In a message dated 1/11/2003 10:02:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> Can anyone help with the following? My 13 month old Berner Boy licks and > gently chews on his front paws. The skin between the "toes" appears red and > sore. I tried putting a bit of Vaseline in there to no avail. Is there > anyting topical anyone suggest to stop this? The best way to deal with this is to get at the cause as superficial treatments will only provide temporary relief, at best. Foot licking/chewing is almost always due to one of 3 things. The most common is an allergy to one or more items. The trigger can be either food or environmental (from chemicals in the carpet to mold spores in the air). Close observation is necessary to identify allergens... If the problem comes and goes seasonally, it's likely environmental. If it's there at a steady rate year round, food is a more likely suspect. If you haven't seen a pattern to the problem, the first thing I'd do is an elimination diet (working with my vet). An elimination diet is NOT switching to another brand or type of dog food. Unless you get very lucky, you'll spend a lot of time and learn absolutely nothing about what triggers boy's foot licking. Kibble has far to many ingredients that overlap across the various protein sources to give you an effective view of whether this is a food allergy or not. Your vet (or you, if you feed homemade) will provide a true elmination diet that uses a protein source your dog hasn't had previously and minimal other ingredients. Your dog will eat this food, and ONLY this food (use it for treats as well as meals) for 6 weeks. At that point, you should have a good idea of whether food's the culprit or not. If it is, you'll continue on the elimination diet but slowly add in different food items, one at a time...wait awhile after each one...and learn what triggers a reaction and what doesn't. Keep a log through all of this...you'll find it very helpful in keeping you on track when you have the date and food item in front of you in writing. Keeps in check the natural tendancy to rush things which is the biggest pitfall of this process. If this is due to a non-seasonal environmetal allergen, it's harder to pin down...but again, observation is key. Keep in mind that dogs can be allergic to stuff they're treated with 'routinely' such as HeartGard, Frontline, don't don't foget to consider those things...eliminate if possible or try a totally different product if not. The second cause of foot licking is behavioral. Some dogs will develop obsessive behaviors out of boredom or stress. Evaluate your dog's life from his perspective. Does he get enough exercise for an active teenager? Does he get mental as well as physical exercise? Is an instinctively social animal living in virtual isolation? The third cause, actually the one I'd check first if this were limited to one paw...is damage to the paw. Is there a splinter, cut, abscess, growth, or fungus affecting the toes, pads, nail beds? Hope this helps, let us know how you make out. -Sherri Venditti
