Paw Chewing

Our Sadie is a 6 year old rescue and apparently how she coped with her abuse and kenneling for long periods of time, was by chewing on her front paws.

Usually chew toys and bones have helped give her something else to do, but recently it's getting more pronounced and I've discovered she's doing it at night in her sleep. She wakes up and her paws are pink and wet... not fluffy and white like a corgi's should be.

It's not just cosmetic either... her excessive paw chewing seems to be making them really really tender.

We had been taking her to PetSmart groomers and on the last three visits, the groomers hadn't been able to trim her nails or the hair on her paw pads... saying they were having problems handling Sadie's feet without nips and snapping. I figured she was just inexperienced groomers (our regular girl had moved) or there was something that Sadie just didn't like about the new groomers... but now that I'm having to do it myself, I have been noticing the rawness of her paws. She's getting very snappy with me and my husband when I try to do her nails, too... and she loves us to death... so it must be that they are just tender from her chewing.

I'm not sure if it's just habit now... or if she truly has not healed from her puppy abuse and having Rolo around might be triggering the night chewing.

Any suggestions?

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Permalink Reply by Charlie on March 26, 2008 at 6:58pm

Some dogs get "Snow Nose" or "Winter Nose" due to lack of sunlight in the winter. Their nose fades from black to brown or liver-colored (reddish), then goes back to black in the summer. For whatever reason, they also call a liver-colored nose due to plastic or rubber allergy "Snow Nose", even though it's due to allergy, not sunlight at all.

Um, that's all I remember of the top of my head...let me find an article.

http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/grooming/snownose.htm

I like the lowchensaustralia website...lots of great info. : - )

(My Charlie has a "butterfly nose" which is just a conformation fault caused by a recessive gene. Just means his nose leather never completely filled in from pink to solid black. Purely cosmetic, but I have to use doggie sunblock or his nose will sunburn.)

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Permalink Reply by K Hartshorn on March 27, 2008 at 2:48am

Gilliam was a rescue with red paws (also had missing fur on paws) he licked them to the point of causing bleeding (only very small amounts). He did this when he was doing nothing else, (he was also missing fur on the end of his tail because he chewed on it he is a cardigan). He went on a complete grain free diet (no rice, no oat ect). Between that and lots of training, exercising, and a few trips to the vet. The feet now look great and he has almost all the hair on his tail. I do let him have a little grain every now and then, but try to avoid it. My vet did recommend a vinegar water spray to help with drying the paws, mostly so he would not lick them, too help with the paws healing. She also recommended rice in his diet, but she also says that he is doing well on what I a feeding him.