Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 5:43 pm Post subject: My lab is eating his paws till they bleed
Hi, I am at my wits end. My dog Dexter is 6 years old. For what seems like ages now he has chewed consistently daily each of his paws to the point where they are bleeding/raw/no skin. I cannot leave him alone for five minutes without a buster collar on or he eats them. And I mean he eats the skin till it bleeds. He is castrated also.
He is a happy dog in good general health. The vet has drawn a blank. We have tried immuno therapy, food trials, blood tests, allergy tests, hundreds of pounds spent. I thought it may be a yeast problem and have imported something called NZymes to help him, I buy hypoallergenic food also. ALL no good and he just eats his paws.
I don't know what to do with him. Its distressing because he then cannot walk far and does not want to walk - so not much life for him. Any thoughts appreciated as neither me nor my dog are enjoying much at the moment. Many thanks for taking time to reply with ideas.
THANK YOU EVERYBODY FOR YOUR WONDERFUL SUGGESTIONS> Today is a bad day for me and Dexter. He ate off his back paw and he cannot walk today. He looks so sad. I know dogs don't have any sense of self preservation like we do.
I am going to try white fish and brown rice. Then I am going to try this ointment called camrosa ointment - its worked on a horse - so I am going to try on feet. You wash the feet in this camrosa shampoo then apply this film which is waterproof and repels EVERY external irritant. This way I can see if its internal, external or psychological addiction like nail biting. I so want another labrador but at the moment my lad is 24/7 care so could not cope. I am considering seeing if I can find someone to have him in there home for a few weeks again to try and eliminate something. I will let you know if the Camrosa shampoo and ointment works. The dog also cannot lick it off either!! Fingers crossed. Another large amount of money spent today
Last edited by perigord on Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
I am no expert, but my rescue dog a collie X used to do this with one paw untill it was red raw, this stopped after a while for no reason, however when researching why we came across something which you might want to keep inmind, just like humans self harm animals can do also - if you lab has been doing this for a while he could have beecome addicted to doing it. as far as health issues go i cannot suggest a thing nor would i want to as i am not a vet, however - prevention - what do you do other than put his collar on? how about playing with him the moment he starts biting, or does he only do this when he is alone? has he always been okay when left alone? is it a seperation/attention issue
these are a few points to think about but trust me im sure others on here will offer their advice also
It sounds like you've tried all sorts of routes to find the problem. All I can do is give you my own experience.
We rescued Amber who is 6 years old and she came to us with serious gnawing, biting and scratching until she bled problems.
The vet gave her steroids and told us it was probably environmental.
As it happens we found out that it was a food allergy and stopped giving her pet food altogether.
I now feed her on a lightly cooked food diet and there was an instant improvement, literally over 2 days she stopped scatching and she's never had a steroid since.
She looks really good, full of energy, lovely coat, bight eyes.
Have you tried stopping pet food and tried raw or cooked food?
I'm sorry I'm not much help but with labs some of the time itchy paws can mean food allergy???
Best of luck
____________ Kimberley,Sheppy and Amber
Amber/Shep
[quote="Night"]I am no expert, but my rescue dog a collie X used to do this with one paw untill it was red raw, this stopped after a while for no reason, however when researching why we came across something which you might want to keep inmind, just like humans self harm animals can do also - if you lab has been doing this for a while he could have beecome addicted to doing it. as far as health issues go i cannot suggest a thing nor would i want to as i am not a vet, however - prevention - what do you do other than put his collar on? how about playing with him the moment he starts biting, or does he only do this when he is alone? has he always been okay when left alone? is it a seperation/attention issue
these are a few points to think about but trust me im sure others on here will offer their advice also[
/Hi thanks for your reply. Yes he has always been fine when left alone. I work from home so he is hardly ever left. I wonder if its now a habit. I am wondering about trying to find an animal behavourist on the web.]
[quote="_Kimberley_"]Hi welcome to LF! Sorry to hear about Dexter.
It sounds like you've tried all sorts of routes to find the problem. All I can do is give you my own experience.
We rescued Amber who is 6 years old and she came to us with serious gnawing, biting and scratching until she bled problems.
The vet gave her steroids and told us it was probably environmental.
As it happens we found out that it was a food allergy and stopped giving her pet food altogether.
I now feed her on a lightly cooked food diet and there was an instant improvement, literally over 2 days she stopped scatching and she's never had a steroid since.
She looks really good, full of energy, lovely coat, bight eyes.
Have you tried stopping pet food and tried raw or cooked food?
I'm sorry I'm not much help but with labs some of the time itchy paws can mean food allergy???
Best of luck Hi Kimberley, Thanks for this. What kind of normal food do you feed her? I have Dexter on some hypoallergenic food but clearly its not worth the money. If normal food is the way - then do let m eknow what you have fed Amber on. Many thanks]
Have you tried getting a second opinion? I'm sure you have having worked so hard on the problem, but sometimes one vet is great on certain areas but you call another couple and suddenly bingo! You hit a vet who has just made a breakthrough with the same problem with another dog.
I suppose you have but have you considered dust mites in the carpet? Or household cleaners you use? What about the powder you wash the blankets on his bed in...? Could you contact the council and see if where you walk him is ever sprayed with any chemicals?
You have covered so much its hard to take it further.
I would say foot chewing is a sign of pain. A dog can release painkilling endorphins into his system by chewing at his paws. You regularly see bitches having contractions whilst whelping chewing their pads as it releases a bit of gas and air for humans So possibly there could be pain elsewhere - or maybe WAS pain at one point and he has literally, inexplicably got into the habit because he likes the rush it gives... I am not joking, does that make sense even if it is incorrect in this case?
I really wish you luck this sounds dreadful.
Di
____________
The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
Hi
I had Amber on Burns (holistic) but it did very little for her really.
I feed Amber on food like, meat (beef, lamb, heart, chicken, Fish (sardines, pilchards sometimes haddock, skinless and boneless) occasionally offal such as liver, kidneys). Also eggs with shells. Veg: carrots, green beans, peas, parsnips, sweet potatoe, occasionally broccolli, cauliflower, mashed potaoes, the list is endless. Sometimes she has basmali brown rice too.
She also gets live yoghurt and fruit like bananas and apples. I put a high quality suppliment in there too.
All the meat and veg are lightly cooked and the veg is mixed to a pulp for easy digestion.
It turns out that she is allergic to storage mites (found in dried foods and flour etc), house mites and dust mites.
The vet is trying to get her on a course of tablets costing almost £5 each tablet. She too is a rescue dog if that makes any difference.
After reading all the info on here and on various websites i have suggested that my mum tries her dog on the Barf diet before resorting to the tablets. She is looking into this as she is very cautious about bones etc.
Maybe you would benefit from talking to one of the LF members who are really clued up on Barf as it may be an option for you.
Im no expert but it may just help.
Good luck and i do hope that Dexter is feeling better very soon.
Try Ebay Doggy socks !!!!!!!! i myself am going through somthing similar with Clyde although hes not chewing till they bleed but hes still chewing them they become very red like a rash Vets has always thought of it as a food allergy or House allergy or enviromental outside allergys wee have done the homecooked lamb and rice which was a success ,Clyde is now on Pal with Lamb and a basic mixer Pointer Plain Terrier mix and hes done fantanstic on it in over 14 months since starting it he only had 2 flair ups but he was in middle of Beef trial at the time so it may of been the beef ????? Clyde was at vets yeateray and had blood samples taken im having Allerept bloods done so hopfully wee may get a result pm me if you wish hope you get to the bottom of it are there any other symptoms ???Clyde has usually in the past had Ear Infections to go with the red feet
Marie + Clyde
____________
My Number 1 Gundog
Clyde'sAlbum [/b:679f0b754
My girl Tara chews her leg and paws constantly and has done for years. This is to the point that she licks so there is no skin left. I too have looked into all kinds of things, but it is thought that with Tara it is linked to the nerves - she licks as the sensation is weird for her. (Tara has had paralysis etc, long story....) My vet is convinced that it is a neurological problem which she will always have and to be honest, she just lives with the lick sores and I check them to make sure they don't get infected.
I did try putting one of my socks on her and this did deter her for a while until she chewed through it. Now we are just vigilant and tell her off when she licks, which remarkably has calmed the problem down of late.
Sorry I haven't been much help, have gone the long way round to say that it may be neurological rather than physical.
Good luck with it, I know first hand how frustrating this problem is.
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So possibly there could be pain elsewhere - or maybe WAS pain at one point and he has literally, inexplicably got into the habit because he likes the rush it gives... I am not joking, does that make sense even if it is incorrect in this case?
