The pads of a dog’s feet are meant to handle walking on a myriad of surfaces. Because of this they will eventually toughen up from the sweet, soft pads of puppyhood to their adult version. They eventually become the workhorse of the dog body. Unfortunately, most people feel this means the pads never have any situations that they cannot handle. This is not true, so doing an occasional inspection to check a dog’s paw pads is a good thing.
Watch Out For Hot Surfaces
I have seen some people take their dogs out on a hike in Arizona on a hot Spring day. Aside from the possible heatstroke, they end up with paw pads burnt and ripped off, leaving the feet a bloody mess. Even summers here on the East coast can cause roadways and sidewalks to become too hot for dogs’ feet to handle it. An easy assessment of where you walk your dog is to put your hand down on the street and see if your hand can tolerate the level of heat. If it is too hot for your hand, it is too hot for your dog’s paw pads.
Aside from obvious dangers, normal everyday situations can accidentally cause a laceration or infection of the dog’s paw pads. As careful as you may be with your dog, one cannot go through life unscathed.
So better to just expect the unexpected from time to time.
How To Handle Most Issues Of Your Dog’s Paw Pads
If your dog gets a cut, wash the pad and foot off well to remove any dirt, grime or other foreign objects. You can use soap and water or normal saline solution. Either put the foot in a small basin and swish it around to loosen anything stuck in the pad, or get a syringe (without the needle!!), fill with the washing solution and flush the area. Do this until you feel the area is clean of all debris.
Next, soak in a basin of dilute betadine (make it look like weak tea) and when you are sure you have gotten the area thoroughly wet, take the paw out and let it air dry with the betadine on the injury.
Take a small amount of gauze wrap, followed by some stretchy adhesive vet wrap and cover the wound. DO NOT make the wrap too tight. You can cut off the circulation and then nothing will heal. Make it just snug enough to keep the wrap on.
Leave it on for two or three days. Remove the wrap, wash again with soap and water, followed by weak betadine solution then let it air dry. Hopefully those few days will be enough to make sure there is no infection started and for healing to start.
Sometimes dogs don’t tolerate bandages well, in which case you could try using liquid bandaid if the injury to your dog’s paw pads is not really deep or extensive.
What Are Dog Paw Pads Made Of?
The interesting thing is that dog pad cells grow vertically, not horizontally like our skin does, so when there is a vertical cut into the pad it takes a while to heal since the cells don’t grow over the cut.
The vertical cells can also overgrow and the dog develops what is technically known as nasodigital hyperkeratosis. Fancy name for the cells on the nose or the digits (feet) over-grow and cause the dog’s paw pads to develop “fuzzy foot”. There could be a variety of underlying illness with this as a symptom, but many times it is idiopathic, meaning the cause is unknown. I see it a lot in older shelties.
Because the dog walks on the overgrown pad it lies flat and not until you brush against the grain do you notice the bristle-like extensions.
You can trim, clip or grind them off without any pain. Then apply vitamin E and rub it in.
There are exfoliating creams to prevent regrowth but they usually contain salicylic acid as the active ingredient which you don’t want the dog ingesting should he try to lick it off the foot, so covering with a bandage may be advisable.
Finally, there is good ol’ bag balm or pad & elbow cream for everyday maintenance. Both work at reducing cracks, keeping the pads supple without being too soft.
A Fungus Among Us
In addition to cracked, injured pads, dogs can easily develop a fungus or yeast infection. It causes the hair between the pads to turn red (like the tear stains under white dogs’ eyes) and the smell of Fritos.
Which makes me wonder what’s in Fritos that smells so much like a fungus…
Anyway…
Easiest thing is to use an antifungal foot powder for humans. Fungus likes warm, moist, dark places. If you use powder, that effectively takes away the “moist” part of the equation. Just work it in well between the paw pads. My dogs seem to have no inclination to lick it off so I don’t bandage it.
Another Reason For Discoloration Between A Dog’s Paw Pads
In addition to fungal/yeast growth between a dog’s pad pads, it is possible that since a dog’s pads sweat, it could be porphyrin staining, which is an iron derivative that is excreted in a dog’s sweat or saliva. Short
Pedicures
As Hope, my precious sheltie got older, her pads became flat, hard and misshapened, so I began a search for something a little more intensive to care for her pads. I found a foot care system that helped restore her pads if I used it regularly. This pedicure is a three step cleaning, soothing, hydrating technique that involves gentle scrubbing the pads and between the toes with a special soap and soft bristle brush, rinsing off, followed by a 5 minute foot soak and after drying the feet, applying either a paw pad cream or oil to keep the pads in good condition.
Along with regular nail clipping and trimming the long hair between the toes, keeping the pads well cared for can help make your dog a little more comfortable and doesn’t take a lot of time.