Content
- The sweat glands in the pads
- Licking the pads for too much cold or heat
- How to avoid licking the pads due to cold or heat?
- Diseases in Dog Paw Pads
- How to treat pad licking due to overpopulation of Malassezia?
- Licking the pads due to the presence of spikes or trauma
- compulsive behaviors
It's possible that you've already seen our dog licking the pads frequently and didn't give it much thought, as many dogs do it without necessarily representing a serious problem. But sometimes the act of licking becomes excessive and can provoke secondary injuries, caused by overly vigorous licks or small bites in the area.
PeritoAnimal has prepared for you an overview of the subject, which will surely answer the question: Why does the dog compulsively lick its paw?
The sweat glands in the pads
Before we find out why our dog licks the pads, it is important that you first know that there are sweat glands in them. Dogs sweat through different parts of their bodies, one of them being the pads.
These glands have a function mainly thermoregulator (they release sweat to regulate the temperature), but there is also a odorous component, that is, they are responsible for producing substances that degrade by the action of bacteria present in the skin upon reaching the skin surface. The same glands give the dog (or cat) a characteristic smell (that's why these animals also mark territory with the foot pads and palms).
Licking the pads for too much cold or heat
In case of extreme climates, at very low temperatures, these secretions from the sweat glands can form small "crystals" and cause some discomfort in puppies that live in very cold environments. For this reason, dogs selected for sledding, such as the Siberian husky or the Alaskan Malamute, have far fewer sweat glands in their pads compared to other breeds. Possibly, by only reproducing dogs that did not have this problem, they were able to select this characteristic.
Sometimes there are no problems with the glands, but the skin on the pads remains cracked and cracked from the cold. This often happens when puppies walk on snow or terrain with lots of rocks and, therefore, compulsively start licking the pads.
US too hot days and moist, it is advisable to wet our dog's pads, precisely because it is a source of body temperature regulation. This cleansing helps to eliminate debris from the production of the eccrine and apocrine glands, letting them fulfill their mission.
To get an idea, the body produces a secretion that helps to lower the temperature. It can happen that at the exit of the gland channel there are a lot of old secretions that form a "buffer" causing itching and discomfort intense that our dog relieves through licking.
How to avoid licking the pads due to cold or heat?
If our dog has sensitive pads and is exposed to extreme temperatures, it is recommended that he use some protective product of them (a kind of own varnish that is placed on the pads) which is usually the combination of acids with Aloe vera extracts or the Sparkasian.
On the other hand, on days of excessive heat, it is recommended to cool our dog frequently wetting the pads with fresh water, a way to help thermoregulation and eliminate the remains of substances that can impede the proper functioning of the sweat glands.
Diseases in Dog Paw Pads
Our dog may be scratching his paw because he has an infection caused by Malassezia pachydermatis.
This fungus is present throughout the body, but is found in greater numbers in the pads, specifically in the interdigital zone (among other places).
If our dog suffers from a fungus overgrowth, whether because you are allergic to pollen, food, stress... etc., it is possible that the first sign is an excessive licking of the pads. This is because the increase in the population of Malassezia and the consequent invasion of opportunistic bacteria causes a lot of itching.
We usually find white-haired dogs with a orange color around the fingers because licking causes a degradation of the white color.
How to treat pad licking due to overpopulation of Malassezia?
It is necessary to find the cause that caused the overgrowth of these fungi between the fingers and eliminate it or at least control it. The population of these fungi can be controlled with daily local baths with diluted chlorhexidine no soap. This mixture must be in contact with the pads for 10 to 15 minutes a day (chlorhexidine works by contact time). Even so, we should keep the areas as dry as possible because fungi or yeasts love to proliferate in humid places.
On occasion, our veterinarian will recommend miconazole or clotrimazole-based ointments if our dog does not get his paws wet. The application of this genus of products can be very complicated for some dogs.
Licking the pads due to the presence of spikes or trauma
Other times, our dog will persistently lick the pads because of traumatic causes (a blow, a crack in a phalanx) or because it has an ear or a splinter stuck in it. But, unlike what happens in the previous situations there will only be one affected paw: the one in which an injury occurred.
During the summer, it is common to dig in between the fingers some ears, especially in breeds with a lot of hair in that area such as the cocker spaniel and because they have this huge amount of hair, the spikes go unnoticed. Once they pierce the interdigital skin barrier, they can become lodged there, causing a lot of pain, itching and constant licking of the area to relieve discomfort. The ear does not always come out, sometimes it migrates to other areas under the skin.
You must carefully review the pads in the summer and cut the hair in that area. If you find something stuck, you should remove it carefully and apply some antiseptic that is not very aggressive or irritating (iodine diluted in saline, for example) until consulting the veterinarian.
compulsive behaviors
If you've ruled out all of the aforementioned problems, the problem could be compulsive behavior, also known as stereotyping. We can define this problem as a repetitive behavior for no apparent reason.
If you believe your dog may be suffering from stereotyping, you should review the five freedoms of animal welfare, as well as get in touch with an expert, an ethologist: a veterinarian specializing in animal behavior.
To find out which dog paw care you should take, read our article on this subject.
This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.