Has Your Dog Ever Gotten a Cut in the Pad of His Paw? Are You a Vet?

Keep it clean and wrapped or in a boot, and if he licks at it excessively, put an E-collar on him. You can get boots and E-collars at pet stores.
If you can keep him kenneled so that he stays off it as much as possible, that wouldn't be a bad idea either.

I am a veterinarian and I always advise to get it checked out. It won't hurt anything, but without a vet examining it, nobody on here can say if it will be okay or not. This protects us legally, since giving advice without an exam can be a liability issue if things end up unexpectedly getting worse.

Your vet may or may not recommend an antibiotic. Most antibiotics do NOT upset tummies - some dogs can be sensitive to certain ones and giving the medication with a full meal, or at least a small amount of food, instead of an empty stomach, can help prevent that.

Your vet should be able also to bandage the foot correctly - too tight of a bandage will impede circulation, causing the foot the swell, and eventually tissue damage.

Your vet can also assess how bad it really is and if it could use sutures, or perhaps at least some tissue glue to try to keep it closed.

Keep your appointment with the vet.

A cut on the paw is not necessarily a significant issue, but it is difficult to heal, & requires more time than you would think.

Make sure it is washed, dried & healthy tissue. If there is any sign of pus, bad smell, extreme redness or swelling, you DO need to follow up with a vet.

You mention that he reopens it when he jumps. This is the hard part. NO ACTIVITY!! I have Rhodesian Ridgebacks, I KNOW how difficult this can be. But, outside on a leash only, no running, & if he is very active in the house, crate him. One week of you taking him on walks vs. a large vet bill & complications from a reopened injury is worth it.

If you take him on walks, the pavement alone can open it back up. I would recommend some type of foot boot (you can get them @ the pet store, many different types, Polar Paws is one brand, usually sold in packs of 4, not the cheapest, but... ) In a pinch, you can wrap it in vet wrap (self-stick ace bandage), rolls are about $2 @ Fleet Farm.

Another route option is using a product like Tough Pad (I believe it is sold at places like Fleet Farm). It is a balm to put on the foot to toughen it up so that it is not as prone to cracking open.

Once you think it is healed, wait another week before resuming activities. A friend's dog ripped his pads on a running spree in a parking lot & she put him on crate rest for a week. Pulled him out & brought him to agility class, & he started refusing jumps... I suggested checking his paw & sure enough he had cracked it again (it wasn't bleeding yet). So they do take a while to heal, esp since the dog is constantly walking on them.

If you have a good relationship with your vet, you might want to call & just do a quick consult on their thoughts... let them know it's clean, not infected & you just need to get it healed... ask their thoughts regarding any type of wrapping (beyond what might be necessary for a walk) & application of products like Tough Pad.

*Disclaimer - I am NOT a vet. However, I am engaged in a number of dog activities that involve risk to injury, so I have gathered a lot of information from other dog enthusiasts & my vets.

T.

I am not a vet.

We've got a couple hunting dogs and they've had just about ever type of cut, sore, or injury I think possible. It always happens when the vet is closed or on a Friday afternoon so you panic not knowing if you can get by until Monday. We actually worked with our vet to put together a very comprehensive first aid kit, complete with sutures, antibiotics, etc so if we are far from civilization we can save the dog's life. Cost us about $150 to put together, but it's a fraction of what our dog is worth to us. We've hunted with people who have had dogs get into poison and die before help could be reached.

We've had a lot of cut pads. If he is jumping on it, it's probably not as bad as it appears.They tend to bleed a lot. We keep a jar of styptic powder around for paw and ear wounds. Often that's all it takes to stop the bleeding for good. We also have a tube of special doggie wound care cream from the vet for small cuts. Take a good look with a flashlight, however, to make sure whatever cut the pad isn't still in there. But with him willingly jumping on it, I'd doubt it. Styptic, keep it clean and dry, and he should be fine.

P.:

There is a Vet here on the site!! I wonder if she's working today!!

My dog (several actually) have received cuts on their paws...mostly from glass we didn't see before they walked into it.

We have cleaned the wound, removed the glass and then put Neosporin on it and wrapped it. It's been hard as they want to lick at the wound. We usually sit with him to make sure they don't lick at it.

if the bleeding won't stop? Take him to a vet. If he breaks it open after walking on it? I would take him in to see if, on the off-chance, he needs stitches to help keep it closed.

Good luck!

My dog cut his pad (possibly on a sharp rock)... they had to stitch it with metal thread, if I remember correctly..... (it was a thin wire they used)..... they used that to keep him from chewing the stitches off... I don't remember if they used an E-collar to keep him from chewing it. (this was probably 15 years ago, before they used the surgical glue on stuff... that stuff is great!)

The biggest reason they will put him on antibiotic is probably to keep it from GETTING infected.... considering that it will touch the ground every time he walks.....

I'm not a vet. Our dog actually went through this a couple months ago. The cut was not large, but it was kind of deep. At first we packed it with neosporin, bandaged it, and then put a sock over it. We wrapped some duct tape around the top of the sock, just tight enough so it could not slip off over the tarsus (I think that's what it's called - kind of like their "heel bone"). It seemed to be healing fine and we didn't see any swelling, redness, or other worrisome signs. But one morning we got up and she was acting like she didn't feel well, so we went ahead and took her in. The vet did give her some antibiotics and pain meds. We started her on them right away. By that evening, she was acting like she felt worse. We called the vet and he said to give her another antibiotic pill, which we did. By the next morning she was feeling better, and the cut healed nicely. We only gave her the pain meds for the first day, but we finished the antibiotic cycle.

So to answer your question, I'm glad we took her in and got her on antibiotics, and I would suggest you do the same. If your dog gets an upset tummy from meds, you might give it to him along with some food mixed with plain yogurt (a vet suggested this one time for me with a dog I was fostering). Good luck! Hope he heals quickly.

WOW this just recently happened here! I don't have alot of $, so I doctored the paw this way...washed out with clear, cool water, applied peroxide, applied neosporin to the wound and wrapped all the way to her 'knee'...ours was a VERY bad cut and bled alot...she didn't try to chew the bandage until about a week later...I changed the bandage & recleaned every 2nd day, she is good as new now, it happened about a month ago & she is completely healed...Good luck to you & your furry friend!

I'm not a vet.

Our dog (GSD) injures the pads of her feet every year, the first day it is nice enough for the kids to swim. She will not get into the pool, but runs circles around the kids while they swim. The first time out, every season, she scrapes them up and sometimes it is enough that they will bleed, and she'll have a flap of "skin"?/toe pad that will lift or tear off. I apply neosporin (same as I would for a people injury like it) and that's it. She doesn't lick at them. If she licked, then I would stick a sock over her paw/foot for a few hours.
That's about it. Her pads toughen up (I guess) after that first day out and it doesn't ever happen the rest of the season... until the next year. Weird, I know.

She's never had an infection from it. Usually, once I apply the neosporin, she is pretty much indoors until the next morning--except for one or two potty trips outside.

Be sure you figure out (if you don't already know) what your dog did to get the injury in the first place. It may be something that you can avoid in the future if you know how she did it.

if a chunk is missing then all you can do it keep it clean and wait for it to heal, but if it is a slice they can stitch it and help things heal much faster.

My dog one pulled one of her nails completely out and she had a bloody stump-like area where the nail used to be. I called the shelter where I got her to see if they had any advice and their vet on call said to use Liquid Bandage two to three times a day. It worked wonders. She didn't like the taste of it but after one lick she didn't try that again, lol. The tricky part about foot injuries on dogs is keeping them still enough to let the would heal.
You can use Neosporin on a bandage if your dog will tolerate having a bandage on its foot.

When I adopted my dog his pads were so bad from running that they would bleed! I talked to the vet and she said to wrap it after applying neosporin or other triple anti biotics. That and through out the day let it breath so that the wetness does not cause more issues.

Sorry your puppy is going through this.

My vet says liquid bandaids are ok to put on their paw pads. I don't know if that will help you or not. If I were you'd I'd call the vet to ask their opinion before making an appt.

Our dog cut her pad on some glass. We did take her to the Vet. They put in three metal staple stitches and bandaged her up. No antibiotics. She did have to wear "the cone of shame for few days" as we'll.