Confusing thing happening to Brooklyns paw

[BrooklynMom]

Hey all! So I am still in New York at the moment, but my husband is home with Brooklyn as of yesterday and he sent me some pics of Brooklyns front and back paws as she has had some issues with the paw pads while we have been gone. Our house sitters took Brooky to the vet and there was no bacteria or fungal infection...but they suspect some serious allergies (have been dealing with this for a while, but this is the first time her paw pads look like this)...however, I cannot really deal with anything with the vet until I get back so I thought I would just post the pics my hubby send me of her paw pads to see if you guys have any thoughts as to what this is or why it is happening. The vet is not really sure, but did say it is nothing serious but does need investigation when I get back.

She is not limping, but does want to itch it my hubby says. It looks a little yellow, cracky and flaky. He says it sorta looks like human eczema.

Here are pics....thoughts??


IMG-20120107-00075 by kelseykakes5, on Flickr


IMG-20120107-00073 by kelseykakes5, on Flickr


IMG-20120107-00072 by kelseykakes5, on Flickr

[JessieAndMe]

I'm no expert, quite frankly, I pretty much know little about almost everything
But that looks like what my heels would look like by the end of summer, wearing thongs and open shoes almost every day.
I use organic shea butter and it keeps Jessie's pads nice and moisturised.

Now we both have luscious tootsies Just a thought though, hoping it's nothing serious.

[Karlin]

I don't actually think that looks too unusual–some dogs have more sensitive paws that can get cracks, and benefit from having some kind of moisturizer rubbed into their paws–a vet can recommend something. A vet could tell you whether that is a fungal infection, and you got back a no, but it actually doesn't look that abnormal to me–my dogs get those kind of callus-y marks around the edge of their paws just from walking on the pavement and her paws will be getting tougher and more callused now because she is a young adult dog, not a puppy any longer. Paw licking can be caused by a lot of things–allergies but also CM/SM. My dog that was completely clear of SM and had very minor CM lick debtor pause all the time–never had any other signs of allergy, and was on decent foods without any obvious ingredients for allergies. At the same time, the licking was not really detrimental to the quality of life–she just would lick at her paws sometimes when she was lying down.

I guess it goes back to the same issue–whether she has SM or CM causing some symptoms. Vets will endlessly guess that the symptoms look like allergies–but this is the wrong diagnosis and dogs end up getting put through all sorts of elimination diets none of which help because that isn't the problem. If there are numerous symptoms of allergies, then it is probably time to really try to pinpoint what is causing the problem & trying proper elimination diets that really cut out everything and only add in ingredients one by one. These are very involved & the particular ingredient needs to be tried for about 8 to 12 weeks. In my experience, most vets do not really know much about dealing with allergies and only try whatever commercial foods they sell for periods of time that are too short. I have some information on allergies and food intolerance is posted in the Health Library, from the vet school at UC Davis for example, that outlines the amount of work needed with elimination diets.

[BrooklynMom]

Thanks for the input all...and thank you for the thoughtful response Karlin.
We are very aware about the SM/CM issues, and our neurologist is very closely connected with our vet who knows a lot about SM as well. So we are surely not writing this off as not SM/CM related at all, it is more that this is a very new thing, as in a few weeks, and we just wanted some advice if anyone has seen paw pads like this before as she seems a bit irritated by them, but they just started looking like this. Any tips on how to help them would be great.

Also, I know that SM is very often lumped into allergies etc. and I (along with our neuro) are very conscious of that as well. However, the vet and even I do see multiple signs of allergies in Brooky that keep happening over and over again and we do need to investigate them. Our neuro thinks that aside from the SM investigations that we also need to be doing allergy investigations once I get back in town because she could actually have both...or one or the other. But there are signs/symptoms and issues that tell us we also need to be investigating allergies in her and the whole team agrees...that is why I brought it up. It is not instead of SM investigations, but in addition to as we go down the path of some of Brooklyns issues. We work very closely with the vet and neuro as a team so that nothing is done without linking to the other, etc. and even though SM is sometimes misdiagnosed as allergies...sometimes they also do have allergies in addition to or separately and I do want to follow the advice of our nero and our vet to investigate that when we get home.

As for the SM/CM path, we have our third appointment with our nero when I get back to Australia. Currently Brooky is on gabapentin as a trial to see how she reacts. It started good for about a month, but now seems pretty much the same with or without it (even after we increased it). Our neuro thinks "clinically" Brooky looks great to her, so she wants to do more trail with the meds to see if we have any success before rushing into an MRI as she does not think Brooklyn is looking like a candidate to rush this at all unless I want to. It is hard to always know what to do, but our neuro leads the pack in SM research with the brussels griffon breed, and I have to put a lot of trust into her as well. Also that her and my vet are so close, I do find comfort in that. I think though, for my own brain, we will be MRI-ing Brooky in 2012, but have just not rushed into it yet based off of the recommendation by our neurologist whom I have to put trust into as well.

So anyways, if anyone has any other thoughts on these pics...would love to hear it! Thanks again all.

[Desrae]

My two have little white pimply bumps around the edges of some of their toes, they almost look like 'barnacles' lol. I moisturize them sometimes, but me rubbing their paws is more irritating too them than the said barnacles. Anyway, Brooklyn's paws look dry alright and remind me of eczema, does she walk on the beach a lot? The do look irritated and kinda raw in on a couple toes there. Definitely moisturizer would help, even something mild like petroleum jelly or E45. I'm sorry I don't have any other input... poor lil doggy!

Just another thought, I know it's summer in Oz right now and I'd say the pavement gets hot from the sun, maybe she's walking on hot pavement or sand and it's having an effect on her paws?

[Furrfoot]

Could it be a floor cleaner or room spray or something of that nature? I had to give away my Swiffer wet refills because they flaired allergies in Rose. I mopped and remopped with either vinegar and water or just water after that and it went away. My friend who has Rose's sister has another Cav who also has allergy issues and reacts badly to some floor cleaners. I hope it's all sorted soon.