Bleeding and "flaps of skin" on dog's paws
Discussion
We've noticed every now and then, our new to us 6yo shepherd/collie cross limps after a walk/run.
Got him checked over at the vets, and whilst manipulating his foreleg, he gruffed at her so she diagnosed mild elbow dysplasia.
Today, Merlin bolted after a bike. Something that's not happened before (not shown the slightest bit of interest), but ran full tilt for 100m or so on a tarmac path through fields. Then was limping badly. Mrs picked us up in the car.
Now, we've just noticed bleeding on the carpet. Checking all four paws, it looks almost like burst blisters. Flaps of skin, with one bleeding. We've bathed in salt water.
Any ideas? Tarmac wasn't hot, he seems OK, but is gruffing any time we go near any of his paws.
Thinking of a couple of days rest, then perhaps booties? He's a chunky lad (38kg), and wonder if his pads are a bit soft for running on tarmac?
Got him checked over at the vets, and whilst manipulating his foreleg, he gruffed at her so she diagnosed mild elbow dysplasia.
Today, Merlin bolted after a bike. Something that's not happened before (not shown the slightest bit of interest), but ran full tilt for 100m or so on a tarmac path through fields. Then was limping badly. Mrs picked us up in the car.
Now, we've just noticed bleeding on the carpet. Checking all four paws, it looks almost like burst blisters. Flaps of skin, with one bleeding. We've bathed in salt water.
Any ideas? Tarmac wasn't hot, he seems OK, but is gruffing any time we go near any of his paws.
Thinking of a couple of days rest, then perhaps booties? He's a chunky lad (38kg), and wonder if his pads are a bit soft for running on tarmac?
We had a very similar problem with our german shepard, out on a walk with a friends small lab who was much quicker than him so ours (he's a big heavy boy) was running alot faster than normal and we noticed blood spots from his feet, same thing looked like peeled back blisters on his pads, must have done it on the narrow tarmac path we were on, though the dogs hardly seemed to be on it! We just cleaned the wound, bit of antiseptic cream and some old socks taped on for a couple days and he was fine. We try to limit him running on tarmac or roads etc but sometimes they just do it between grass and shrubs.
I do wince abit if I see him do a fast change of direction on tarmac but thankfully its not happened for a while.
I do wince abit if I see him do a fast change of direction on tarmac but thankfully its not happened for a while.
Thanks - we ended up taking him to the vets, he really was quite badly effected. Glad to know it can be mitigated.
Vet checked them out, said we'd done the right thing with saltwater bath, and snipped the worst of the flappy bits off.
Three to four days of house arrest, and some lovely booties (I'm calling them his tactical training kit!) and soothing paw balm, and he should be right.
Vet said shepherds are really bad for it. Big, heavy, but fit and fast. Skidding to a halt or rapid direction changes ripping the pad.
Also found out they're not blisters, the pads are somewhat "pressurised" so it's the pad itself that bursts.
Vet checked them out, said we'd done the right thing with saltwater bath, and snipped the worst of the flappy bits off.
Three to four days of house arrest, and some lovely booties (I'm calling them his tactical training kit!) and soothing paw balm, and he should be right.
Vet said shepherds are really bad for it. Big, heavy, but fit and fast. Skidding to a halt or rapid direction changes ripping the pad.
Also found out they're not blisters, the pads are somewhat "pressurised" so it's the pad itself that bursts.
The skin has basically been scuffed off by exuberant activity, definitely not blisters, but definitely sore and even more certain to heal in a small time. To avoid this requires exposure of the pads to repeated milder challenge, and guess what, the pads will harden up. The injuries are just a graze so how would you treat that? I've almost been in tears with gravel rash from my early motorbiking days, so the dog pads will be even more sore as they bear weight on their pads. Impossible to avoid this sort of doggy soreness, put some pics on of the skin flaps to let people know what simple injuries look like......I can't as I have no pics since the last case of barnacle rash in Skye 15 years ago
Thevet said:
The skin has basically been scuffed off by exuberant activity, definitely not blisters, but definitely sore and even more certain to heal in a small time. To avoid this requires exposure of the pads to repeated milder challenge, and guess what, the pads will harden up. The injuries are just a graze so how would you treat that? I've almost been in tears with gravel rash from my early motorbiking days, so the dog pads will be even more sore as they bear weight on their pads. Impossible to avoid this sort of doggy soreness, put some pics on of the skin flaps to let people know what simple injuries look like......I can't as I have no pics since the last case of barnacle rash in Skye 15 years ago
Exactly as per the local vet's advice, thank you. I'll post some pics up in a bit. He's napping!
We think it's partially as whilst he was excercised regular up until a year ago, due to bereavement he's not been getting regular or "proper" walks until we adopted him a few weeks ago.
He's gone soft. I took the piss outta him until he gave me a look that said "and what exactly would happen to your hands Dad, if you started rowing again?"....
PositronicRay said:
Sounds like trying to run a supercharged Jag on remoulds. Fine if you potter about.
Exactly that.
Trying to get him to ease back into things is proving challenging...
So we've decided to change our walking routes so that there's an absolute minimum of off lead on concrete/tarmac. Shame, as there's some stunning walks through a WW2 airfield where he can really play and explore - but if he decides to go haring off on the hard surfacing again, then we're back to square one.
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