 Excessive licking is this normal?
#220564 - 12/18/2008 05:38 AM |
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Just had a quick question on trying to figure out why kai, my pup is constantly licking his feet. I thought at first it was allergies that might be causing it and went to the vet, after eliminating enviroment or skin conditions as being a possibility. I switched him to a grain free diet. This seemed to help for about a week but he is back to the licking again. Is this natural or just a quirk of his? Any helpful ideas would be appreciated.
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Re: Excessive licking is this normal?
[Re: Gabrielle Meyer ]
#220580 - 12/18/2008 09:57 AM |
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Just had a quick question on trying to figure out why kai, my pup is constantly licking his feet. I thought at first it was allergies that might be causing it and went to the vet, after eliminating enviroment or skin conditions as being a possibility. I switched him to a grain free diet. This seemed to help for about a week but he is back to the licking again. Is this natural or just a quirk of his? Any helpful ideas would be appreciated.
It's a classic allergy/yeast symptom, so I'd have to ask how the vet "eliminated environment or skin conditions"?
What did the vet do when you were there?
How do the dog's ears look (inside)?
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Re: Excessive licking is this normal?
[Re: Connie Sutherland ]
#220616 - 12/18/2008 12:20 PM |
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He ran a bunch of tests that I didn't really understand to be honest, they took a skin scraping and some blood and after asking me what kind of food he was on and told me that it wasn't allergies. The inside of his ears look a soft pink.
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Re: Excessive licking is this normal?
[Re: Gabrielle Meyer ]
#220617 - 12/18/2008 12:21 PM |
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To be honest he didn't seem that bothered by him licking his paws all that much, I'm planning on getting a new vet with the hopes that they'll be more attentive and actually talk to me about whats going on and what they're doing.
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Re: Excessive licking is this normal?
[Re: Gabrielle Meyer ]
#220618 - 12/18/2008 12:22 PM |
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It sounds like your vet didn't really try to test for allergies.
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Re: Excessive licking is this normal?
[Re: Aaron Myracle ]
#220734 - 12/19/2008 01:35 AM |
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Some dogs despite all the allergy tests on earth will simply lick their feet. I own one bitch who does lick her feet a bit too much (she has spit stained them) and chews her nails. She usually does it out of boredom and out of her nightly grooming routine where rather catlike she cleans herself after the evening meal.
Usually a "that's enough." will end the licking and chewing for the night so I live with confidence that this is a behavior rather than an allergy which would be far more irritating.
Once you have medical eliminated which includes nerve issues (dead nerves can cause a dog to lick and self mutilate), broken toe bones, arthritus, allergies, and that pesky thing stuck between the toe pads I would start to treat it very similar to the redirect for chewing on inappropriate objects.
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Re: Excessive licking is this normal?
[Re: Melissa Thom ]
#220773 - 12/19/2008 10:14 AM |
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I am not in any way casting aspersions on your experience, Melissa, because of course, this could be this case.
I do want to say, though, that grooming is the least likely of all the possibilities, especially with a dog who is doing it constantly (like the O.P.'s dog), and you are so right to say that everything else needs to be ruled out. One clue is that your dog stops easily and the O.P.'s is doing it "constantly."
You bring up a good point, about boredom, that I didn't even think of (because it's so common of an allergy symptom).
Gabrielle, is your dog getting plenty of structured exercise and training? And Melissa also brings up a good point about nerve or bone damage. Did the vet actually palpate the toes, feel between them, etc.?
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Re: Excessive licking is this normal?
[Re: Connie Sutherland ]
#220797 - 12/19/2008 11:47 AM |
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Are his feet red in between his toes? I had a dog who was said to not be allergic, but what was really going on was Candida. Google it, and you will find tons. She did the same thing-licked constantly between her toes. Ears were just fine, everything else was fine. I went to a holistic vet who put her on a very concentrated probiotic and it worked wonders. It was Garden of Life brand Primal Defense. You can use Fungal Defense first, if you want, and then add the Primal Defense or Primal Defense Ultra. It keeps yeast in check, and got rid of the redness and licking completely.
Melissa, are you sure you're seeing stains from licking and not evidence of yeast overgrowth?
Connie is the allergy guru; I only had one dog w/any issues, but it sounds similar so I thought I'd throw it out there.
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Re: Excessive licking is this normal?
[Re: Jenni Williams ]
#220808 - 12/19/2008 12:23 PM |
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Absolutely yeast is suspect. Sorry that I did not specify; I think of it under "allergies" because yeast overgrowth is so often secondary to allergies, but it does not have to be. Any system stressor (illness, vaccination, bacterial infection, etc., as well as allergies) can allow yeast to proliferate.
I would ask the vet whether the scraping was tested for yeast or not, although I can't think why it would not have been. Still ..... I'd ask.
It's a specific test done on the scraping, on the slide.
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Re: Excessive licking is this normal?
[Re: Connie Sutherland ]
#220829 - 12/19/2008 01:11 PM |
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Absolutely yeast is suspect. Sorry that I did not specify; I think of it under "allergies" because yeast overgrowth is so often secondary to allergies, but it does not have to be. Any system stressor (illness, vaccination, bacterial infection, etc., as well as allergies) can allow yeast to proliferate.
I would ask the vet whether the scraping was tested for yeast or not, although I can't think why it would not have been. Still ..... I'd ask.
It's a specific test done on the scraping, on the slide. I knew you meant yeast, but you're so proficient on this allergy stuff that I thought I'd break it down a bit.
Isn't it hard to find a vet though that is really competent w/allergies and what tests are good and which are useless? What could the OP ask specifically that might get her what she needs? I'm just asking b/c it seems that a lot of dogs go through needless pain because the vets are grossly incompetent at effectively dealing with allergies.
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