Dog keeps cleaning his paws and scratching his nose!

irishlady29

Our Collie keeps cleaning his paws and scratching his nose in the last week or two, it has gradually gotten more frequent, as in up to 10-15 times a day, if not more.

When he his cleaning his paws, he actually is nibbling and licking quite hard in between his pads no much that his back paw will twitch in a scratching motion, he will do this with all four paws.

He has been recently treated for colitis and was on antibiotics after two trips to the vet, all tests that were done came back ok.

He's not off form, still mad into his food, play and affection.

He's male, neutered and wormed and approx four years old.

Has anybody experienced anything like this before

Thanks

andreac

There is obviously something irritating his paws and sometimes it can be grass seeds getting in between the toes.
It could also be an allergy to the food or something else hes eating.
What food is he on at the moment?

irishlady29

He's on a strict diet at the moment of Rice and Chicken as advised by the vet, he has been eating alot of grass lately but the vet seemed to think this was nothing to be concerned about.

No visable seeds in garden or his paws as we have checked.

mymo

Check the paws, look for small scabs and tiny mites, my two got harvest mites or grass mites as they are sometimes called, a couple of years ago. I couldn't see anything but they left small scabs and started at the feet, in 2 or 3 weeks they were in the armpit and around the face. The vet gave me a liquid to dilute and wash them and then dab on the spots.
I use frontline now and they haven't had them since.

Groom!

As Mymo says above, it is probably harvest mites, but best get it checked.
I was minding a King Charles last year and he had the same irritation. The treatment was saline foot baths which you can do yourself (salt & lukewarm water), and also a cream from the vet.

Good luck with it!:)

star-pants

Aye - check for mites if it's just a sudden thing.
My younger dog does that a lot but we are slowly coming to the conclusion that she's allergic to dust and/or other things.
It's horrible to see them so itchy, but do investigate the paw pads, in between the tufts of hair and probably check with the vet.

irishlady29

Thanks for all the advice, will have a good look at his paws again and another trip to vet is on the cards.

Does anyone know if I was to call the vet and explained the symptons would they give meds/cream to me without seeing the dog?

Thanks again

star-pants

irishlady29 wrote: »

Does anyone know if I was to call the vet and explained the symptons would they give meds/cream to me without seeing the dog?

If this is the first instance of it happening with your dog, then I'd highly doubt they'd prescribe something without checking what it was first. My vet knows that when I ring about Daisy, it's her allergies, we've been back and forth and eliminated different things so he will just sometimes tell me to come down and collect a few tablets to take the edge off her itching.
In general a vet would want to check the dog to what the actual cause is.