Dog Community

Biting his feet!

Posted : 6/28/2006 12:00:38 PM

This is something new for us, Winston has never really chewed on his feet in the past, but when he came home from the groomers 2 weeks ago, he was chewing on his back feet. I assumed that it was from the clipping and maybe they went a bit short or something. Well, he's gotten a bath since then, has not been in any grass (fertilizer potential) and the pollen is just about gone in our area, so I can't explain why he's STILL chewing on his back feet. I have been washing them more, just the feet, with his regular non detergent shampoo and rinsing all the time, but I don't know if it could be something else that I am unaware of. We didn't change the cleaning solutions in our home or anything like that either. It's just his two back feet....any advice would be helpful!! Thank you in advance

jessies_mom

Posted : 6/28/2006 8:10:59 PM

Try making some black tea; about 2 tea bags to a cup, and putting it on his feet a couple times a day; it frequently stops them from chewing and licking their feet. You could use a spray bottle to apply it, dip his feet in a container with the tea in it, or whatever way works for you. As to the cause; maybe they did something at the groomers to irritate his feet and his licking irritated them more, so he licks them more, etc. Does the skin on his feet look red and irritated; if so he may have a yeast or bacterial infection from the licking and need a topical from the vet; if not the tea should help.

christina

Posted : 6/29/2006 4:16:07 PM

No redness, nothing that is noticeable in any way - but I will definately try the tea thing tonite. My mother in law is going to think I'm nuts...she is staying with us for a while and she already thinks I baby the dog too much, now she's going to tell everyone I dip my dog in tea!!!! Thanks for the advice - I'll watch to see if the biting continues.

jessies_mom

Posted : 6/29/2006 9:54:24 PM

The "tea thing" is one of Callie's remedies so it should work; Jessie used to lick and chew her feet until they bled before she started allergen immunotherapy; I wasn't a member of idog at the time so I didn't know about using tea to soothe her feet. I hope it helps Winston; maybe you can do it when your mother in law isn't watching; [

] good luck with explaining it to her.

Tuppy Gleason

Posted : 7/3/2006 7:06:12 AM

Gumbo was doing the same thing, well he was licking his front paws a lot, he has moist dermatitis between his toes that we didn't see until the fur between his paw pads was trimmed.

jessies_mom

Posted : 7/3/2006 7:32:42 AM

Moist dermatitis can be bacterial or fungal; Animax or Gentocin spray from you vet work very well for both. Your dog's feet itch so he licks and chews them, which injures the skin and causes the dermatitis. Tea can prevent the dermatitis by stopping the itch but it won't cure it if it is already started. I used to use Malacetic wipes ( they are made with apple cider vinegar and boric acid) and a blue liquid in a bottle made by DermCare that has chlorhexidine gluconate; these worked for a few years but then her allergies got so bad that they didn't help. I hope Gumbo's feet are okay now.

Tuppy Gleason

Posted : 7/3/2006 7:45:41 AM

Yes, thanks they are improving rapidly. He is so well behaved and so eager to please that after telling him NO a few times when he was licking, he stopped. He follows me around all day and is never more than 10 feet away from me, so I can keep a pretty good eye on him....and he has been on meds from the doc, and the black tea thing helped...the Gold Bond is great too.