Licking paws and scratching inner ear
Hi,
My little girl recently has started to excessively lick all of her paws (to where they turn red/purple), and scratch her inside of the ears to where they bleed and scab. She's a 2 year old terrier/pom mix.
I'm thinking it's either food or environmental allergies. We don't think it's food, but we've switched her diet to grain-free, and are eliminating certain meats.
If it's environmental, we've been soaking/washing her feet every time we take her out for a walk (with anti-itch shampoo), and it looks to help a little. But she's still scratching her ears. I'm wondering if the household weeds in our front or backyard is what affecting her.
We have brought her to the vet and they believe it is food allergies, and more so environmental. To run additional tests, the costs seem to exceed the benefit. Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
-J
It can be really tough to pin point the exact cause of allergies! Starting by changing to a different food is a good starting point as food is often the culprit. Usually vets will prescribe a diet made with novel proteins such as duck, venison, rabbit , salmon etc. It may take some time to see results. For environmental allergies, things get tricky: you will need to figure out if it could be chemicals in the lawn, pesticides or seasonal allergies. In any case, did you vet prescribe some antihistamines to give some relief while this is being sorted out?
Quote from j0rd4nxD on March 31, 2022, 3:04 pmHi,
My little girl recently has started to excessively lick all of her paws (to where they turn red/purple), and scratch her inside of the ears to where they bleed and scab. She's a 2 year old terrier/pom mix.
I'm thinking it's either food or environmental allergies. We don't think it's food, but we've switched her diet to grain-free, and are eliminating certain meats.
If it's environmental, we've been soaking/washing her feet every time we take her out for a walk (with anti-itch shampoo), and it looks to help a little. But she's still scratching her ears. I'm wondering if the household weeds in our front or backyard is what affecting her.
We have brought her to the vet and they believe it is food allergies, and more so environmental. To run additional tests, the costs seem to exceed the benefit. Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
-J
There are several things you can do to help with allergies.
I would start with a nice, cool bath using a soothing colloidal oatmeal conditioner. Also ask your vet about using antihistamines like dramamine or hydroxyzine and about adding essential fatty acids (Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids) daily to the food and/or vitamin E.
Of course, the best cure is going to the root of the problem so to eradicate the allergy in the first place.
Cheers!
Quote from j0rd4nxD on March 31, 2022, 3:04 pmHi,
My little girl recently has started to excessively lick all of her paws (to where they turn red/purple), and scratch her inside of the ears to where they bleed and scab. She's a 2 year old terrier/pom mix.
I'm thinking it's either food or environmental allergies. We don't think it's food, but we've switched her diet to grain-free, and are eliminating certain meats.
If it's environmental, we've been soaking/washing her feet every time we take her out for a walk (with anti-itch shampoo), and it looks to help a little. But she's still scratching her ears. I'm wondering if the household weeds in our front or backyard is what affecting her.
We have brought her to the vet and they believe it is food allergies, and more so environmental. To run additional tests, the costs seem to exceed the benefit. Any ideas or input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
-J
Did the vet look in her ears? if she has smelly ears it could be ear mites, then scratching her ears with her paws transfers the mites to her feet. My dog had the same problem (floppy ears usually = ear mites) just an idea. You would slao need to treat ears as well as paws