Our 3 year old Potcake has rather soft paw pads, as he has never had to walk on pavement (we live on 48 acres, plenty of room for the dogs to run). After a walk around the field, all four of his paws are cut up and bleeding, mostly around the edges. Is there anything I can do to protect his paws? he wont wear booties. The cuts don’t seem to bother him, though he spends an hour or so licking his paws.
Baby socks, fleece, bag balm
I learned quick how to protect wee tootsies as my dogs go 3-legged lame, freeze, and scream during our very public walks if there is snow/ice/salt/burrs/acorn shells/etc.
First I bought baby socks and Bag Balm because it was the fastest thing I could purchase. Then I bought fleece and velcro from a fabric store and stitched fleece socks. Fleece works better than baby socks which get very heavy when wet. You can use athletic tape instead of velcro, too. Or you can vetwrap each foot.
Then I got Musher’s Secret at a specialty dog food store.
Yes the dogs pitch a fit about booties but boots = treats & walks. I go outside immediately and walk very briskly so they can’t scheme ways of removing the socks.
I don’t understand how applying Bag Balm or Musher’s Secret immediately before a walk can protect the foot during, even though that is Musher’s Secret indications for use. It’s just a wax: how does that provide a barrier? So I used it more for healing/toughening before and after combined with a physical barrier during the walk.
Thanks for the great suggestions, Bicoastal. I will get some fleece and put my sewing skills to the test! He doesn’t scream and cry during walks, the only tell-tale sign that his paws are hurt is the drops of blood in the snow. He’s a tough boy, but I don’t want him cutting up his paws every time he goes outside.
[QUOTE=BrookdaleBay;6091251]
He doesn’t scream and cry during walks, the only tell-tale sign that his paws are hurt is the drops of blood in the snow.[/QUOTE]
:eek: ouch!! Poor potcake! My dogs would be belly up flailing their legs in the air refusing to move. Killz mez now. Just killz mez! I am zurely dieing.
You might want to try the old home remedy of using tea bags. The tannic acid in tea toughens the pads. Just put 3-4 teabags in a cup of warm H2O to brew and apply either the liquid or the moist teabags to the pads. I’ve never done it but I guess you’d need to do it for a while to see results. I DO know, however, that teabags work well on sun-fried virgin skim milk skin broiled lobster-red…:yes: with a side of Advil and a tequila :winkgrin:
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