my Dog wont stop biting her paws!! is that a bad sign???

Question

My dog is two years old, about 8months ago she started licking and even biting her front paw. Vet says it may be anxiety, and he ran a test that showed no parasites. Sometimes she bites it so much it bleeds. Other thing Ive noticed (and still vet says its nothing) is she is loosing hair on her back legs (inner thighs?). Lately I even think she is biting her back paws too. She has no fleas, and aside from taht is very healthy. Sheds like crazy, but I believe its from bitting herself so much, she kind of pulls her own her out.
I dont think it has to do with what she stands on 'cause we used to live in an apartment were she spent all day on carpet. Now she has a patio to go out to once in a while (mostly dirt), but she spends most of ehr day indoors (tile) the only thing remains teh same is taking her to the park, lots of grass.Could it be something on the grass???
please help me.. I think she is very uncomfortable, and maybe even in pain, by bitting her own paws....

Answer 1

My dog is going through the same symptoms now. We ruled out boredom. She swam 3 to 4 times a week in the beginning of last summer at the beach, or fresh moving streams. Her ears retained excess moisture. As a consequence, she developed a yeast infection in her ears, and began to smell like wine as the yeast spread. Her fur became thin where she scratched, chewed, and licked her itchy ears, legs, feet, and belly. She chewed on the pads of her feet, tearing them. She went through bandages, socks and shoes.

We thought seasonal allergies were the problem: air, surfaces, water, whatever. We spent a fortune on traditional vets selling us antihistamines for her allergies. Apparently, allergies cause the mast cells to exude histamines. She got sick and woozy on all the meds. We eliminated as many sources of allergens in her environment as we could.

I read a lot about allergies to ingredients in dog food. We decided to switch to higher quality organic, holistic, no grain, yada yada, brands without success. We are now experimenting as we learn about fresh diets. For dogs, raw. If we eat fresh cooked meals and salads daily, why would we subject our dogs to live on fast food kibbles, which are like TV dinners? Kibble has only been on the market for about 50 years. Two generations ago, dogs ate raw foods.

The by-product of yeast in her ears, feet, and skin makes her itch. We bathe her and clean her ears frequently. We use Aveeno bath oil moisturizer after her bath and rinse 75% of it away. That protects her skin from dryness. When her feet became too funky, I dipped her tootsies in slightly diluted hydrogen peroxide. The satisfying fizziness will shock, but it doesn't harm them. She wanted to taste the peroxide but I wouldn't let her. This helped her feet heal enormously. Her meals are supplemented with yogurt and acidopholis twice a day - her treats.

Her diet has helped phenomenally. She has bright eyes, clean teeth, fresh breath, her fur is shiny and gorgeous - still growing back though, feet are normal, her ears are always up, she sniffs everything inquisitively, and learns new tricks in a snap, but most importantly, she bounces. Everywhere.

Answer 2

Itchy skin (called "pruritis") can be caused by any vast number of factors. Your vet was right, stress can certainly be a cause of chewing paws. From a behavioral aspect, we call this a displacement behavior - the dog is stressed or upset from something, and the chewing is a method of coping with said factor. The difficult thing about diagnosing the actual problem is that the behavior is often seen outside of the upseting context - it's often seen after the event.

However, behavioral and stress diagnosis can only be made after a thorough medical rule-out process, because most often there is an underlying medical cause to this behavior. Allergies are the most common reason why our dogs bite and scratch themselves. Allergies that are inhaled will manifest themselves in pruritis, but so will contact allergies (things she lays on or walks through) and food allergies. Some dogs develop allergies to things they've been in contact with for months, or even years.

If an allergy has persisted through a season, like your dogs have, it's unlikely that it's an outside allergy. It could still be environmental, though - think inside. Something small like a chnage in dryer sheets, a new bathroom cleaner or an irritating form of plastic in a new food and water bowl set. Do a thorough examination of any changes in the home that correlate with the itchy puppy. It's always a possibility that the dog park is using an additive or spray on their grass, but unlikely as most parks avoid any chemicals for the health of the dogs. For piece of mind, you can contact the park and confirm that the grass is clean. Some dogs do have grass allergies, and you could confirm this diagnosis if, when the snow and winter months roll around, her itchies go away.

If a food allergy is suspected as the cause, a food trial is the only way to determine what the offender might be. The pet is started on a bland diet with little to no additives like corn, wheat or artificial colors or preservatives. Gradually, things are added back in until you notice a revert to the biting. The most frustrating part of the trial is that it's very time consuming - the dog must stay on a specific food plan for about three weeks before anything else can be added; after that additive another three weeks, then a a new additive; and so on, and so forth.

There are some drugs your vet can perscribe to give your dog some relief - the most popular being Prednisone. It's the same anabolic steroid that people are given, and it does a great job of combating the inflammation that causes dogs to bite and lick. The drawback is that it can give them a ravenous appetite, increase their water consumption and therefor their urination, and even cause some changes in their overall attitude. If you're into natural remedies, there's a stellar company called Animals Apawthecary that has over-the-counter herbal remedies. Our clinic uses a product called Detox Blend - we have a lot of success with it helping to manage itchy dogs.

Please feel free to email me if you have any other more specific questions - I know this answer is very long, and in the interest of saving you time reading I'll stop here. Best of luck with your dog, I know this can be a very frustrating problem and make your dog very uncomfortable.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
my Dog wont stop biting her paws!! is that a bad sign???
My dog is two years old, about 8months ago she started licking and even biting her front paw. Vet says it may be anxiety, and he ran a test that showed no parasites. Sometimes she bites it so much it bleeds. Other thing Ive noticed (and still vet says its nothing) is she is loosing hair on her back...

Answer 4

My dog doea that when he is bored. It could also be alergies. I know my neice has a dog that has allergies and has to have a shot every summer for it. Certain weeds, 9or grasses causes him to do that. So, you may ask the Vet if that is possible. You could just wash his feet every time you've been to the park. Sounds like a lot of trouble but allergies are real and are very uncomfortable for the dog. Maybe just make a Pan of warm soda water and stick his feet in there and dry them well after an outing or just do it every day to try to get it to clear up. Good luck. There are natural remedies to allergies. look under natural cures for doga on googles and see what comes up.

Answer 5

Sounds like classic allergies. My doggies did the same thing until I changed their food. They now eat food special for allergy dogs - Hills Prescription Diet type Ultra Z/D. It has totally stopped the chewing. If I give them a treat it either has to be a piece of their Z/D food or boiled plain (no seasoning) chicken.

You can give her benadryl until you find a good vet. Give the liquid kind it is much easier than pushing a pill down her throat.

My concern is your Vet hasn't thought about allergies. My Vet caught on to that immediately. I would consider changing vets. If your vet didn't or hasn't caught on to something as simple as allergies then I don't know if I would trust him/her to catch a serious problem. As we all know, there are good and bad vets just like anything else.

Good luck. Hope this helps. Seriously, think about changing vets! I would.

Answer 6

I have a dog who would obsessively lick, nibble and tug (on the fur) on his paws. Our vet said it was probably allergies and advised us to use "Relief" a hypoallergenic shampoo whenever he is bathed and to occasionally wash his paws during peak allergy seasons (or use a mild, hypoallergenic baby wipe). It helped him immensely. The vet added that usually around age 2 is when dogs sort of start to develop allergies, kind of like how some adult people get allergies.

Good luck and I hope your little girl feels better soon!!

Answer 7

Your dog has allergies. Give her a dose of benedryl or plain Tavist (not Tavist-D) to help her through the night, then take her to the vet in the morning. You will likely need to change her food to something that is high quality, low residue. I would suggest Eukanuba Response FP. She could also be allergic to flea dust. Good Luck

Answer 8

Dogs can have allergies, much like people. If your vet isn't doing anything to help, switch vets. There are all kinds of allergy testing that can be done for dogs, but it can be pricey. I'd look into that or just antihistamines for dogs,if you haven't tried that already.

Answer 9

Sounds like allergies. Ask your vet about giving her benadryl. I have to give my dog this or he would chew on himself until he bled. I wouldn't correct her for biting her own paws though because she is obviously itching and trying to help herself. They also have a spray with cortosone in it at Wal-mart that I spray on my dog that helps him with his itching too.

Answer 10

Our English mastiff does this also the saint Bernard at times...
Ours are cleaning there feet. The mastiff hates dirty feet! At times I think it is a habit he has and will stop him when his feet are clean enough. The saint Bernard stops when his feet are clean.
Might be this and she is doing what our mastiff does and does it to much? We have to tell him your feet are clean, then he stops.
Maybe your pooch is allergic to something? Try washing her feet off. Then tell her to knock it off?

Mr just said that maybe she is bitting her nails? He has noticed the mastiffs nails being short and I have not been clipping them nor him....he says maybe licking them makes them soft so he might be chewing them off like a person does? May be your dog is doing this?

I trim the saint Bernard's hair that grows on his paws between his toes so dirt does not collect there so he does not have to clean them for hours, maybe try this?
Good luck with this....