Pets

Licking and chewing on her paws is a sign of stress. Can you think of any changes in her environment or daily routine that could be causing stress? I have seen this occur when a new dog is introduced. Have you moved to a new house or something significant like that recently? I'm not a vet, but I got this information from a vet.

I have seen it turn into a viscious cycle rather quickly. I.e., the dog licks to the point of making the hair come off, creating a raw, sore spot, then she licks the raw sore spot, which gets infected, and it's hard to break the cycle.

Pet stores sell a green-apple-tasting spray for the purpose of deterring the licking. There are also "over-the-counter" stress relieving homeopathic products available online (search from google.com). I have no experience with them so don't know how much they help.

The fact that she's also scratching her ears make me wonder if she has allergies (yep - dogs get 'em too). Maybe it's the allergic reaction to -- whatever -- that's causing the stress, that's causing the licking?

Best wishes, hope this helps.

Our dog chews on his paws when his allergies are bothering him. His paws usually turn pinkish/red between the pads. One vet told us we could give him benadryl, but I would check with your vet especially on the dosage.

I have worked with animals in the past (vet tech) your dog could have developed an allergy to some grasses.

What did your vet say? It could be skin irritation and ear mites.

It could be allergies or a yeast reaction (from the soil). Ask the vet.

A.

It's allergies. Go to the vet and I bet you get a medication to use that will give all of you better sleep.

My dog does the exact same thing. It's a sign of allergies.
I don't give her anything, but have heard that you
can give them a dose of benadryl to help. You'll
probably need to discuss with your vet the dosage.
Good luck!

I agree that it could be allergies of some kind. I also had a long hair dog who chewed her feet to remove the hair. We had to keep the hair trimmed from her pads since it seemed to bother her. But scratching feet and ears sounds like an allergic reaction to something. You can use Gold Bond medicated powder to help with the itchiness. Is that a real word? It seems that our dog got more itches and problems as she got older, just part of the fun of growing older. Well, good luck with that itch.

if you find out, i would LOVE to know. our dog does the same thing and it drives everyone in the house crazy. the only thing the vet has offered is some really expensive allergy medicine, benedryl that didn't work or a trip to a pet allergist (who knew that existed?).

Our neighbor gives their nine year old lab an anti-anxiety pill every day to keep her from licking until she opens a wound. It has been called a nervous response to her allergies.

R.,

I just had our 5 year old back from the vet just this past friday, she had a SEVERE yeast infection in her ears. The vet did a swab for both ear mites, and infection and came back infection. I would take both to the vet it could be fungal. I thought ours had fleas but had been treating her regularly and finally gave up and took her in.

I get it checked out ... for everyone's peace of mind and QUIET.

J. W.

My dog had the same problem with chewing on his paws and read that this can be a sign of allergies to wheat, which is in a lot of dog foods, we found a dog food called Innova and it does not contain wheat and we have not had a problem with it since. Good luck!

My husband's dog had allergies and used to do the same thing to her paws and her ears. The vet can give you allergy pills to wrap up in a snausage for your dog to take. It's best to take care of this because dog's can damage the pads of their feet by chewing on them (or so our vet said when treating my husband's dog).

I have a dog that was doing this constantly. We took her to a animal dermatologist and we found out she had a yeast infection in her toe nails. Her toe nails had turned dark brown from white but we thought it was due to the saliva staining them since that is what happened to the fur. But the dark brown was actually a yeast infection. Also, she itches really bad in her ears from allergies. She will shake her head and rub her ears on the floor or her bed...anywhere she can get relief. When that happens I give her Benedryl. She was itching so bad this last week that I took her into the vet to have her checked incase she had an infection of some sort. But they checked her ears and they were clean- no infection, no mites. They suggested that maybe a bug or ant climbed into her ear and bit her or something. But she is fine now. She likes to go outside and sunbathe and roll around in the grass so I guess that could have happened.
Anyway, good luck with your dog....I hope you can get it figured out. I know how annoying it can be to hear them lick all night and shake their head and stuff. I would take them into the vet to just make sure everything is ok.

Our dog does that also. He has some allergies but he also gets a ear problem that causes the chewing of paws. You do need to go to the vet and get a prescription. We keep it in our refrigerator until he needs it.