Dog Paw Injuries

Dogs paws consists of four toes that make contact with the ground, and a nail for each toe. Some dogs also have a fifth toe or dew claw located further up the leg. On the bottom of a dog’s paw are protective  footpads that are designed to provide cushioning and to shield the foot from potential hazards. Yet, even these special footpads are relatively vulnerable to certain conditions and can become injured. Most frequently, injuries to a dog’s footpads include cuts and cracks. At the same time, a dog’s toes and legs can also become injured. Skin, bone, muscular, and soft tissue injuries can all occur, causing varying degrees of pain and discomfort for your pet. Since a dog uses its paws for countless different activities — including running, jumping, and digging — it’s no wonder that the types of paw injuries that can occur are numerous and varied.

Typical paw injuries include: abrasions, lacerations, punctures, burns and blisters to the footpad, dry, cracked pads and foreign objects lodged between the toes.

Symptoms of a paw injury: these include bleeding, limping, holding the injured paw off the ground, discoloration of the pad (difficult to see if the paws have a very dark pigmentation) and excessive licking and/or chewing of the paw. Be extremely careful handling an injured dog, even the most mild mannered dog can bite if he’s in pain and feels threatened by you touching him. Putting a muzzle on your dog is a good way to protect yourself from a bite.

For abrasions and small cuts, clean the wound yourself with an anti-bacterial wash (chlorhexidine diluted with water will suffice) and wrap the paw with a light bandage. Your dog sweats through his footpads, so the bandage will become moist within a couple of days. Moist bandages slow down the rate of healing and can result in infection, so you should change the bandage every two to three days.

Depending on how deep the cut is, it should heel within a few days; if it doesn’t and you are unsure how to carry on treating the wound, contact your vet.

With deep paw lacerations,   take your dog to your vet for treatment. He will suture (stitch) the pad, bandage it and probably apply a splint. Without the splint, every time your dog puts his paw to the ground, the pad will spread due the weight of your dog’s body being applied to the paw – when this happens it’s likely that the cut will open up again.

Burns and blisters: your dog’s pads can easily burn and blister as a result of walking on a hot pavement or through hot sand. If you look at your dog’s pad there will either be a loose flap of the pad itself, or this will have becopme detached leaving a red, ulcerated patch. The best thing you can do is to apply anti-bacterial wash and cover the paw with a bandage until the pad has healed. If your dog has a loose flap of pad you’ll need to wait for this to come off, which it will do on its own or you can ask your vet to trim it off.

Dry, Cracked Pads: you dog’s pads are naturally rough, they have to be so he has traction when he needs to turn quickly, sprint off and stop quickly. If the pads become cracked they are prone to collect dust and debris, which can cause further injury to the pad. Pads can be moisturised using a special footpad cream. Try to avoid using human hand moisturiser as this tends to soften the pads to much and makes them prone to injury.

Foreign objects between the toes: the most common culprits are burrs, small stones and pieces of glass, dried mud and also your dog’s matted fur.These can usually be removed with a pair of tweezers and matted fur can be trimmed back.

When to go to the vet: always contact your vet if you are unsure of the cause of the injury, you are not comfortable treating the injury yourself, the wound does not appear to be healing, or if your dog’s paw becomes swollen.
Your vet will either recommend further treatment you can carry out at home or suggest you visit the clinic.