help. sores and bumps on paws?

I'm thinking he's got an allergy to something in your grass. Maybe that, conbined with the food issue, really did him in. I would wipe his feet after coming back inside.

Casey's hair on his toes gets really thin like that when his allergies flare up. We just to medicated baths, and it clears right up.

When it first started, I rinsed his feet with tea every time he came in.... did that for several days but didn't really see it help.  After that he was on meds from the vet and we slacked off.  Vet didn't seem convinced it was something outdoors, but neither did he think it was food.  He basically gave us meds to see if they helped... and they did... while he was on them!  We've had a couple frosts so I was hoping that if something outside was bothering him it would die soon!

What do you use for medicated baths?

    Does he display other allergy symptoms such as shaking his head, rubbing his chin on the carpet, or scratching his ears or body? If not, this may be caused by something else instead of allergies. You can try Selsun Blue; wet his foot and work up a lather, leave it on for a few minutes and rinse. If it's a yeast infection, that will help.

I think Janice's suggestion of the Selsun Blue is a great idea. I've had good luck with Nu Sal T, but I have to order it online and I've always had a hunch that it was a lot like Selsun Blue. I'm sorry Sammy is still having problems. Hopefully this is just minor and won't require more meds or a vet visit.

Thanks Janice and Cathy.....  I was hoping something minor and not needing more vet visits either, but the sores just are not really looking any better. 

He does shake his head, rub his head on carpet and couch and does scratch, but I haven't noticed an increase in this during the time he's having these other problems.  Esp in the car, he's always rolling around and rubbing on the backseat.  But he has been doing a basal level of most of the things you describe for quite a bit longer than this current set of issues.  Nothing he did ever seemed excessive, but then again, I don't have another dog I see everyday to compare and know what's a lot.

Do you think he's been starting to have allergies for a really long time and they're finally just getting to a point where they are really troublesome?  When they scratch/rub/shake from allergies is it quite often?

Does it have to be Selsun Blue brand?  DH uses head and shoulders.... but I bet they are different active ingredients or something.

NicoleS

Do you think he's been starting to have allergies for a really long time and they're finally just getting to a point where they are really troublesome?  When they scratch/rub/shake from allergies is it quite often?

It's quite possible. How old is he? We rescued Sassy when she was guesstimated to be about 2. She had an ear infection from day 1, and we battled those but not really any other problems for a couple years and then it all escalated. That might be what is happening with Sammy. If it's allergies, it usually gets worse with age.  I hope this is just a contact allergy thing with Sammy and you could try using the Head and Shoulders to see if it helps. If you find that these problems continue, I'd really encourage you to get some Nu Sal T shampoo and try bathing him with it on a weekly or so basis. It helped Sassy immensely. If you just google it, you'll find several online places that sell it.

We've had him about 2 1/2 years.... best guess is he was about a year at adoption, he was full grown but his coloring pattern has gotten darker on his face since then so he wasn't too old.  But say he's 3 1/2 -4 --> that would be around the age Sassy started to have problems.

I'll try the head and shoulders, at least on his feet for now, and see how that goes.  I would be much more encouraged if the open sores would heal, though, thats my biggest worry.  And the weird swollen bump.  Crossing my fingers his feet don't get infected.

Is it common that it would bother his back feet much more than his front feet?  They're still missing fur and it's a back paw with the sores.  The bump is a front one, but really those paws look untouched for the most part.  His belly looks a lot better than it did a few weeks ago, too.  The bump on the front paw could even be something totally unrelated -- it's swollen but it's not really red or anything.

I wish he had typical symptoms for something, anything.  It really only seems to bother his feet, so it seems to be contact related (to me) but then again, he does do the head rub and scratching mentioned before so maybe it is systemic?

He gets another day or two and then back to the vet for us for sure.  We have a place that has a dermatology vet somewhat nearby, I might ask our vet for a referral if one is needed, rather than wasting money at a "regular" vet.

NicoleS

I wish he had typical symptoms for something, anything.  It really only seems to bother his feet, so it seems to be contact related (to me) but then again, he does do the head rub and scratching mentioned before so maybe it is systemic?

Yeah, I used to think the feet was probably something that had been walked on but the more reading I did, I found that the feet are just one of the areas that all bad stuff seems to excrete thru. I hear ya on wishing for "typical symptoms". Sassy has even had the derm vet scratching her head a few times. Unfortunately, the more you deal with the atypical stuff, it starts to all feel very typical. It's a good thing we love them so much, huh?

There is a derm vet about 30 minutes from work... but over 60 minutes from home... so I might try to get our vet to refer us, but if they are only open M-F 9-5 I might be in a bit of trouble for an immediate appt (even if they had something open).  But, I have a day off at Thanksgiving if that might work out......  three weeks away, but we might be able to manage that?

I don't even know if my vet will refer us without seeing us again, but I really hate wasting time and money and just go to the experts, ya know?  Esp since this could be one of at least 10 things, I really think I need someone who knows what's going on.  I was hoping it was a one-time thing with the last bag of kibble that started everything, but it's not looking quite so easy anymore.....

Thanks for all the support, nice to know I'm not the only one!

Head and Shoulders won't do a thing - don't even bother.  Selsun Blue has medication in it -- it's similar to Nu Sal T (both have tar in them).  The Selsun Blue is just easy to find -- works great on both yeast and bacterial skin stuff.  Very soothing actually. (use the one with the red cap).

In honesty, given that you're already cooking, why not try a TCVM vet?  In the long run it's more cost-effective and they aren't going to do a ton of extra testing.  Email me if you want more info on how they work

http://www.tcvm.com

Callie, I'm going to email you right now :)

It seems like the sores are scabbing over, which is good, but looks like the bump is turning into a sore.  We've noticed mushrooms near us, I wonder if there are kinds of mushrooms that would cause irritation like this?  I'm still grasping at straws here....

 How's Sammy doing; hope his paws are better.

Thanks for checking in!  I'd taken this off-line a bit with Callie and forgot to come back and update....

Seems like the first paw is nearly healed.  They definitely had gotten worse before they got better, though.  A second paw had started the same thing and that one is still a bit swollen/abscesed and oozy a bit, but much smaller ulceration.  A third one was starting but seems to be going away without ulcerating.  He's on cephalexin for 21 days this time.... we'll see if it helps.  I think that second paw just needs to lose some fluid but I'm not really into sticking a needle into myself.  It might just take longer since the ulceration is so much smaller than before.

Vet basically wasn't sure what it was.... he didn't think it was worth doing a biopsy unless they didn't go away.  He thought it was fairly apparent that it was infected/bacterial, at least at this point, but maybe it was something left-over from him not being on antibiotics long enough last time, or the pred lowering his immune system. The penile pus came back as well, so I also have a flush for that (you know you love your dog when.....).  Hopefully the antiotics help with that too, vet didn't think it was a UTI or anything.

He vomited a few times last Friday/Saturday, all mucous and there was a good 15 drops of blood on Friday leading from his crate to the front door or vice versa.... but we never did figure out where he was bleeding from.  It wasn't like paw prints in blood, but actual drops, but it went every-other-stair down a flight of stairs, so I'm thinking maybe one of the absceses was opened up for a while? Vet checked him out afterwards and couldn't find anything coming from anywhere.....

I think all indications are leading *away* from allergies at this particular point, but it's not like there is a better explanation. Hopefully everyone can cross their fingers and hope he gets better and STAYS better!  I'm not cool with hundreds of dollars in vet bills that haven't gotten us anywhere... sigh. 

 And, to top it off, there's been a red bump on his belly since the first incident a month or so ago, that really hasn't ever gone away, that the vet isn't really sure about.  Depending on what happens with that, I might have that biopsied or something, just to make sure it isn't anything bad.  It started with all the allergy symptoms but it might just be a pressure bump since it's right where all his weight goes on his chest when he lays down....  some good thoughts for that to go away might be good to have as well....

NicoleS

 And, to top it off, there's been a red bump on his belly since the first incident a month or so ago, that really hasn't ever gone away, that the vet isn't really sure about.  Depending on what happens with that, I might have that biopsied or something, just to make sure it isn't anything bad.  It started with all the allergy symptoms but it might just be a pressure bump since it's right where all his weight goes on his chest when he lays down....  some good thoughts for that to go away might be good to have as well....

  Has the vet aspirated the bump; at least that way you'd know if it was a mast cell tumor and it only takes a few minutes to get the results. Could be a sebaceous cyst; Jessie has one on her chest. I'm so sorry he's having all these problems and will be praying for him.