Constant licking of feet....help please

adscan

My Weim is nearly thee and the last two summers he has started to lick his legs and feet. Every year it seems to get worse and worse. It is now at the point that his fur is falling out and the skin is looking red and sore.

I think i know what is wrong (acral lick dermatitis) but i dont know how to treat it. The weird thing is that he only does it in the summer months. I thought it was something sprayed on the grass causing him irritation. I have now noticed that he has started licking at the flanks of his body causeing little patches to appear.

I feel that enough is enough and i need to get the problem sorted. Has anyone else come across this problem?

I have seen the vet but they are not sure of treatment.

anne · Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:31 pm Post subject:

I know of a weim who had terrible feet problem kind of like you describe. It was an allergy to grass. Since you see it during the same time of year, I'd try to start keeping track of where he walks and see if you can find a connection. I also know people who just wash their dogs feet down with water after being in grass to help the allergic reaction. The most severe case that a friend had was treated with Clorahexine shampoo, but they were also very careful about where he walked.

If it isn't a contact issue (I'm just guessing it is since you said it happens in a particular time of year) then I'd look at food. Most food allergies manifest in the feet and ears.

luana80it · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:17 am Post subject:

how is your weim doing? did you treat his feet?

cockyweim · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:49 pm Post subject:

Talk to your vet but Blitz's feet get pretty red this time of year especially between his toes. I think it is the pollen. We use benedryl and neosporin to treat him. I give him 2 benedryl in the morning and 2 at night and if really red I put neosporin between his toes. Of course he licks but the vet said it will not hurt him. This all came recommended by my vet. Also washing the feet throughly after playing helps. I have been doing this for about 2 years now and it helps clear them up.

shouseholder · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:40 pm Post subject:

I saw an episode on animal planet that talked about this issue- I can't remember the show, but it said the licking can start out as allergies, but some dogs start to become obsessed, it if it left too long. They start to do it to soothe themselves because they learn that it feels good when they first start. It was a very interesting show, I wish I could remember what it was called...

HandsomeStanley · Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 9:13 pm Post subject:

It may just be allergies like others have suggested.

I just took Stanley for his checkup last week and the vet said he was licking his feet and it was allergies so we increased his allergy medicine. He takes 1.5 chlortrimaton twice a day. We're trying that for 2 weeks to see how it does, if that doesn't help we're going to try 3 Benedryl twice a day and that doesn't work we're gunna do an allergy test.

weim2mom · Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 5:42 pm Post subject:

I don't think it's that.

My father in law's 13 year old dobie/rottie mix has been doing this for YEARS. Now, it's to the point where she is limping, and it is very swollen.

He has taken her to several vets, and was told allergies many times. He's tried many 'allergy' products and medicines, all with no luck. Muzzles and collars, no help.

The vet is not concerned, and it is pretty bad. At this point, I don't know what to tell him to do about it. I'm concerned that she will have to have her leg amputated. And, at 13, that might not be something she can recover from.

I don't want to scare anyone, but the 'allergies' answer just doesn't seem good enough to me.

Curious as to what others think...

eleanor · Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:05 pm Post subject: alleriges

My weim started to do the same thing. We took many trips to the vet to try and figure it out. They did some allergy testing, and she is allergic to grass, weeds, dust mites, and storage mites (can be found in bags of dog food, or storage places, etc.) We tried several different treatments, and they helped only a very little. Finally, I tried giving her Brewer's Yeast pills (given mainly by people who have show dogs, I think?). The bottle says it helps with skin conditions, so I thought I'd give it a try. What a difference! Her hair stopped falling out, and she has not had spots on her paws, since. She also stopped scratching so much. I can tell a difference when I take her off of them for special vet meds.
I don't know why it works so well, I just know it does. It is very inexpinsive, too. I pay about $3.50 for a bottle at walmart, that lasts a couple of months. (She gets 6 "pills" a day, because you give 1 for each 10 lbs of weight.) I was buying benadryl, and another anti-histamine from the vet, and those are not cheap! So, I am keeping my weim on Brewer's yeast!
I don't know if that helps, or not, but I hope so. Very Happy

DucksWild · Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:30 pm Post subject:

Anja had a similar issue. I thought it was just obsessive licking, or maybe a reaction to fertilizer in the grass, but it was actually allergies to food (chicken) and environmental allergies as well. We took her to an animal allergy clinic (not a vet clinic) where she was thoroughly tested and now gets an allergy shot once a week. She is completely controlled with the combination of the shot and a change in food. As someone mentioned above, it did turn in to an obsessive licking problem. Anja now knows the command "quit licking", and when said, she immediately stops.

iris · Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:49 pm Post subject:

Man am i glad my weim is not the only one that does this. I had posted smth about this last week but no one responded to my post, which rarely happens here. Anyway, Rocky is 9 month old and he has been doing this for the last 3 months and his back foot, the web, its red and irritated and he continually links it. Last week one night he was doing it so much that i ended up staying up all night and laying on the floor with him to make sure he would not lick it. We have been treating it with neosporin and i started him an 2 25mg benadry a day just yesterday. I am not sure what else to do though!

Idaviruma · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:27 pm Post subject:

my dog has allergies, unfortunately, they are unpredictable, certain foods, grasses, pollen, stings. I've eliminated food allergens by switching to raw and fish/potato based kibble. With spring now its been bad with ear infections and feet licking, he has both yeasty ears and feet, the best thing that works is a combination of digestive enzymes, probiotics, allergy supplement and weekly ear cleaning. The yeasty ears and feet have a distinct smell, the ears are often red and inflamed with brown discharge and feet are red between pads with small black dots. To keep the ears clean I use apple cider vinegar diluted with water 80% vinegar/20% water. Wipe the inside of the ear several time until the gunk is gone, the vinegar helps kill bacteria. We had really bad episode this week where he scratched his ears until they bled, so I couldnt use vinegar because it stings, instead I made an infusion of dried calendula and chamomile and wiped with that every day, until my order of the supplement came in, after 2 days , he stopped itching and his ears are back to normal pink color. I already reccomended this product and still do, its the only one I really like

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15232

I recall someone suggesting on another board soaking dogs affected leg in apple cider vinegar/water soluton for 10 mins, making sure it gets under the pads and wiping dry, repeat, once a week.
Uno's feet licking hasnt been too bad, so I just resort to wiping with ACV once every couple weeks.

adscan · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:21 pm Post subject: Re: alleriges

rhdwa · Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:52 pm Post subject:

One of our Springer Spaniels (Beasley) would get hot spots in the summer and lick furiously. The vet would give a cortisone shot and antihistamine tablets and get us back to normal. Then we tried brewers yeast and voila, no more skin problems!

Udo occasionally had irritated skin between his toes when he was a puppy and did the constant licking. Our vet didn't think it was allergy but rather bacterial and prescribed anti-biotic tablets and that took care of the problem. When he comes in the evening he sometimes drives me nuts with his licking but it clearly grooming. The "No Lick" command is nice when I get tired of listening to his smopping or have endured enough dogie kisses. I have to admit it is really cute when the two dogs (Augie and Udo) lay down and clean each other.