Itchy Feet

[BeagleMum]

12 days ago, Sydney had her surgery on her lip. She had the cone on for 10 days because she was always trying to scratch at her face. Once I took the stitches out, I took the cone off of her. As soon as I took it off, she went straight at her front feet. Since winter stated, she has been licking her front feet more than normal but I just assumed that it was from the salt and whatever. Now, she is frantically chewing and licking at her feet all the time. I have tried to soak them in epsom salts, tried putting vitamin E oil on them (from a capsule), tried to put bag balm on them and put a sock on wrapping it with vet wrap and nothing is making them better. She obviously can't get at them with the sock on but she does this scooting digging dance like she is trying to scratch her feet on the floor. I called the vet to see what they say and all they think is allergies (which I was thinking before too because Spencer has allergies so I know what to look for). They are going to call me with the dose for Benadryl for her but if that doesn't work, they are suggesting I bring her in for a cortizone shot.

Do you think that there is a chance that she has just become obsessive with her feet because she couldn't lick them at all for so long? When we go out for a walk, she always has boots on. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can try other than spraying them with bitter apple (she doesn't mind that stuff)?

She is on Orijen and has been on it for a long time. She has gotten a few new treats in the past few months so I will have to compare the ingredients and see what is different in them.

The only other different thing is that I have been cratingher in a separate crate and there was a wool blanket in there. If that was the cause though, I would think that it would be affecting all 4 paws.

Any suggesitons???

[corky/max]

I am no expert but will give a few thoughts on the subject----It sounds like an 'inner' problem like to do with nutrition not anything externally causing this. I hope it is not an allergic reaction to some medication it was given while having the surgery or any medication since. (not quite the same-but I had an allergic reaction to penicillin years back and it took about 10 days for me to start itching and scratching!!) But another thing I would like to bring your attention to and it may not have anything to do with the itching--but then it might, directly or indirectly, Not sure--But your dog has prob. been on antibiotics, at least during surgery----Am not going to repeat what I have posted in here elsewhere, so would you please find this post: called bladder infection (has to do with antibiotics and probiotics) You can go into my profile (Corky/Max) and find my post dated Feb.18th at 3;30 pm. on bladder infection. The title of this post is not the issue-read about the probiotics please. If this is a food allergy, you will have your work cut out for you to try to figure out what it is----Hope you don't end up 'over-medicating' and making matters worse. And it may not be having to eliminate something in the diet----It just might have to do with ADDING something it is lacking in it's diet (maybe even something that got lacking just because of the operation or medications. Like I said I"m no expert and just giving you something to think about. The right nutrition is the answer to a lot of the problems dogs have (or anybody else, for that matter).