Sore Feet in Dogs, Pododermatitis

Imagine having sore, infected feet. This is a common problem for many dogs, and it makes them miserable. You’ll notice your pet licking its feet—this is because they hurt and it’s trying to make the pain stop. If licking helped, your pet would be better in no time, but licking isn’t enough. Most cases of sore feet or pododermatitis don’t improve without medical help. Fortunately, there’s a lot we can do for this problem.

Our first step is to ensure the pet doesn’t have an endocrine disease such as hypothyroidism. Dogs with hypothyroidism are especially prone to skin problems, including nonhealing skin infections on the feet.

Our next step is to identify whether the problem is the skin and between digits or is the pad of the foot. Foot pad problems are more likely to be autoimmune disease, zinc-responsive dermatosis, or hepatocutaneous syndrome. Foot pad problems are diagnosed with biopsies. In contrast, problems involving skin between and around the digits, but not the pads are usually diagnosed with skin scraping and culture. The skin scraping and culture help tell us whether the problem is demodex mites, skin parasites, contact allergy, food allergy, bacterial, fungal or yeast infections. We choose a treatment based on the problem we’ve diagnosed.

The following are twelve recommendations & treatments used to improve sore feet. Your veterinarian will work with you to choose those that will most help your pet:

1. An elimination diet consisting of only two things the pet has never had before, one a protein source such as pork, and one a vegetable such as sweet potatoes. The diet is continued for several weeks, and when the pet improves, an additional food is added.
2. Keep feet dry.
3. Separate toes with little cosmetic sponges so toenails don’t scrape adjacent toes.
Prevent skin from contact with grass or pollens by putting your pet in booties when it goes outside. If it won’t wear booties, wipe the feet when your pet comes in from the outside. Have your pet walk on concerete rather than grass until the skin improves.
4. Soak feet for 5-10 minutes twice a day with Burrow’s solution or Epsom salts to kill bacteria and yeast. Rinse well and dry.
5. Bathe feet daily with anti-yeast/anti-fungal/or anti-bacterial shampoos: Malaseb, ResiKetoChlor, KetoChlor.
6. Give prescribed oral antibiotics or topical antibiotics, such as mupiricin or Bactoderm if resistant Staph is present.
7. Give prescribed oral antifungals if the problem is fungal infection: Terbinafine, Itraconazole or ketoconazole. These antifingal medications may be given daily, then gradually decreased to 2-3 days a week.
8. Give herbal formulas such as Si Miao San to change tendency to develop “damp heat.”
Give Omega 3 Fatty acids if your pet tolerates fish oils or the ground flax seed.
9. Acupuncture points to promote healing including LI 4, TH 3, TH 4
10. Photon (soft laser) to promote pain relief and skin healing regardless of the cause.
11. When necessary for a pet to sleep, use oral or topical steroids –as long as no demodex was found.
12. When necessary, use oral meds that block the immune system, such as Atopica. This controls symptoms but doesn’t bring about healing in the same way herbs can.

Infected feet hurt; they smell; they make life unpleasant. Whatever steps you take to make your pet’s feet comfortable, it’s going to love you for it.