Dog help !

[mjkaliszak]

Looking for feedback from our community of dog lovers. My dog ( Tasha/ aka Ali... ) is an 11yr old dobe. She has allergies, and a multitude of skin issues. Her back is hurt and pretty much is a house dog ( alright she is the high princess of the hacienda ) I'll admit it.

She has had inflamed paws before but never to this degree, if you look in the pics her paw " pads " are /were red & raw.
We just had her to the vet for her predazoid shot and a round of anti's. The previous skin condition cleared up ans now about a month later we had seen her limping ( Saturday night ) then yesterday it was so bad she could hardly walk ???? At first we thought she hurt her rear leg but then discovered the raw paw pads.....

My question is ??? has anyone ever seen this on their dog ? I don't know wether to try a food allergy test since we changed foods , she didn't like the better salmon stuff ( Taste of the wild ) to an IAMs adult. OR could this be a result of her walking on the floors in our house after my wife had cleaned them with detergents ??? I have never seen this and she still can't walk well enough to jump in the car. I would have to carry her .

Any Input ? I have some Vetericyn wound & infection spray I may apply but looking for suggestions.
I have never seen her paws like this.

 

[mezz]

Has she been incessantly licking her paw's? How long after her round of shots did this show up? I would contact the vet & ask, perhaps it's a reaction from the meds.-Mezz

 

[blutooth]

This probably isn't the case, but when I spend 2-3 days being real active with my dogs, they seem to have their feet tire out and they walk a lot sloppier. I guess sort of like bad posture, but it causes their pads to wear in spots that don't usually wear (and then they whine and don't want to walk anywhere for a couple days). I'm guessing that you haven't done anything like that with her, but her nails look really long and maybe that is making her walk on a part of her foot that isn't calloused the same?

Like I said, I doubt this is the cause, and it is probably food or medication related for a dog that age, but I thought I would throw it out there.

 

[Lost Sheep]

I would definitely clip her nails....way too long IMO

 

[mezz]

I would definitely clip her nails....way too long IMO

I din't even take note to that, definetly too long, though I doubt that to be reason, then again, I'm no veterinarian either.-Mezz

 

[lvr1000]

Our vet recommended Benadryl for one of our Dobes that was chewing his paws.
www.vetguru.com/2011/10/04/benadryl-for-dogs/
We switched to Taste of the Wild years ago because of it being grain free dog food. Some dogs are allergic to grains. They do have diffent flavors. We switch between four flavors, new flavor each new bag.

 

[booondocker]

Switching dog food should be gradual, and it surely could be an allergy to the food. I would also suspect that the Dr might have given her a steroid shot and it is wearing off now....so maybe you have an on going issue that was masked by the steroids he may have given her.

I am also wondering why the whole paw is not affected? Put some boots on her with some meds and if she is licking them this will prevent that and if she is coming into contact with something that is causing it, the boots will prevent that and she should improve....IF she will leave them on.

 

[mjkaliszak]

Vet re-check today at 11:00. She is old and a good dog, not one to watch my dog suffer and not ask for help.
I actually have never seen this before. We are on a nail trimming campaign. The center part has grown long ( due to me wife & I giving up on holding her down for nail trimmings ) and has to be trimmed successively. We just pay the vet to do it, the dremmel makes her shake and the good clipper I bought is too small for that 1 big claw ( ???? ). Then she has a bad back and we are hesitant on holding her down to get the nails. She hurt her back a few years ago jumping on our deck railing and has never jumped up there since. She pretty much doesn't like our neighbor, joggers and other dogs except the 2 across the street.... They are house dogs too.... must be a pack thing ..... LOL

 

[LoveMyDobe]

I really don't think it is a food allergy, they usually start scatching all over, not just the foot. She could have broke open her foot and now is compusivly licking it, it's a Dobe thing, they love to lick sores. Looks like the pads on her toes are OK. Or it could be a start of "lickanoma", compusive disorder they get when they get bored or nervous. Yes, benadryl is a cheap cure, if your vet tries to give you a presciption, tell him you'll buy it at WalMart, lots cheaper and the same thing. What are you doing for her back problem? I know that too well. Darn those Dobies, they have many medical problems, but we love them! Hope she lives many more years, the oldest out of 6 Dobes I've had lived to almost 12.
Good Luck, keep us posted

 

[camping4me]

I know the licking will drive you crazy!! My Maddie (my Boston/Pug mix) is allergic to grass. The summer before last was heck on her paws. Every month during to summer we were in the vet dealing with red, itchy paws. We had her in benedryl and prednisone and that would work for a little while and then back to red, itchy paws.

I resorted to packing her paws with this perscription ointment, putting gauze around her paws and then a baby glove (the ones you put on newborn babies so they don't scratch themselves) with tape wrapped around the top, so she could not get it off. This worked pretty good. It gave time for the medication to work its magic before she licked it off.

Talk to your vet about some ointment to pack into her paw pads. Then wrap it up. Maybe a bootie or a kids sock would work for your dog. I tried the bootie and found the little glove worked better and she didn't walk like she had a broken paw!

You do have to watch them, I caught Maddie trying to chew off the glove, but I just re-directed her chewing to an antler and after a few times she left it alone.

Now Maddies gets benedryl everyday and this past summer no paw issues (but it was also hotter than Hades and she hates the heat so she wasn't outside as much). But I have seen the benedryl really cut down on itching in general with her.

My dogs are already on grain-free dog food because of allergies. This might be something to consider too.

 

[boatssleds]

I work with dogs daily, and the nails really could be part of the problem. From what I can see from the pics, the front part of the paw is ok, therefore nails too long and the back part may have been scraped, irradiated and now she is licking at it. When the nails get too long it takes several trimmings to get them back to where they should be. The quick of the nails recedes everytime you cut the nail back. Instead of trying to pin her down, get a BIG spoonful of peanut butter or cream cheese and offer that to her while someone trims the nails. I start this with puppies, and they learn quickly that your not going to hurt them. I have seen it work very well with older dogs also. Hope this helps. If you are working on the nails, they should be trimmed every 5 to 6 days to get them cut way back.

 

[mjkaliszak]

I work with dogs daily, and the nails really could be part of the problem. From what I can see from the pics, the front part of the paw is ok, therefore nails too long and the back part may have been scraped, irradiated and now she is licking at it. When the nails get too long it takes several trimmings to get them back to where they should be. The quick of the nails recedes everytime you cut the nail back. Instead of trying to pin her down, get a BIG spoonful of peanut butter or cream cheese and offer that to her while someone trims the nails. I start this with puppies, and they learn quickly that your not going to hurt them. I have seen it work very well with older dogs also. Hope this helps. If you are working on the nails, they should be trimmed every 5 to 6 days to get them cut way back.

Good info, could not remember the center of the nail name " quick ". I did have the nails trimmed yesterday, while at the vet . The vet said that she thought the wounds looked like a chemical burn, I was wondering about that. She may be allergic to Murpheys oil soap, that is what my " colonel " uses on the floors or we also thought about fertilizer on the lawn but neither seem to be the " root cause ".

We have her back on a oral steroid & anti's . I'm going to start with some generic Zyrtec , also.
On another note she doesn't seem to have any heart problems, my vet said that is GOOD. There seems to be an issue with the dobe's nowadays, ( according to the vet ) almost all of them have heart disease and the breeding community can't breed that OUT . I guess we are lucky, and fortunate .

Thanks for everyones input.

Mike

 

[LoveMyDobe]

Speedy Recovery to Ali

Glad to hear about her heart. Yes Dobes have heart problems, but alot of study has been done and they have found the genetic mutation responsible for the cause of cardiomyopathy. Now to get rid of the backyard breeders that contribute to this.