Hi i have a problem with my dog he keeps chewing his feet and is limping on his front right leg we took him to the vets a couple of weeks ago with a limp and he was chewing his front paw the limp seems to be in his shoulder the vet gave us rymadyl and said to take them for 10 days but after a four days they did not seem to be making any difference so i took him back and they took xrays of his shoulder leg and paw they could not see anything wrong in the leg or his paw but there was some lumpy bit in the shoulder joint so he is being referred to the vet collage we have now been on rymayl for two weeks and he now chewing his back feet there is no lameness on his back end.

we have just come back from the vet today the vet can not find any discomfort in any part of his body she has given him a very good look over and said she will get in touch with the vet collage and try to bring his appointment forward she i concerned that it could be a neurological problem where the dogs get pins and needles kind of feeling in there feet so they chew them she does not think he is in any pain on his back feet but said there is a nerve that runs down the spinal cord that connects to the shoulder this could possible cause the limp.

has anyone had anything like this i am worried as i had a dog PTS last years as he was chewing his foot and this was caused by a reaction to his epilepsy drugs and the only way to stop it would have been to take him off the drugs which would have caused him to have fits which had already become difficult to control on the treatment i really cant bear to go through it all again it is very distressing watching your dog eat through his own leg.

On reading the beginning of your post I felt that this was a pain response to an area not necessarily associated with feet - I see that you have a specialist referral and hopefully you will get to the bottom of this sooner rather than later.

It must be distressing for you to see your lad behaving this way - try and remain strong minded and strong willed until you have a definitive diagnosis :)  It's all too common to fear the worst, particularly when you have seen similar symptoms before, but there are so many things which could be causing this behaviour and types of symptoms and many are not at all serious :)

Best wishes to you both, Teri

I'm not a health expert in any way so wouldn't wish to comment too much but are you sure the chewing of the feet is connected to the limp /shoulder.  Only reason I ask is that I have a friend whose dog at certain times of year was chewing its feet so bad - it turned out to be the salt on the pavements etc because of the weather irritating.  She started washing the feet every time they came in and problem was resolved........

I hope the specialist is able to help

best wishes

i have tried washing his feet with salt water with no effect

i have used thornit powder with no effect

he has been frotlined so its not flees

i have changed his diet from kibble to sensitive kibble

i have tried raw barf with not effect

he has chewed his feet on and off for a long time before i had him he has only been with me since july and before i had him he had a epileptic fit at four month and the owner are reported to have kicked and hit him.

he has also not been walked for over a months because of this limp our garden is paved and we have not cleaned the paving down with any chemicals.

poor little mite - well it doesnt sound like he could have found a better home!  I hope there is a solution for you

Blocked anal glands can cause a dog to chew its feet though I'm sure your vet would have checked that. I hope you find the answer for your boy.

Hello....I had something very similar last year with my TS puppy. She had a tiny mite between her toes. I think it was called a Harvest mite !!!??? It was a big as a grain of sand and orange. Once they were pointed out to me you could see them. Like lived on the skin between the toes and apparently only became a problem in the warmer weather. They had been very common in our village the previous year as they would regularly drop off dogs feet and re-infest the next one that walked by o the grass, park, path, street etc.
We had to used FRONTLINE spray between her toes regularly to get rid of them. Apparently my other dogs had them too but were not affected by them in any way. If they got into the garden, in any huge numbers, we would have had to have it sprayed with industrial pesticide....nasty !

The weather maynot be warm enough for such a mite....but you may live down south and have had warmer days than us northerners!
worth a look....

mad4dogs  thank you for your reply but the vet has checked his feet and there is no sign of any mites but i will frontline in between his pads just in case.
thornit should solve any mite problems and i have already tried that.

hi i have a dog that also always chews his feet and i never really thoguth anything of it, however it does seem really strange that he is limping to. and now that you have mentioned it i have noticed that it is always the same leg my dog chews his foot on. strange.....

when i first went to the vet they said chewing feet is commonly a response to pain in the joint associated with arthritis.

that is if there is no other sign of mites or allergies in the skin on the feet which mine does not have.
the limp that my dog has is not from saw pads which could be the problem with your dog.

arthritis should have responded to the rimadyl that my dog has been on for two weeks now.

the vet can not find any point of pain in my dog although she was not entirely happy with his xrays of his shoulder for which he is waiting for the referral to vet collage.

as a Bullmatiff this breed is known for joint problems in the shoulder elbow and hips and he is not the best bred dog
(just the best natured loving baby)57kg of baby lol

Licking feet *can* be diet related- so if you are certain its not associated with mites etc it might be worth exploring this option

Have you had his anal glands checked as full anal glands for some unknown reason makes thier feet itchy so they lick and chew at them.  It is a very common cause of itchy feet.
If they are fine then I would be looking at a possible contact allergy or food allergy.

Hello...have you read the article in DOGS WORLD about the use of raw spinach. Apparently it has had some amazing results on chewing, scratching and skin problems.

Get a bag of frozen spinach cubes from Tesco's.defrost one cube and then liquidise it and pour it on the dogs food. It was reported that within days and sometimes 2 weeks all skin leisions, biting, weaping sores, etc were improved or even gone.

I have a very old bitch who is very sensitive to food, fleas and chemicals. it makes her skin itchy and she'll scratch herself raw. I costs me a bomb on special food, antihistermines, frontline 2x a month and special weekly bathes. This article says that some people have reported all these sorts of problems gone within weeks ! I am going to give it a go......

I can only say in my Breed. That chewing the foot or leg can be caused through stress.
Especially when no medical problem can be found.

I'm not saying this is the answer, but there is a theory (and vet John Burns of Burns Pet Nutrition proposes this) that diet can play a part in chewing feet problems - breakdown products of the diet come out through the skin and cause irritation, particularly if there's an intolerance to an ingredient.
Might be worth a try looking at feeding a bland diet (chicken & rice maybe) for a week or so and see if it makes a difference - certainly won't do any harm!

That is well known among Dobermanns as well. Can't remember the name of the condition now though. Funnily enough I have noticed with my dog (who does have allergies) that when we visit a particular friend's house the itching and chewing instantly goes up a notch as soon as we've walked through the door (so before he's had a chance to be affected by anything). My friend has a small terrier who's had a go at my dog several times so he's very wary of him. I read that the licking/chewing realises chemicals which relax and calm the dog. If I leave the main room to go to the toilet etc the behaviour then goes up another notch until I return. Very strange!

really !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i never knew this my dog had bad joints, i just thought he had itchy feet

It is used by many dogs as stress relief in the same way as thumb sucking in children.

I've done a bit of research on this in the past, and as has already been mentioned allergies were top of the list for feet chewing. I did also read somewhere that with some dogs if they're a bit under the weather it's the pads where it shows. I a bit like humans with skin complaints like Exzcema (sp) and psoriasis (sorry not good with techie terms), stress etc can cause it to flair up.

My eldest Rottie was having terrible trouble with one of her feet, the vet initially thought she'd trod in acid, so 2 weeks of hipiscrub, ointments and bandages later, it popped up on another foot. It's only when I did some research I read about them being run down, so i went back to the vet and mentioned it - turns out her glands were up and she had an infection (somewhere), a simple course of antibiotics and it cleared up nicely (and quickly).

Only a few weeks ago I noticed her licking her pad, straight back to the vets - another infection. Funny though at the same time the 2 other dogs had what can only be described as a snotty nose (not a pleasant colour) and they were all put on antibiotics. I think they all had the same thing but it just showed itself differently with them. Dolly went to her paws and the others straight to the nose.

My Lhasa Apso has a horrible time with itching and dry skin.  I used Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo and lathered him up and let him stand for about 3 minutes before rinsing thoroughly.  It ended his problem with two baths.