Chewing Pads Of Bottom Of Paws - Labrador

[janina1213]

Hi there - all of a sudden my labrador, Zak (who is 5yrs old) has started chewing the pads off the bottom of his paws. These are now raw and pink and weeping and the more painful they are the more he continues to chew them off. I want to know what I can do about this. Nothing has been changed recently and he never did this beforehand. I've been putting antiseptic cream on them constantly but he just licks that off also. It's so bad now that he can't even walk and seems constantly despressed - and won't even eat! For a lab, this is really bad.

Many thanks
Janina

[latergatorj]

When I read your post about Zak chewing on his feet, it made me wonder if there is an underlying reason for why he started to do it in the first place. Perhaps he has developed an allergy to something that makes his feet itch.

To prevent him from chewing on his feet further and allowing your medication to help heal his wounds, perhaps you could try dog booties?

I hope things improve. Keep us posted :-).
-Jackie

[KCmom]

My Springer has been doing this almost all his life. Mostly it happens in the Fall with the molds from leaves, wet grass .............and in the Spring after the thaw.
We used the little booties, but that seemed to actually make matters worse. The mold spores remained in the bootie and kept causing more problems.
He too would lick and nibble..........I swear at times he'd have his whole foot in his mouth! Periodically, they would then get infected. he had to be put on a steroid and an antibiotic.
These poor things are really miserable when going through this! I even tried spraying his paws with something I can't recall the name of right now.......hmmmm.......it's suppose to taste awful and keep them from licking. Well, not my guy! He liked it!

Anyway, it usually is allergies........I wish I had had him tested for things when he was much younger..........Good luck!