for home. I took her with me because I didn't have the heart to board her, and would have missed her terribly. I would not have enjoyed it ~damn....I'm almost breaking up right now thinking of it......~ being apart from her, nor would she enjoy being separated from me. Good people you would NOT believe me if I told you what a change Josie has been in my life. I do take care of her, believe me.

Someone else mentioned food.....I asked a poster in another topic about their mention of Taste of the Wild improving their dogs coats. Didn't get a response, but would appreciate recommendations. Josie has eaten Beniful all her life, never seemed to have any problems with her coat. Poster mentioned that feeding TOTW her girl didn't have "eye boogers" anymore. Josies eyelashes are not rolled in, had her checked by a vet, thank you kindly, but she does get boogers every so often. Input appreciated, truly.

This is why I come in here. Everyone in here has an extreme attachment to these furry loving beasts, so I listen and trust the comments. Thanks for your time and effort.

honestly,beneful is made out to be a great food but it's awful....way to many fillers and stuff rotty's are sensitive to.i wish i knew more about taste of wild to tell you but i don't .i'm sure someone else knows though.....we always used pro plan.i swear by it but it's a matter of opinion.

[babydollz676]

oh i just noticed you updated.......i'm glad she's feeling better.by the way the pro plan we used was giant breed formula.the main ingredient is chicken and it does have rice and wheat in it too.wimpy loved it and was a VERY healthy dog with minimal allergies (his paws would just get irritated if i used strongly scented cleaning products)but that's it.

[rush123]

its an allergy, maybe food, maybe something in your yard.

[DngrsDan]

Sorry to hear the S.D. food get the bad rating, but thanks for the info. Unfortunately it's already been opened so I can't return it. I hope it's better than what I WAS feeding her though, at least. I will get her another brand next go around (before I run out so I can wean her over to the new food) and try something else. Hmmmmm...the supply store recommended S.D. as their best seller. They had anothe brand - Nutro - what are the feelings on this brand? Limited in choices here in this part of the universe. But wanna do what's best for my girl.

[DarinBongo]

Please take the time to read through the Nutrition & Grooming forum. There are many good threads that specify foods that are good for your dog. Gina gave some good examples, Science Diet NOT being one of them. More than likely you will not find a high quality food at a Petco or PetSmart, etc, but at smaller pet stores that are distributors for high quality food. I worry you will not take the time to read through Nutrition & Grooming, so here are some good quality foods off the top of my head, and I hope you do switch your pup from Science Diet:
Innova (NOT EVO, until your pup is over a year old - the protein/calcium ratios are too high for a puppy)
Canidae ALS
Orijen
California Natural
Wellness

You should buy smaller bags until you figure out if this is a food sensitivity. Good luck with your pup and please get her on a good, healthy diet!

[Teresa]

On the food issue - it very well could be a food allergy/sensitivity...I own a pet supply store and see dozens of dogs a year just like this. Even if the food trial doesn't help, there is no possibility of hurting anything. Inflamed ears, paw licking, and goopy eyes are very common symptoms.

Basically, as posted, avoid corn, wheat, soy. No by products (digests, glutens, etc.). No mystery meat (animal fat, meat and bone meal, etc.). Basically more meat, less grain is better - but that isn't on the bag, unfortunately. Most of the time eliminating the corn/wheat/soy does the trick for many dogs.

Start with a simple set of ingredients - one meat and one carb. I like to send people to fish and potato first, that seems to work for 90% of dogs. After a few months and improvement, you can gradually try new things one at a time.

California Natural - Herring & sweet potato (their chicken and rice is also good...but sometimes chicken is the problem)
Wellness Fish, or Wellness simple solution - duck or venison
Natural Balance fish and potato (PetCo carries this line)
Natural Balance duck and potato
Natural Balance Venison
We have pretty good luck with the Nat Balance allergy foods - and the pricing is very reasonable. Heck we've got kangaroo and ostrich foods...but it's a bit expensive.

Orijen, Evo, Prairie, Timberwolf...all good stuff, but the above are good starters for working allergies (smaller ingredient set). Do go read through the nutrition area - lots of good advise there too. I do NOT recommend Science Diet or Beneful...cheap, inappropriate foods with lots of commercials and marketing. Think eating ramen noodles every day and taking a vitamin...you won't starve, right?

Good luck!

[Teresa]

Actually, Canidae is also a great food, but their ALS has chicken, turkey, lamb, and fish (lots of different ingredients). If the corn,wheat,soy is the problem, it would probably be a good try. It's not hard to find, but they also have a simple chicken&rice and lamb&rice now. Very affordable, and not too hard to find. You can go to their website and find stores that have it. Raised my kids on that for 8 years before deciding to go grain-free.

[tla0126]

Originally Posted by Teresa

Think eating ramen noodles every day and taking a vitamin...you won't starve, right?

Good luck!

Great analogy!!! It will definately be used again on this forum, I can assure you!!!

[49gallmac]

My Rotti was acting the same, it seemed like the problem moved from paw to pay, I took him to the vet and was referred to a vet dermatologist.
After blood test and biopsy result came back it turned out that he suffers from Vasculitis, he is getting 800mg Trental 3 times a day, it has been a long and difficult
process, about 2 months, he is wearing a cone at all times when he is alone since he was actually chewing off his pads before and I don’t want to take the risk of
that happening again.

[lanka1]

My rottie licked her paw and would hold her paw up too when she put too much pressure on it or jumped off the couch. I'm glad you are taking her to the vets, but please make sure they do an xray on her toes to be sure she doesn't have some sort of infection or even worse. One of the vets in my vets office said that my girl Nikki just had a "sprain". Well come to find out it wasn't a sprain, it was cancer of the toe/nail bed. Even with the xrays, one vet thought it looked fine, then the other looked closely and saw that it wasn't fine at all. Thank God for him since we had Niks toe removed and it was sent away for pathology and returned with it being squamous cell carcinoma.

I don't want to scare you by any means, it could be something as simple as an allergy as other people mentioned. I had no idea that there was such a thing as nail bed or digit cancer until she was diagnosed about 2 weeks ago. So just be aware and keep your eyes on her to make sure it doesn't get any worse.

Good luck and best wishes to you and your dog.