Dog care and the vet didn't help?

Question

I have a rottwaller (dog) and lately for the past few months he has been licking his front paws so much it developed into serious wounds, I went to see the crappy vet, and she seem more scared of the dog than wanting to help him, she said it was stress and would pass, but it isn't passing, and obviously the vet isn't worth s***....can anyone else help me??

Answer 1

Never hesitate to get a second opinion, go to a different vet, try to find one that specializes in dogs.

Stress in a dog will cause a dog to lick one certain area repeatedly until a wound forms. the area needs to be treated for infections though. In the interm before you see another vet, you can use polysporin on it. It wont harm the dog if he licks it off.

Answer 2

Hi Ya, What has most probably happen is that you pet has got a wound on his paw and naturally they lick at the wound. Some dogs get into a habit of this and continue. Thus the wound gets worse and the dogs keeps licking because it hurts. So it gets a habit. The vet may be right about stress, This behavior can be brought on by changes in life style. ie change walk to evening instead of morning. The dogs does not know how to cope with the change because he cant understand why it has changed. so they start to Find them self's a 'job' Dogs need to have some thing to do and find things to do. He may have just choose his foot instead of the chair legs! What i would suggest doing is placing a buster collar onto the dog to stop him licking his feet. he may find this distressing but it is for his skate. it also allows his feet to heal. If he still chews his feet use a bitter bite spray on his feet (you must make sure that he has no open wounds though or it hurts!) It may also be caused by a skin reaction to a chemical. I would try and think if you have used any different chemical to clean floors etc. This might help and if so change it back to what you used to use.
This should help to break the habit! if you want any more info e -mail me and i will be Glad to help! Good Luck

Answer 3

It might be allergies. My dog has allergies and usually only targets her paws. She just licks and licks nonstop, and usually stays up all night to lick her paws. I give her anti-histamine and omega-3 supplements and it helps a lot, but supposedly I am lucky because antihistmines usually only work in 30% of dogs. But they are cheap and worth a try if you think it may be allergies.

I have also used a homemade "hot-spot" remedy that seems to help a bit. If it is stress, then it's possible that they are pretty much hot spots, they're just on your dog's paws. The recipe is just equal parts regular Listerine (not the mint or any other flavor, just the plain yellow stuff) and baby oil. The listerine disinfects and also discourages the dog from licking, and the baby oil helps heal and soothe the skin. However, if he does have big open sores, the listerine will sting, so depending on how bad your bad's feet are wounded, you might not want to try this.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Definately get a second opinion. Maybe try to get a recommedation from someone. If the second vet agrees with you that it is a problem, and can help you remedy the situation, I wouldn't see any problem in requesting the first vet refund you for your visit fee or filing a complaint with the AAVSB (American Association of Veterinary State Boards) or even the BBB (Better Business Bureau) since they essentially took your visit fee and did nothing.

About the question of it being stress, a vet should help you address emotional well being of your animal as well as medical well being. Animals aren't machines and vets are not mechanics, like doctors they are trained to recoginize the emotional and social needs of the animal, ask you questions to see they are being met (be sure to be honest with them, or you won't get the help you need!) and at least guide you to a specialist (behavoirist, nutritionist, trainer, whatever the problem may be) who can help if that is the only problem.

Also, in the future I would make sure you check the vet's license before using thier services, just to make sure.

Good luck!

Answer 5

my dog licked his paw raw for about 4 months, the crappy vets didn't know what to do do either. So I put some ointment, wrapped his paw, put a baby sock over it, also put a cone on him and watched him closely til it healed up. It's really difficult to keep the sock on long enough to heal the wound, but keep trying. Finding a good vet is a crap shoot, you have to sift through so many bad one to find one that actually know something. You should ask a friend or neighbor with pets for reference.

Answer 6

My dog used to do this and still does occasionally with not much help from the vet either. I believe it is stress related also. If I am away alot he seems to start the licking which turns into a huge raw spot on his leg. My sisters Border Collie does this also. She bandages his leg so he can't lick it . She uses horse wrap other wise he tears it off I would load it up with neosporin or Vitamin E and use the horse wrap. Be sure not to wrap his leg to tight and do check it to make sure it doesn't get infected.

Answer 7

My dogs have all went through that faze. And I visited the vet 6 times, one for each dog. I went to about 3 different vets, because it didn't seem very true what he was saying (That the dog was bored) but all 3 told me the same thing, so I began to take my dogs out more and buy them a few toys and they've never done it since!

Answer 8

This can be stress, boredom, allergies or anxiety or any combination. I know someone who had this problem with a dog and she started doing agility with the dog and it stopped. I would get a second opinion from a vet just to be sure it's not contact allergies and then i'd work on the premise that it's mental and begin trying different things (like making him more active) to see if they change his behavior.

Answer 9

Find your dog a new vet.... one that truly cares about dogs!!! You could try some antibiotics, put neosporin on the wounds and get your dog an e-collar (any pet supply store) and have your dog wear it until the wounds heals. Good luck to you and your dog!!!

Answer 10

Well, go find a different vet. Obviously the dog needs help and this ninny isn't good enough at her job to care more about the dog than her own fear of Rottweilers. Get another vet, and tell him about this one.