Dog is chewing on his feet so much the pads are coming off and he's bleeding! HELP!
 

This is honestly crazy and I'm on the verge of tears. We have a one year old corgi welsh other half unknown as we adopted him. Within the last couple weeks he's been chewing his feet. He started limping so we took him to the vet and $250 later they called it an "abrasion" saying his cut himself, chewed it, then it got infected. Then, we bring him home and he starts at his other feet! So much he's bleeding! The vet took a blood test and wanted to do a biopsy on his feet. For as painful as it sounded and $555, there's got to be another way. The blood test brought up nothing. We tried Epsom salt and gold bond powder and Benadryl, no relief. We tried cortisone cream and dog socks, he just ran away and ripped them off to go at it again. He's now stuck in a dog cone and miserable and we just miss the old him. I've read so many forums saying the vet doesn't know and maybe it's allergies. Old food takes 3 weeks to get out of his system, so I'll try some new food I guess. PLEASE HELP!!

Recent behavior: Does not want to go outside or go for walks; doesn't even want to play and just mopes around the house, laying down, hardly except for the occasional change of position or moving to a new lay down spot. He's a puppy, he's normally obsessed with ALWAYS wanting to play outside and always, always, (cannot stress it enough) always, wanting to go for walks. Loves to run around the house and play too. He's 110% out of character. Any help or suggestions would be very, very helpful. It's so frustrating and we just want our little guy to be happy again and playful like he used to be!

Additionally, the vet took a sample of some puss coming out of his foot and said whatever it is; it's NOT bacterial.

[QUOTE=katmj16;1044428]This is honestly crazy and I'm on the verge of tears. We have a one year old corgi welsh other half unknown as we adopted him. Within the last couple weeks he's been chewing his feet. He started limping so we took him to the vet and $250 later they called it an "abrasion" saying his cut himself, chewed it, then it got infected. Then, we bring him home and he starts at his other feet! So much he's bleeding! The vet took a blood test and wanted to do a biopsy on his feet. For as painful as it sounded and $555, there's got to be another way. The blood test brought up nothing. We tried Epsom salt and gold bond powder and Benadryl, no relief. We tried cortisone cream and dog socks, he just ran away and ripped them off to go at it again. He's now stuck in a dog cone and miserable and we just miss the old him. I've read so many forums saying the vet doesn't know and maybe it's allergies. Old food takes 3 weeks to get out of his system, so I'll try some new food I guess. PLEASE HELP!!

Recent behavior: Does not want to go outside or go for walks; doesn't even want to play and just mopes around the house, laying down, hardly except for the occasional change of position or moving to a new lay down spot. He's a puppy, he's normally obsessed with ALWAYS wanting to play outside and always, always, (cannot stress it enough) always, wanting to go for walks. Loves to run around the house and play too. He's 110% out of character. Any help or suggestions would be very, very helpful. It's so frustrating and we just want our little guy to be happy again and playful like he used to be!

Additionally, the vet took a sample of some puss coming out of his foot and said whatever it is; it's NOT bacterial.[/QUOTE]





[url]http://www.ehow.com/about_5192324_do-dogs-chew-feet-time_.html[/url]















this web site tell some reasons dogs chew on their feet. I was told being bored in one reason . Did you try spraying some Apple Bitter on his feet? I would ask the vet if that is OK to do when your feet are bleeding .

What are you currently feeding? It could very well be a food allergy (or environmental even).

We just switched him to a salmon and potato limited ingredient diet by Wellness; dry and wet food mixed together. It doesn't hurt to try; no grain or meat bi-product in it. It's specifically for dogs with food sensitivity. But, we won't know for sure with the food for a good 2 months or so, but it's a positive change in his diet either way!

[QUOTE=katmj16;1044434]We just switched him to a salmon and potato limited ingredient diet by Wellness; dry and wet food mixed together. It doesn't hurt to try; no grain or meat bi-product in it. It's specifically for dogs with food sensitivity. But, we won't know for sure with the food for a good 2 months or so, but it's a positive change in his diet either way![/QUOTE]

Agreed! I'll keep my fingers crossed that it clears up the issue for you :)

[QUOTE=Loki Love;1044432]What are you currently feeding? It could very well be a food allergy (or environmental even).[/QUOTE]

Or is could be a Canine Compulsive Disorder .

[QUOTE=Barkingdog;1044438]Or is could be a Canine Compulsive Disorder .[/QUOTE]

Yup.. it could certainly be a number of things. Best course of action is to start with the easy 'fixes' which is normally food. If that doesn't work, then you move on from there and look for other reasons for the behaviour :)

I had a similar issue with one of my dogs. With him it was environmental. I had started taking him to the doggy daycare I was working at and between the concrete floors and outdoor rocks his paw pads got quite torn up and blistered. He had licked them so much that it was hard to tell what the cause was, they were quite swollen. He was forced to wear an e-collar and I put him on antibiotics just to cover all the bases. He was allowed out of the house to go to the bathroom and that was it. We didn't want to risk any more damage being done. It took him about a week to heal to the point that we took the e-collar off and started to coat his pads with a pad protector. Since you mentioned that your dog LOVES walks perhaps he took a stroll through an area with some broken glass bits, or an especially hot stretch of pavement.

The most important thing is to keep them from licking, don't give in to the incredibly sad eyes that your dog will give you... keep that e-collar on :) We tried boots with our dog too but they were too unreliable. I ended up spending the extra money and bought a soft e-collar.

Another thing I thought of was perhaps it is fungal. Your vet said definitely not bacterial but did they check for fungal causes?

I've had pads lift off like that on a sheltie, the cause being the lime leeching out of the new concrete in her dog yard. So, has your boy been on concrete anywhere? Must say that I never put that sheltie back in a yard, she was exciteable and liked to do the 'sheltie spin', a bad combination added to the effect of the lime.

[QUOTE=Loki Love;1044448]Yup.. it could certainly be a number of things. Best course of action is to start with the easy 'fixes' which is normally food. If that doesn't work, then you move on from there and look for other reasons for the behaviour :)[/QUOTE]

I was thinking what about putting a elizabeth collar on the dog so his feet can heal while trying to find out the what causing this behavior.