# Red paws



## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

You should probably check with his vet, but that's what Duke's paws looked like when he was diagnosed with allergies. You want to make sure he doesn't give himself a "lick granuola" ?sp

You might want to try a regular Clariton to see if it helps; make sure it's not Clariton D, has to be the regular Clariton. It might help with the itching. Duke is 75 lbs and I give him one in the am and one in the pm.


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## Siandvm (Jun 22, 2016)

It's the perennial question in dermatology -- is it a rash that itches or an itch that rashes? However, at this point, it's an itch that itches because that is going to be self-perpetuating. It could very well be allergies that started it, but that could have been a contact allergy as you suggested. Definitely should be seen by your vet for symptomatic treatment! If it becomes a recurrent problem, looking into underlying causes is definitely in order.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

jennretz said:


> You should probably check with his vet, but that's what Duke's paws looked like when he was diagnosed with allergies. You want to make sure he doesn't give himself a "lick granuola" ?sp
> 
> You might want to try a regular Clariton to see if it helps; make sure it's not Clariton D, has to be the regular Clariton. It might help with the itching. Duke is 75 lbs and I give him one in the am and one in the pm.


I've been stopping him from licking his paws (I don't want them to get even more irritated) so hopefully he won't give himself a lick granuloma (I think that's what you mean, that's all that google showed me). 

We don't have regular Claritin in the house. We have Zyrtec (I think) and Benadryl, would either of those work as well? I'm hesitant to think allergies because this just started and I thought environmental allergies would affect him throughout the season. His paws really seem to be annoying him though (he keeps trying to lick them) and the vet is closed tomorrow, so I'm trying to bring him relief until Monday.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

As I'm not a vet, I would recommend calling an ER vet and ask about the zyrtec or benadryl. I've given my guys benadryl before (don't remember the dosage) and it made them sleepy. 

You could also try regular tea. That was suggested to me as an anti-itch, anti-bacterial natural solution. You just brew a cup of tea and let it cool to lukewarm temperature. I used a cloth to wipe Charlie's paws off with it. It didn't work as well for him because he liked the taste, but someone else on the forum mentioned it might serve as a calming agent until you can get into the vet.


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## Brinkleythegolden (Jun 18, 2012)

Benadryl is fine-it will just make him sleepy. We've used it to calm Brinkley down on car rides. I'd bet it would help with the itching.


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## KKaren (Oct 29, 2014)

Oh Kaizer.... that looks itchy and irritated.... hopefully it is just something he got from outside.

I give Glimmer benadryl 2 pills (50mg total ) morning and night to help with allergies and she is a little over 50 lbs. You might also rinse his paw with cool water and dry it.

Here is some information online.
Can I give my dog Benadryl and if so, how much? | petMD

3. How much Benadryl should I give?
The standard dosage for oral Benadryl is 1 mg per pound of body weight, given 2-3 times a day. Most drug store diphenhydramine tablets are 25 mg, which is the size used for a 25 pound dog. Always double check the dosage before giving an over the counter medication. In addition, many formulations are combined with other medications such as Tylenol so make sure Benadryl tablets contain only diphenhydramine.


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## Pilgrim123 (Jul 26, 2014)

Pilgrim used to be allergic, but only when certain plants were flowering. Other times he was fine. The allergic season only lasted a couple of weeks for him. Perhaps something like that is happening to Kaiser.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

I would get your boy into the Vet as soon as you can, that looks painful. 

You can give Benadryl to dogs for various things, allergic reactions to bee stings, bites, etc. I also have a bottle of Vetericyn Wound and Skin care I keep on hand, my Vet clinic uses it and recommended. It helps a lot of different things. 

http://vetericyn.com/wound-skin-care/


Here is the dosage chart-

Benadryl Dosage For Dogs Chart - Benadryl For Dogs


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Thank you guys!! I'll give him some Benadryl today. Hopefully that will tide him over until later this week when I can get him into the vet. He hasn't chewed on them today yet, but I checked his back paws and they're still red and irritated. I can't imagine the kind of discomfort he's in


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

The vetericyn might help as well if you can't get him in sooner.


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## murphy1 (Jun 21, 2012)

Just had a similar issue with Murphy The cause was what appeared to be a piece of gum stuck between his toes. He did however lick the paw until it looked like your pups. After clipping the gum out I cleaned it with bactine, loaded it up with Bactroban (antibiotic cream) and put the whole bottom part of the leg in my husbands white cotton sock. I used paper tape above and below the elbow and left it on for two days. He wasn't happy but when the sock came off it had all cleared up because he could not lick it! I also gave him two benedryl.
Good Luck!!


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## Our3dogs (Apr 3, 2008)

Our RB boy Logan would get the same thing. Then it becomes a circle. It itches, they lick it, they lick it, it itches. Usually it was because of being on grass, environmental things in the fall. Many times it turned into a bacterial infection. What does help is to wash their feet really well in cool water. The dried saliva does make it itch. If you have any oatmeal shampoo, give his feet a good washing. Then make sure they are totally dry. Use a hair dryer on cool. Yes, someone mentioned tea bags. This also works. Make a strong solution of tea and soak his feet in it. Good luck!


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I was cutting Kaizer's nails the other day and he wouldn't let me touch his backs paws (every time I touched them, he'd yank it away from me) Like I said in the OP, he's usually really good about me touching his paws, so it's strange that he doesn't want me touching them. So I took a look and there seems to be some kind of rash in between his toes that bugs him. It wasn't there before (I've been getting better at consistently doing his nails every week) so I bet that's why he's been chewing his feet. The rash really seem to be bugging him because he hates having his feet touched now :-(


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## G-bear (Oct 6, 2015)

My bridge girl, Goldie, used to have the same problem. It got worse in the winter because her feet got wet from the snow and short of using a hair dryer every time she came in from outdoors to dry her feet (which I did end up doing) there was little to help her. My vet had recommended JP tea tree shampoo for some of her other skin issues. I tried cleaning her feet daily with a weak solution of water and the tea tree shampoo. I did it twice a day then dried her feet with a hair dryer on cool. Her feet were better within a week. The JP tea tree shampoo is specifically meant to help with healing skin irritations and from my experience it works. When my vet recommended it she said to ONLY use John Paul tea tree shampoo as it was the only one which was safe and effective. You can find out more at John Paulpet.com. I hope it helps Kaizer


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

I did a quick look through the post and didn't see the mention of a possible yeast infection. In between the toes and paw pads can get wet and being warm and moist it can be the start of a yeast infection. I would suggest a vet visit. This can happen with ears also.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

We went to the vet today to get his paws (and ears - he started shaking his head and itching at his ears this week) checked out. Vet took an ear swab (it came back as a yeast overgrowth. vet says I caught it really early) and prescribed some kind of drops. Miconazole I think. I have to put them in his ears once a day for 21 days. Then he said that Kaizer most likely has environmental allergies and that's why he gets yeast infections, his toes are red and inflamed, and accounts for the small rash on his belly (which is also new lol puppy has had a rough week). He prescribed Apoquel every 12 hours for 14 days (i think) and then once a day as needed. Hopefully that will take care of Kaizer's toes and belly and make him more comfortable.


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

aesthetic said:


> We went to the vet today to get his paws (and ears - he started shaking his head and itching at his ears this week) checked out. Vet took an ear swab (it came back as a yeast overgrowth. vet says I caught it really early) and prescribed some kind of drops. Miconazole I think. I have to put them in his ears once a day for 21 days. Then he said that Kaizer most likely has environmental allergies and that's why he gets yeast infections, his toes are red and inflamed, and accounts for the small rash on his belly (which is also new lol puppy has had a rough week). He prescribed Apoquel every 12 hours for 14 days (i think) and then once a day as needed. Hopefully that will take care of Kaizer's toes and belly and make him more comfortable.




Duke is on Apoquel. It's usually very effective very fast. We have some threads on it. If you do a search on Apoquel you will find them.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Kaizer's been on Apoquel for almost a week now, and it seems to be doing its job - he hasn't been licking his paws recently! I think it's too early to tell if the ear drops are working. Kaizer will let me put them in (albeit a little hesitantly) and he likes the ear massage he gets as a result, but the drops make his ears feel so greasy. He still shakes his head sometimes, so I'm thinking it might be a little while longer until it gets better.

I can't tell if Kaizer's finally maturing, or if this is a reaction to Apoquel, but he's just been so quiet lately. Like, he used to pace around constantly whenever we weren't interacting with him but we were in the same room, but now he's chewing on a toy or about to fall asleep in the corner no matter if I'm in there or not. And he's so gosh darn cuddly all the time now, which is great, but he's not usually like that. He usually has a lot more energy to burn off (think one hour of outside off-leash play time and a long training session) but now all that energy is expelled by 10-15 minutes of playtime and a shorter training session. Then he goes and chills for the rest of the day, unless someone interacts with him first. He still eats and drinks the same amount, poops/pees on schedule, and he's still excited about my dad and food, and he will still play (with lots of enthusiasm) and he's acting normally in every respect except this sudden calmness. 

To be fair, this behavior started about 1-2 weeks before we put him on Apoquel, but each weekend we had been taking him to this great dog park (no one knows about it, there's never more than five well-behaved dogs in there at a time) so he gets to play chase with all of these dogs for quite a long time. We did go this past weekend, but he had gotten some vaccines the day before and was on Apoquel, so he was slightly tired.

jennretz - Duke's been on Apoquel for awhile, and i know he does great on it, but when he first started taking it, was he more calm than usual?


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## jennretz (Jul 24, 2013)

Duke's not my calm guy LOL; never has been. If he doesn't get his exercise he's a handful. I don't think Apoquel sedates; at least from the research I've done. It may cause weight gain though so watch for that. I would keep an eye on him. His ears may still be bothering him while the drops do their work. The only time Duke was calm was when he had an ear infection. He just didn't feel well.

Here's a link to thread I mentioned on Apoquel. A lot of good information on Apoquel and other options are discussed.

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...poquel-has-anyone-used-have-stop-working.html

ETA - based on ok from Duke's dermatologist, I had the groomer use the JP tree oil shampoo last week. Neither boy is licking now! It worked very well.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

jennretz said:


> Duke's not my calm guy LOL; never has been. If he doesn't get his exercise he's a handful. I don't think Apoquel sedates; at least from the research I've done. It may cause weight gain though so watch for that. I would keep an eye on him. His ears may still be bothering him while the drops do their work. The only time Duke was calm was when he had an ear infection. He just didn't feel well.
> 
> Here's a link to thread I mentioned on Apoquel. A lot of good information on Apoquel and other options are discussed.
> 
> ...


Kaizer usually isn't calm either  which is why I was wondering if it was the Apoquel. I'm not sure how a sedated dog acts, but I'd assume they're always kind of tired. Kaizer's only calm like that when no one interacts with him (which is new). It could totally be his ear too. The infection in his ear is in a very very early stage. The vet said that the left ear had a little bit of a yeast overgrowth and the right ear had the beginnings of a yeast infection. Kaizer's ears are fairly sensitive, and he kept shaking his head, so I knew they were bothering him.

And thank you for letting me know about the possible weight gain! I try to keep Kaizer in the best condition possible so that's nice to know  I'll definitely try the JP tree oil shampoo too. We've ran out of shampoo, so I need to get some anyway.


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## G-bear (Oct 6, 2015)

jennretz said:


> Duke's not my calm guy LOL; never has been. If he doesn't get his exercise he's a handful. I don't think Apoquel sedates; at least from the research I've done. It may cause weight gain though so watch for that. I would keep an eye on him. His ears may still be bothering him while the drops do their work. The only time Duke was calm was when he had an ear infection. He just didn't feel well.
> 
> Here's a link to thread I mentioned on Apoquel. A lot of good information on Apoquel and other options are discussed.
> 
> ...


I am glad to hear that the JP tea tree shampoo helped. I've been using it on my dogs for several years. It was originally recommended by my vet for my bridge girl, Goldie. I use it on the three dogs I have now because in addition to keeping their skin in good condition it also seems to repel ticks and fleas with NO nasty chemicals. Since I live in an area with a high incidence of Lyme this is another huge benefit of this shampoo. I recommend it to everyone who has a dog with sensitive akin, hot spots or who lives in a tick/flea area. It is probably a bit more expensive than some other shampoos but it is worth every penny. I hope this will also help Kaizer


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

Apple cider vinegar does wonders for itchy paws! 50% ACV, 50% Water, mix and spray their paws. helps with the redness and itch


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