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| She hates her boots. :( |
As you can tell, Zoe is not very impressed with me! Poor Zoe is having her feet problems again. It's been nonstop raining and during the rainy season she gets this weird contact allergy thing in between her pads and sometimes between her toes. Her feet do not like wet grass at all.
This year I tried an experiment with benadryl and keeping her mostly to the dirt for potty walks but because she's such a princess about where she goes potty, that plan didn't really work out. Even with drying them thoroughly with a towel every time she comes in and washing them with anti-bacterial soap once a day, the infection happened anyways.
This is what her paw currently looks like. She also has a second infection in one of her back paws, too. I've been treating her 3x a day with her special spray from the vet. The photo above is actually pretty mild from what I've seen them do in the past. We've been keeping a very close eye on her and making sure she does not lick them. She's been pretty unhappy about that, too because she would prefer to spend her day in the bedroom.
I can't really win with her. She hates her boots but her paws hate the grass. I feel so bad about all of this. Boots it is until the rain takes a break! Poor thing.
Does your dog have contact allergies?
Poor Zoe - that is terrible.
ReplyDeleteWe are lucky, our dogs don't have any allergies.
Our vet had this happen to a former dog of his. We were talking about it back before Emma had her lipfold surgery as the root of the cause is the fur and dampness. He used DOUXO Chlorhexidine Climbazole Mousse to keep it at bay and said it worked great. We tried it on my lipfold issues but I didn't want it in my mouth and we opted for the surgery instead. You might want to ask your vet if this would be worth trying. It is a prescription, so you have to get it at the vet. She may still need the boots but this might make her paws heal and stay uninfected.
ReplyDeleteI will talk to her Dr. about that! Thanks!
DeleteGood grief! I never knew that could happen! Thankfully, we live in the desert, so not a lot of wet grass around here and fewer rainy days than average. Hope she gets better soon once it stops raining!
ReplyDeleteUgh! Sounds like Shiner right now. She has been licking like crazy. Her allergies usually act up in the spring/fall... it's supposed to be more like winter now, but feels more like fall and it's been rainy too. Feel better soon Zoe!
ReplyDeleteOh no! Poor Shiner! Allergies are the worst!
DeletePoor Zoe is right. Our babies can develop so many issues as the years go by. We sure learned that. I hope you find a solution.
ReplyDeleteHave a woof woof day Zoe. My best to your mom. ☺
Poor Zoe, have you heard of Natural Paws? It is helping us with Shasta's feet. Check them out: http://naturalpaws.net/your-dog-is-ready-to-ditch-the-itch/
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of them! I will have to check them out!
Delete:-( Poor Zoe...... No allergies with either of my dogs....Once in a while Wilson gets some late summer itchies, but never to the point of infection.
ReplyDeleteOuch! Poor baby. :( I've never dealt with contact allergies. Hope the rain clears up for you soon!
ReplyDeleteAw, looks very sore. We don't have any suggestions.
ReplyDeleteYour Pals,
Murphy & Stanley
Bless her heart. Neither of the boys have contact allergies, but I have feet problems if I get my them wet in the rain.
ReplyDeletePoor Zoe. Our pups hate boots too, although R can forget about them when having fun. R has a severe pollen allergy, and we think that "contact" with his skin is a big part of it. So the poor boy gets lots of baths (or swims) in pollen season. I hope the spray helps! It's so tough to have to do things our dogs don't like "for their own good".
ReplyDeleteOh no! Poor R! Yeah, it's really tough sometimes treating her because she gets so sad about it.
DeletePoor Zoe! Luckily Rita doesn't have to deal with boots here, and so far (knock on wood...) she hasn't had any allergies. Hope you can help her get some relief for her soon!
ReplyDeletePoor girl. Sherman sometimes gets mild irritation on his paws, mostly in the winter from all the moisture. I hope Zoe's paws feel better soon!
ReplyDeletePoor girl. It's rough when they get an owie and then make it worse by licking. My vet prescribes Mometamax for everything. If we had something persist, I'd take them back to the holistic vet for some woo-woo allergy testing and acupuncture. (I did get this German diaper rash cream for Leo's lipfold crust, but I'm scared of it because it has zinc in it.)
ReplyDeleteBain gets seasonal allergies. Bathing him with K9 Kelp shampoo and conditioner once a week helps with any rashes and flare ups. Thankfully it's easy to see on him since he is pink and white.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first had him, it was really difficult and he would scratch his face often, to a point where he had to have a cone. The vet gave me drops for his ears, which he does not like, but if he starts getting irritated ears again the drops really help.
I hope Zoe feels better! That's no fun :(
Hi, I have 3 Shih Tzus, last May we rescued our newest dog, she was one of 33 Shih Tzus pulled from a puppy mill inside a house in Cleveland, all the dogs were severely neglected. The week after we got her she developed a paw abscess, vet assumed something got stuck in her pads like a pine needle, as her pads are very soft from not being outside. Treated, all better, two weeks later, another one, a week after that, another one.
ReplyDeleteOur vet then thought allergies, so we had her on a 3-month food trial, but during this time we basically noticed she'd get an abscess every time she was on grass (as our dogs are inside/outside trained we start training inside, so that's why she wasn't outside daily). After 3-months, the vet declared the food trial a failure, and we were going to do allergy testing when our vet mentioned another option.
There's a new medication out called Apoquel, it stops dogs from being itchy. Our vet explained that Hay-Li isn't getting actual contact allergies, but her feeling itchy causes her to lick her paws, and during the licking, she's pushing her fur into the pads causing a kind of ingrown hair infection. Unfortunately, Apoquel does NOT stop the actual allergy, BUT allergy testing can take a full year to know if it's successful and Apoquel works almost immediately. Our vets feel it's a very safe, long term medication, so we chose to try the Apoquel first, and if it doesn't work, move forward with allergy testing. I'm thrilled to say Hay-Li has gone over two months with no abscesses!
She still licks her paws a little bit, we feel it's almost a habit because her entire life she only had herself to take care of, but all summer the licking was virtually nonstop, so she's truly made a huge change. I will say Hay-Li's paws look a bit different than Zoe's, Hay-Li would get very swollen between her pads, and red, and if we didn't catch the infection fast enough it would usually burst and bleed, so perhaps Zoe is in a completely different situation, but I know these infections can be heart-wrenching to see because you know they're in pain, and they need their feet to walk on! Maybe this medication is something that could help Zoe? Apoquel also costs about $32/month, as opposed to the couple thousand we'd probably pay for allergy testing and treatment. I have ZERO affiliation with the company, just a dog lover, who would be happy to help another pooch!
Our middle dog also has severe arthritis, that she was born with, in her left front paw, and when it snows her paws get very sensitive, we couldn't find any boots that fit, so our vet suggested baby socks. They fit Car-Li quite well, though obviously they aren't waterproof so we take them off when she's inside and have multiple pairs so she always has dry ones, but maybe Zoe wouldn't mind socks as much?
Best wishes, happy holidays!
What is the spray you are using?
ReplyDeleteIt's Betagen, a medicated steroid spray from my vet. :)
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