Misty has developed a bad habit of licking and chewing between her pad on her left front foot. I have taken her twice to the vet for this, it started in Nov she caused an infection, the vet thinks she may have had something in there that bothered her and thats how it started, now it has become a bad habit. Every time she goes out and gets her feet wet she will lick and chew it. For two months she has been spending time in a soft cone and I put the spray the vet sent home on her foot until it drys. At first she had to be in the cone every time she started to chew or lick. Now it is only about twice a day in the cone. She is on GentaSpray as the vet does not want to give her anything oral at this time. This is my second bottle. She has been xrayed just seems a bad habit. Has anyone else had a pad problem with a dog?

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Awwwwwww Misty! I would keep her busy doing something else if she has a special time to lick that area. A tired puppy is a good puppy.

Hi Misty,

Yes, Sissy has this problem, too! Sissy's paw between her toes gets really red and inflamed. Normally, in the spring and winter. We get her allergy shots two/three times a year and that helps. During this time, we give her a benadryl every night.

She will lick between her toes and it becomes really inflamed. The doctor said that the more they lick that fungus will grow and it will be real itchy to them. He gave us a powder and that helped the itching but a build up between her toes was a mess.

He then gave us the gentaspray and VET solutions medicated shampoo. We just put a little water in the sink - stick her in it and wash her paws with the shampoo a couple/three times a week. This really helps. Look real close and see if you see yellow or little grainy stuff between her toes or on the bottom of her paw - if so this shampoo will really help.

It gets bad in the winter because she goes outside and gets her paws wet and then licks them. She KNOWS what "no lick" means...lolololo We keep a towel by the door and dry them as much as possible.

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Aww poor Misty. I have the same problem with Ninja's left paw. He was licking his paw excessively one night that when we woke up in the morning we saw he ripped the hair off. When I went to the vet she said it was probably from the salt outside or boredom. It was so red though and now he recently did it again last week on the morning my family went to the hospital for my grandfather. I think he thought he was home alone and that must have been from anxiety. The vet gave us this spray called betagen tropical spray. I notice when I put it on him it burns him because he begins to wipe his feet and have a RLH moment. I notice it does help though. Whenever I do catch him in the act I try and distract him. I'm going to try that medicated shampoo Marie mentioned.

I was going to mention to that when she has this problem and when I am using the shampoo I feel with my fingers to see if I feel the gritty stuff. Sometimes I use a soft toothbrush to lightly brush the stuff out of her hair. I wouldn't use the toothbrush agressively because it could make her paw really sore/raw, etc.

Poor Misty,
I have a idea that you might try. I was in the pedicure and Manicure business for over 10 years. I had a lot of clients with fungus athletes foot ect. I had good success having them use tree tree oil.
I just looked it up on line to see if dogs can use it and their is a bunch of people that have. I was also thinking that after you apply it maybe you could put her paw in a 100 percent cotton sock Or something that she would not lick it off Maybe at bed time. I used to have my clients ware a cotton sock or mits to bed Alot of natural grocery store sell it or beauty supply stores and it is advertised all over the internet. Try to read up on it and see if it is something you might want to try.

Misty does not have an allergy we have no salt on the roads. She has been sensitive to anything wet on her feet since I brought her home, this is the only time she chews or licks. This has cleared up, but then she'll pull a chunk of hair out and it will get infected again. The vet ask if she had ever been on wires. He says some of the breeders who have small dogs will sometimse use a cage with wires for mommy and babies first week or so and sometimes these dogs have this problem. Its looking like we may need the oral medicine.

Suzi, Yes I do use paw cream and it has tree oil in it, I like the cream because it is not greasy or oily. It keeps their pads nice

Robbie, what kind of paw cream do you use? Any recommendations? This winter has been so brutal and I'm always worried about his paws when we go outside.

I agree with whomever said tea tree oil, but would recommend not getting it from a natural or health food place, but a dog site. I keep #1 systems tea tree oil spray at all times and have used it on alot of things, insect bites, hot spots (clears them up in a couple days), amything that looks sore. It has always worked and the dogs must not like the taste because they never lick the ares.