Dog Itch Relief for Paws
There are different dog paws red between toes and home remedies that you can adapt. Antiseptic wipes or sprays and calming paw butter or balms are ideal treatments.
As an extra option, you might be able to utilize coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, or chamomile, but you shouldn’t depend on them as your main form of treatment.
How to Stop Dog From Licking Its Paws
There are a variety of reasons why dogs may lick or chew their paws; however, if the licking is excessive, a veterinarian will be able to assist you in determining the root of the problem.
Attend to the Root of the Problem
A veterinarian’s treatment is necessary for most conditions that lead to frequent paw-licking, including allergies, injuries, and extreme anxiety. Seek a veterinarian’s advice if you notice that your dog licks its paws more frequently than on an occasional basis.
Altering Your Diet
A food trial is something your dog should participate in if your veterinarian believes that your dog is allergic to the brand of dog food they sell. Identifying the allergen that causes your dog’s food sensitivities can be a time-consuming and somewhat frustrating endeavor that can take many months.
Maintain a Tidy Appearance
If your dog gets allergies or is hypersensitive to certain things, you should clean their paws after returning from a walk, especially if they go outside. Bathe your dog regularly using a product that is specifically for dogs. If your dog may have skin sensitivity, you should consider using hypoallergenic and fragrance-free products.
Be sure to keep the fur around your dog’s paw pads clipped so that it does not pick up twigs or burrs.
Make Any Necessary Adjustments to Your Way of Life
Your veterinarian may suggest a combination of medicine, behavior therapy, and adjustments to your lifestyle if, by any chance, your dog’s licking of its paws is a result of anxiety. You may fulfill your dog’s requirements by allowing them time to explore the outdoors and providing them with mental stimulation through games and puzzles.
Protect Your Dog’s Paws
When it snows, there is salt on the ground, and when the temperature is high, you should consider giving your dog protective footwear. This will help prevent paw irritation. During the warmer months, if the pavement is uncomfortable to the touch due to the heat, you should avoid taking your dog on walks and instead provide it with lots of indoor enrichment.
Replace the Cleaning Products
If you believe the products you use to clean your floors may trigger an allergic reaction in your dog, you should consider switching to hypoallergenic alternatives.
Why do Dogs Lick Their Paws
Here are some explanations for why your dog is constantly licking its paws.
Pain
Your dog may lick its paw in response to pain or irritability. If your pet is just licking one foot, they can be in pain. It might result from an insect bite, thorns, a minor wound, embedded glass, a broken nail, or other causes.
Keep an eye out for this conduct even if you don’t notice anything. On a deeper level, there can be something more, like a muscular sprain or fracture.
Allergy
Chronic licking can also result from allergies. Additionally, your dog can be allergic to its food, household or outdoor pollutants, weeds, grass, medications, or other things.
Allergies Just like people, pets are susceptible to a wide variety of allergic reactions. Pets that suffer from allergies often experience itching, particularly in the paws, and will usually bite, lick, or chew on their feet to soothe the discomfort of itching. They will also have a higher risk of developing persistent ear infections, skin infections, and problems with their anal glands.
Too much licking can cause irritation or injury and render the paw more susceptible to secondary fungal and bacterial infections. If you observe that your pet is always licking their feet, you should have a vet check them for allergies.
To solve the issue, you’ll need to identify the allergen your dog is allergic to, which may take some time and observation to determine the source of itching in the paws. To learn more, your veterinarian might also advise a blood test.
Digestive Problems
For many dogs that demonstrate constant licking, gastrointestinal problems are present. This is according to a study in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior under the title Gastrointestinal illnesses in dogs with the excessive licking of surfaces.
The overall number of gastrointestinal problems among the 19, licking dogs was 14. These include stomach foreign bodies, chronic pancreatitis, and lymphocytic-plasmacytic infiltration.
Idleness and Anxiety
Boredom is one of the most popular causes of a dog’s incessant paw-licking. Dogs today often feel bored because there isn’t much to do in an apartment or small yard. Once upon a time, these animals would walk, hunt, and explore. Urban living, though, can lead to boredom and excessive licking.
Thankfully, you can contribute to the solution. You can keep your dog from boredom by giving it daily walks, playing with it, making sure you don’t leave it alone for a long time, and letting it interact with other dogs.
Anxiety can also lead dogs to lick their paws, like when people bite their nails. Obsessive-compulsive disorders, noise phobias, and separation anxiety are the potential causes.
Imbalance in Hormones
Hormone imbalance level might also make a dog lick its paws excessively. Their body may create too much cortisol or insufficient thyroid hormone, for instance, when there is a hormonal balance. A dog may get itchy skin conditions as a result of this.
Dry Skin
Sometimes a breed-specific problem is a dry skin. It may also result from excessive bathing or environmental factors (cold and dry weather). When a dog’s skin is extremely dry, it is likely to become itchy, prompting your dog to begin licking to ease the itching.
Ticks or Fleas
The bites will itch if your dog has fleas or ticks. This can result in both compulsive chewing and paw-licking. If the pet is allergic to these parasites, it can get worse. Get rid of the ticks and fleas to resolve this problem. Your veterinarian will probably need to prescribe medication for additional treatment and prevention.
Cold Weather and De-icing Salts
De-icing salts or hurting paws brought on by ice balls causes itchy feet that make dogs lick them constantly. De-icing salts are chemicals that melt ice from roads and driveways during winter and can cause chemical burns on a dog’s paws.
In contrast, ice balls that form between hairy toes can cause severe cracking, bleeding, and hair tugging.
To prevent chemical burns, ensure your dog wears pet boots when going outside in the winter. If it has ice on its paws, you can prevent snow from getting between its toes by rubbing paw balms between the pads and into the fur. Keep the hair in the region neatly clipped.
Fungal and Bacterial Infections
The pads of your pet’s paws are generally home to a wide variety of bacterial and fungal species; however, under some circumstances, these organisms can be uncontrollable and lead to an infection. Skin infections resulting from bacteria and fungi are persistent in dogs and typically affect the paws.
Licking and chewing of the paws, redness, swelling, soreness, itching, and drainage are all indicators of an infection in the feet. The skin within the toes and other skin folds are typically the areas of the body that symptoms such as itching, redness, and oily discharge affect. You can see a dark discoloration sometimes on the nails.
There is also the possibility that these infections are the result of an allergy. The best way to diagnose an infection in your pets is to see your veterinarian, who may also prescribe various medicines, such as topical creams, wipes, and washes, to cure the condition.
Nail Issues
Toenails that are too long are a common problem that can have several adverse effects on your dog. Your dog may have trouble getting around if its nails grow too long. When a dog’s nails come into contact with a hard surface, the force of the contact pushes the nail back into the nail bed, causing the dog pain and potentially putting pressure on all the toe joints.
It is also more probable that your dog will suffer from a broken or torn nail if its nails grow too long. Ingrown toenails are a condition that can develop on toenails if you do not clip them properly or if walking outside naturally wears them down.
When a dog suddenly comes in from the outside lame and sometimes bleeding, a deeper inspection typically reveals that a nail injury nail was the cause of the problem. This is a common occurrence. Torn nails can be painful and often bleed; therefore, it is best to have a veterinarian address the condition.
Burns and Blisters
If it is unbearably hot for you to go around barefoot outside, it is also unbearably hot for your pets. Before your dog walks on the pavement, you should always check the surface with the palm of your bare hand.
If you cannot comfortably press the palm of your hand to the pavement for at least ten seconds, the temperature is likely too high for your dog’s paws.
Sadly, pets can suffer burns on their paw pads when stepping on too hot surfaces, which happens occasionally. Burnt paw pads may seem bloated, red, and blistering. Paw burns are a dangerous medical condition that demands immediate attention from a veterinary professional.
Dry and Cracked Paw Pads
It is normal for the paw pads of pets to have a slight roughness, which helps them get traction on floors and other smooth areas. On the other hand, dry and cracked paw pads result from several different things, such as hot pavement, the presence of winter weather, chemicals, dry air, exposure to rough surfaces, and excessive licking of the paws.
Paws that are dry and cracked can be very unpleasant for your pet and put them at risk for infection.
Cuts and Abrasions
Because dogs run and play on such a wide array of surfaces, the risk of sustaining cuts, abrasions, and lacerations are high and can happen anytime.
When you take your dogs for a walk, it is crucial to watch for any sharp items on the ground. It is also essential to ensure you offer the appropriate protection when jogging on rough or uneven ground or the pavement.
It is possible to find foreign items such as small rocks, sticks, burrs, broken glass, and detritus piercing the skin after an injury occurs. Examples of these types of foreign things include:
Parasites
Ticks are infamous for taking up residence between the toes of animals, where they can cause various issues, including discomfort and illness. A well-experienced veterinary professional should remove the tick.
If you cannot visit a veterinarian, carefully grasp the tick by its head with tweezers or other specialized tick removal equipment and draw it out of the skin. To successfully remove it, both the head and the body need to disconnect.
Mite infestations in pets’ paws can also result in scaling, loss of hair, and swelling, in addition to other symptoms. This condition can be quite unpleasant. To diagnose and treat mites, your veterinarian must undertake the necessary testing.
Cysts and Growths
On the paws of your dog or in the space between their toes, growths, cysts, and tumors are a regular occurrence. If you find one, you should contact your local veterinarian so that they can treat it and remove it if necessary.
Dog Paws Red Between Toes – Home Remedies
Below are a few recommendations on how to treat dog dermatitis at home:
Baking Soda Paw Soak
It is generally popular that baking soda has calming and anti-inflammatory qualities. You can use this common household item to lessen itchiness and irritation on your dog’s paws. Mix a gallon (3.78 liters) of cool water and a few handfuls of baking soda before using it to soak your dog’s feet.
Alternately, combine two cups of water and one or two tablespoons of baking soda in a spray bottle. Spray your dog’s feet well, then let them air dry.
Apple Cider Vinegar Paw Soak
The home remedy toolbox should include apple cider vinegar. It is adaptable and can use topically and orally due to its antibacterial and antifungal characteristics.
You only need to combine a 50:50 solution of ACV and water to help soothe cracked dog paws. You can cheerfully let it bathe its paws in this for a few minutes because it makes the ideal paw soak.
With tiny dogs, this technique is simpler because you only need a small amount of the solution and can soak all four paws at once. You might want to dip its feet in the solution one at a time for larger dogs. Alternatively, you might use a spray bottle with the ACV water mixture and liberally sprinkle its paws.
Chamomile Tea Paw Soak
As chamomile is calming and sedating, it works well as a soak or spritz for dog itch relief. Bathe your dog’s paws in several chamomile tea bags that you steep in warm water for up to ten minutes, or spritz its feet with the tea once it is cool. You can use green tea bags in addition to or in place of chamomile tea bags.
Colloidal Oatmeal Paw Soak
Another effective natural treatment for inflammation and itch relief for dogs is colloidal oatmeal. It’s really simple to make colloidal oatmeal soak for your dog’s itchy feet. Combine warm water with colloidal oatmeal until it becomes milky.
You can add one or two tablespoons to two cups of water and spritz or spray on the dog’s paws, or use a handful or two per gallon (3.78 liters) of water for soaking. You may purchase ready-made colloidal oatmeal or manufacture your own using a food processor or coffee grinder to convert ordinary oats into a fine powder.
Be cautious not to use flavored or processed oats if you decide to make your own because they include additional substances. Utilize only plain, unflavored oats.
Natural Dog Paw Salves
For a dog with scratchy paws, coconut oil and pure aloe vera or aloe vera gel (without alcohol) can be very calming.
If you have one, squeeze the juice from an aloe vera plant’s stem. This is the purest and most straightforward kind of aloe vera; alternatively, you can get a pure aloe vera gel, both of which will cool and soothe hot, inflamed, and itching paws.
Although it can be a little messier, coconut oil is calming and nourishing. Select virgin (unrefined) organic coconut oil. It should be solid at temperatures below 78 degrees Fahrenheit (2.30 degrees Celsius) and liquid at temps above that. To help with itch relief, massage the oil into your dog’s pads and between its toes.
Discourage Licking After Soaking
Regardless of the soak you use, don’t let your dog lick its paws after the procedure. These home cure options are completely safe if consumed, but licking will interfere with or negate their therapeutic effects.
How Long Do Dog Paws Take to Heal?
Your dog’s paw pads typically recover from minor injuries within a week. Still, more severe infections or areas where there’s skin peeling can easily take 2 to 4 weeks or longer to heal completely.
You can hasten the healing process by frequently applying dog paw balm and avoiding rough surfaces. The longer mending will take, the greater the harm was to your dog. Healing may take several months if your dog receives medication or a secondary illness exists.
Healthy vs. Unhealthy Dog Paws
Extreme roughness, soreness on top of the dog paw, peeling paw pads, bleeding, or any infection between the feet with red or swollen patches are all signs of an unhealthy dog paw.
Some dogs will exhibit their signs even if dog owners don’t routinely inspect their dog’s paws.
If infection and pain are present, your dog may exhibit reluctance to put the paw down or touch it, as well as limping, whining, and generally sluggish behavior.
Cleaning your dog’s paws thoroughly after each walk will help you avoid problems in the future.
Keeping them clean can further lessen the risk by allowing you to swiftly remove anything lodged there that could potentially result in infections.
How Can I Determine the Health of My Dog’s Paws?
Your dog’s paws are in good health if you can’t see any redness, blood, or swelling. Your dog’s paws will likely be healthy if you properly clean and care for them. A healthy paw pad is moderately smooth.
A healthy paw pad is black (or occasionally pink with splotches) and does not exhibit the above indicators of swelling or tears.
You might be able to utilize the home remedies indicated here (paw butter or balm, chamomile, coconut oil, antiseptic wipes, etc.) if your dog’s paw is only a little bit tough or is actively healing.
Symptoms of Canine Paw Issues
There are several home remedies for dog paw licking. Let’s look at more symptoms to look out for:
- Licking and chewing the sore paws.
- Lameness or limping.
- Red and inflamed feet.
- Lesions and discharge.
- Hair loss.
- Ulcers with scabbing and blisters.
- Injuries such as nicks, scrapes, and tears.
- Cracked and dry outcrops.
- Paw pads that have loose flaps of skin on them.
- Hesitating to walk or bear weight on the paw of the dog.
- Cysts and growths are present.
- Bleeding.
- The putrid odor emanates from the paw.
How to Prevent Dog Paw Problems
One of your dog’s body parts that may not get enough attention is its paws. We bathe or groom our dogs, clean their ears, trim their nails, wipe their eyes, and so on, but how frequently do we truly look at their paws?
Examining a dog’s paws frequently and checking for cuts, growths, stickers, ticks (a favorite area for ticks to hide is between your dog’s toes), etc., is crucial because it’s always preferable to avoid a problem than to solve it. Likewise, keeping those paws safe from scalding heat.
It is much quicker, less expensive, and less stressful for your dog to address an issue before symptoms appear.
Here are some useful points for maintaining the health of your dog’s paws:
- Inspect paws frequently (daily is ideal, it only takes a minute to do so)
- Keep feet dry and clean.
- Regularly trim nails.
- Regularly cut long-haired breeds’ between-paw hair.
- Do not let the dog walk on warm surfaces. If necessary, wear boots.
- Do not let it walk on snow, ice, or salted surfaces.
- After walks, inspect the paw pads and toes for ticks, stickers, and foxtails.
- Be mindful of how your dog’s paws may react to food allergies.
- As you can see, preventing dog paw issues is very simple as long as you’re aware of them and intervene as soon as possible.
Parting Words
Even though they are thick, sturdy, and strong, your dog’s paw pads are not entirely impenetrable.
When a dog walks on the ground that is too hot or too cold, the pads of their paws can get blisters or burns. Sharp objects, foreign substances, and chemicals such as de-icer, salt, and yard treatments, can also cause pododermatitis.
You can sometimes treat injuries that are only superficial or small by carefully washing the wound and ensuring you cover it with a clean bandage or booties. However, a veterinarian should evaluate injuries like severe cuts, lacerations, burns, and so on as soon as possible for the appropriate treatment.
It is also possible for paw pads to become dry and cracked, and various factors can contribute to this condition. Some of these factors include exposure to chemicals, excessive licking resulting from dog paw allergies, nutritional deficiencies, health conditions such as hormonal issues and autoimmune conditions, and other factors.
Dryness or cracking of the paw pads may typically heal with extra attention and care as long as there is no underlying disease. Keep the paws clean and dry them well after washing or going for walks.
If there are any tiny scrapes or cracks, apply antibiotic ointment to prevent infection, and if necessary, cover them with booties. It is also possible to purchase waterproof covers for the Medimitts, allowing them for use in outdoor settings.
Paw balms can be calming and hydrating, and treatment alternatives and preventative measures are available for treating dry and cracked dog paws.