Red And Inflamed Inside Of Toes

[J...]

Just noticed Darcy licking her feet last night and but I couldn't see anything wrong.

She was licking them again tonight and she has some redness and irritation on the inside of her outside toes. I.e 4 toes on each foot - the inside of the 2 outside toes are slightly red and a bit sore but I can't really see what's causing the issue. Front feet are fine.

Tried taking photos to post here but have no hope. I have given both back feet a soak in salty water.

The only thing I can think of is she spent nearly 1/2 an hour playing fetch along the edges of a sandy lake last night and am wondering if the sand has rubbed/irritated when caught between her toes?

Does anyone know what else it could be? I'd like to stick some socks on her back feet to stop her licking them but I think they probably need to get some air to dry out?

Edited December 23, 2008 by Jess.

[laeral]

Grass seed?

My husky got a grass seed caught in her toes a few years ago, it burrowed right in. I couldnt see it, but she kept bothering the area so took her to the vet. It had to be surgicaly removed.

ETA Oh jus re read you said FEET. Not likely to be grass seed if shes licking both feet. Sorry

Edited December 23, 2008 by laeral

[TangerineDream]

Could be an allergy - Tango gets it in between his front toes occasionally - I wash the reddened area with Phisohex and it seems to help.....not unusual when grasses are seeding according to my vet.

[Anna H]

I too was going to suggest an allergy... most likely grass - it's pretty common this time of year.

[~*Shell*~]

This happens to Zero too when he eats preservatives and when we've just mowed the lawn. I put his feet in salt water to dry it out and then he gets half a hayfever tablet for it.

He also gets gunky eyes which are helped by the the antihystamine.

[J...]

Have never noticed it before and there has been no change to anything either diet wise or grass wise. But she is a bit sensitive to the itchies so I would not be surprised. I would've thought it would be on all four feet and all toes though.

It is drying up nicely with the salt water bath from last night

I just need to convince her to leave them alone and that her soggy tongue is not the answer to all that is bad

[firedrop]

Hopefully it is not an allergy - my younger shep has quite a few allergies and pretty constantly is red between the toes but alas he is allergic to quite a few types of grasses. Summer brings out lots of irritables for dogs as there are alot of pollens in the air. Should all settle down when the colder weather comes in.

FD