Hello,

I was wondering if anyone here can help me, my boyfriends staffie keeps biting his paws, and they are getting to look red and abit painful. Jake is quite an old dog, and i dont think that he's done this much before - but saying that, i have heard that its common for staffies to bite their paws?!

Can anyone please let me know if there is anything easy, and in-expensive that i can do to stop Jake biting his paws?

Thanks :-)

I think its a staffie thing, ours bites his.

To the point of being red and painful?  And, if so, do you do nothing either? :(

He doesn't get to the red raw stage, its just like he is having a good clean. We saw the vet about it and she said to keep an eye on him. When he starts, we distract him and he stops.

My last dog really went for his paws, but it turned out he had allergies to everything, had to wash his ears and paws with a medicated shampoo.

>My last dog really went for his paws, but it turned out he had allergies to everything, had to wash his ears and paws with a medicated shampoo

Then with all due respect Sarah, that might have been a better response to the post since the OP has clearly stated the dog is suffering

Regards, Teri

That's a fair comment. This cold has gone to my head, not thinking straight. Going to log off until my words come out better :rolleyes:

Sorry OP

Hi Cressida,

Don't you think this old boy deserves the benefit of a vet check rather than >>"anything easy, and in-expensive"<< 
He could have mites, fleas, an allergic reaction to something in his diet or environmet ......  It may be common for some breeds to have certain traits but something looking >>"red and a bit painful"<< is hardly something to shrug off as a characteristic!

Sorry if this seems harsh but I can't honestly comprehend how anyone can think towards cheap and cheerful solutions for animals when if it were their own health they'd have been to a doctor long before now

Teri 

Could also be a fungal infection, that will give those symptons. In any case I agree with Teri -and a vet is needed.

Teri,

Thanks, Jake has been to the vets and was given some antibiotics to take, which made him better for a while - however this does not solve the problem of him biting, just stops him from getting infections. Regularly visiting the vets for this prescription is working out to be very expenisive for my boyfriends elderly parents, who owns Jake.

All i was asking for, was some advice from people who had maybe experienced this problem and had any simple, and less expensive solutions. As biting paws is a common trait of Staffies, I thought others might have been able to shed some light on how to prevent it.

I'm offended that you think Jake is neglected.

Hi Cressida,

>I'm offended that you think Jake is neglected.

There is nothing in your opening post to suggest that this dog has received ANY medical attention or treatment - I'm not psychic ;)  If symptoms only ease off after veterinary care and then start up again, then you have to ensure that your vet gets to the bottom of it.  If he's not providing a solution long term, then perhaps going to a different vet is in order.

When he's had medical treatment to alleviate his obvious discomfort (from your initial description), perhaps you can work on a training regime which helps distract him if it is finally diagnosed as being only a bad habit and medical causes such as allergy have been ruled out.

Regards, Teri

A vet is deffinately the best thing to do,if i have a problem in any way i always go to a vet first.
Our dog had an alergic reaction to some carpet freshner that a friend of mine had.We didnt use the stuff so when we took him to the vet he did a few inital tests and they came up blank.He asked us a few questions and we told him that we didnt use any chemicals on the floors.Make sure that when you do take him to the vet that you have all the info at hand.

I think a vet check is important as during a conversation with my vet over mites she said that staffies are prone to mites in the feet and it usually noticable bacause they lick and chew thier feet consequently making them red and sore.
Staffies are not my breed she used the specific breed as an example.

Roni

Try getting your dogs anal glands emptied.  A common symptom of full anal glands is chewing and biting the paws. 
If they are full and this doesn't improve it after allowing 2-3 days for the anal gland sacs to shrink again then is time to look at allergies or fungal problems or mites etc.

Bev

Mine licked all the time rather than bit the paws- turned out to be food related in our case