chewing paws

[Mike Sweeney]

Hello everyone,

I am seeking some information and help on my GoldenDoodle "Shea". He is 8 months old ,65 lbs., male and has recently started to chew on his front paws. He has been doing this for approximately 3 weeks and has chewed the fur on his paws pretty short and it appears that he is now chewing the fur up his legs to the first joint. I have been feeding him Iams puppy kibble since we got him at 7 weeks. Besides this chewing he appears to be very healthy. I have also noticed that the fur between the pads on his paws appear reddish/brown and have attached photos for your information. I assume that the color is normal for a white doodle. Has anyone else experienced this in their doodle or have any advice. I have read that is could be allergies and something that irritated his paws. Since his Diet or environment has not changed I was thinking that it is a bad habbit like chewing on nails. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Adina P]

Typically paw chewing is indicative of an allergy to either an environmental or food ingredient. Our Member "Karen and Jack" is the expert here on such things... In the meantime if you type in the terms "allergy" and "allergies" (separate searches) in the search box in our Forum page, you'll find links to many past discussions on this. Also you could search for "paw chewing" "paw licking" and other such search terms/phrases.

As to the discoloration...it's primarily from the saliva from chewing on his paws. It's not normally orange/red/brown otherwise even for white doodles.

[Liza, Halle and Finn]

I think your dood has allergies. Our doodle, Kachi, also a cream goldendoodle, has bad allergies, and they began to show up in just this manner, at about the same age as your dood. Mainly, Kachi's problems are from food, and perservatives, but we have been unable to rule out grass and pollen sources as well, (although we suspect that these are not really the problem). Our vet immediately (when allergies were suspected -which was early spring) put Kachi on a food trial, which means you take your dood off of everything he currently eats (including all treats, etc) and put him on a limited ingredient food. We started Kachi on Natural Balance Venison/Sweet Potato. You want to be sure you pick a food that your pooch has not had before. He needs to stay on this trial for at least 12 weeks. We saw an immediate improvement in Kachi. We have now added a herring/sweet potato to this food, still with no problems. And since then, we have discovered that he is definitely allergic to chicken, Every once and awhile, he will eat something he shouldn't (especially our new puppy's kibble) and within a few hours, it's lick, lick, lick.
Also, you may want to get a soothing oatmeal shampoo for him, that may help with his skin issues until you get to the root of his problem. Your vet can also give you some Ef-Z-Plus fatty acid supplement to mix in his food. This should help as well. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The paw discoloration (erythema) is a classic symtpom of allergies. The paw licking eventually causes an infection, and the licking is caused by itching, which is an allergic histamine response to the allergens. Allergies are an immune system disease which affects the whole body, and are caused by organic inhalant allergens (85-90% of the time) Or food in the other 10-15% of cases.
Here is some info about allergies in dogs that will help you:
http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/all-about-allergies
http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/healthandmedicalissues/forum/topi...
http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/healthandmedicalissues/forum/topi...
There are many others, but these will give you a great deal of info.
This is not caused by the dog's paws coming into actual contact with an allergen, and it is not caused by lawn chemicals, carpet, cleaning fluids, etc. Since we are at the peak of pollen season in most parts of the country, it is probably an inhalant allergy, also known as an environmental allergy, but the food may be playing a role. Contrary to popular beliefs, food allergies develop after a dog has been eating a particular food for a long time, and symptoms never appear right after changing foods. Iams is a pretty lousy food anyway, full of corn, wheat, and soy which are the ingredients most likely to contribute to food allergies in dogs. Please join the Food Group to learn about some better choices.
Good luck, and please feel free to contact me if I can help answer any questions. Having an allergic dog is no fun, and the amount of misinformation about allergies that is out there is mind-boggling and frustrating. Good luck.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Allergies probably, although I came across this article last week you may want to read to rule out a type of mange in dogs paws, Hoping this is not your problem but certainly any help is needed for your poor dog today. Good Luck and hope all is better soon.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_demodectic_mange.html

Scroll down to an article on FORM #3: DEMODECTIC PODODERMATITIS

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Good vets always do a scraping to rule out mites (the source of mange) before they treat the paw licking as an allergy. Thanks for pointing this out, Joanne, I do refer to it in ones of links above, but I know everyone doesn't always read them, lol.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Lol Karen. Yes, I'll admit I did not read the links. :) But I will also admit, I do pay attention to 99.9% of your other posts. I am having quite the lazy holiday weekend.

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

Looks real bad! Let us know what the vet says!

[Melissa, Samson & Shelby]

The same thing happened to Samson when he was about 7 mos. old. The vet checked and said that it could be the grass or pollen. It was spring at the time and everything was growing. She gave us a topical spray to use on the paws (steriod, I think) and told us to wash or at least rinsse his paws when he came into the house. He will be 2 yrs old on 9/11 and he has never had the problem again. I was worried that we were started down a path of allergies, but in the almost year and a half since, that was the only episode! Goodl uck!