advice on labs foot problems

T

tomt

Active member
Just wondering if anyone has seen this before.

I just returned from a solo trip to South Dakota early due to a problem my Lab is having with his feet. The pics below are of his worst front foot, but the other front foot has 3 spots the same size and his back feet have 3 and 2 small spots on them. Most are close to the claws but not all. The 1st picture below was taking Thursday, a day that I took off from hunting to allow "Cash" (my 9yr old) to rest. The 2nd picture is what the wounds looked like on Monday, the day I took him into the Vet.
I noticed the first "wound" after I was done with the 3rd field I walked on day one. I thought that somehow they were "rub wounds" from the CRP etc, but after the 3rd day I realized that the #'s of them were increasing and it wasn't getting any better with neosporene, wrapping with gauze at night etc. I didn't notice him licking or nipping at his paws (my first mutt yrs ago had that problem with his food allergies). Each day, more or the spots appeared and were raw and bloody while hunting. As I was fortunate enough to fill my limits fairly early each day, and Cash didn't exhibit to much discomfort, I hunted 3 days, took the 4th day off to rest him and hunted the 5th day prior to heading back home. I was planning on staying another week and sticking around S.D. to look at some breeders for potential new pups, but as everyone here could probably attest to, hunting just anit much fun without your dog.

The one thing I did different this trip was give Cash a baby aspirin after hunting each day. I thought that this might of caused an allegeric reaction and stopped giving them to him.

The Vet said that she has never seen or heard of wounds such as these. She started him on a topical steroid and a couple of pills (Cephalexin anti biotic and Prednisone- Skin medicine). No fungus was present under a black light. (I told her about the aspirin).

Anyone ever see this before? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I have hunts scheduled for the 15th through the end of the month. Obviously, I will rest him if these spots don't clear up but since he is 9, I'd hate to keep him home since he really doesn't have that many more years ahead of him. He really was spot on this last week with the birds, took me right to many, many roosters and hens... all on public land...
Thanks
 

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No advice... but they healed nice and quick in 4 days from pic 1 to pic 2. I am going to guess that it is from something they rubbed against. Given that it's never happened in the field prior to this is 9 years, was there something different that he could have pawed or continually rubbed against? Something out of routine? The kennel he was in during the trip? Where he slept? Etc. Was the type of cover you were working different than normal? Drought brought on more burrs or some type of unusual cover? If it didn't appear to be bothering the dog and there's no sort of infection or anything, I probably would not worry too much about it.

For instance, a few years ago my dog started getting a wound like that on the backside of his front legs that eventually turned into a callus, I discovered it was from the way he lays in his dog house all day - he rests his front legs on the edge of his doghouse all day long.
 
I see wounds like this fairly regularly when our labs hunt in abrasive habitat types - some types of grass, especially old, rank grass, feral sunflowers are really bad. Tends to be worse when things are really dry. They also show up when our dogs are getting tired toward the end of a long hunt and seem to be dragging their feet. Your vet was spot-on regarding treatment. I've used fairly light nylon boots with some success, but sometimes boots can cause worse rubs than those you encountered.
 
Ive never seen spots that high on a foot but thats sure from him hunting hard. Give him an extra yummy for keepin after it!!
My Springer gets raw spots pretty quick. She bounces all over the place so hers tend to be on the outside of her feet/toes.
 
My oldest Chessie has been getting that the last 5 or so years. It doesn’t seem to bother her. I agree with the above ; combo of rough terrain and dragging feet. Always clears up in a week or 2.
 
Powderhorn Jim said:
I see wounds like this fairly regularly when our labs hunt in abrasive habitat types - some types of grass, especially old, rank grass, feral sunflowers are really bad. Tends to be worse when things are really dry. They also show up when our dogs are getting tired toward the end of a long hunt and seem to be dragging their feet. Your vet was spot-on regarding treatment. I've used fairly light nylon boots with some success, but sometimes boots can cause worse rubs than those you encountered.
Click to expand...
Thanks all, especially Chestle for sending the pics to his Vet friend. Well it sounds like this isn't as rare as I thought when I spoke to a couple of lab breeders in S.D. who also ran guided hunts and neither they (or the vet) had seen anything like it. It was (is) perplexing as this dog has made it through 9 seasons, mostly in southwest Kansas and Northeast Colorado(both dry, harsh areas with cockleburs, goat heads, BIG CRP fields etc) without ever seeing these soars. They definitely made his feet sore, as he is still walking a bit gingerly. But perhaps it's because he's older and slower now and he's dragging his feet like ya'll suggested.

Do any of you have anything that you do to try to keep it from happening? Or "skin hardener" of some sort like you can put on the bottom of their paws? I gotta figure out a preemptive plan here, I don't just go hunting on weekends, in fact I have a 2 week "tour" I'm heading out on next week. My plan was to hunt 3 days (mornings and evenings), and take one off from the 15th through the 30th.
 
tomt said:
Do any of you have anything that you do to try to keep it from happening? Or "skin hardener" of some sort like you can put on the bottom of their paws?
Click to expand...
Maybe something like Musher's Secret Paw balm type thing? You'd typically put it on the bottom of the foot, but I'd kind of think it may work on top as well?
 
I've used this product with some success for the pads (bottom) of the foot: https://tuffoot.com/about/dog-paw-care ; but from your photos the problem you are having is with the top of the foot? Tuff Foot and similar products are not designed to prevent abrasion in areas normally covered by hair. As I said in a previous post I've used simple nylon dog boots when trying to protect a foot from abrasion (or to protect an injury) such as you are experiencing. They are inexpensive, but don't expect them to protect the bottom of the foot from goat heads, cactus, etc. The ones I used are similar to these: https://dogbooties.com/shop/1000-denier-cordura-booties/ Most dogs get used to boots very quickly but they do add "drag" to the feet running through grass/weeds etc. so I recommend using boots only when necessary. The nylon "bag" type boots have far less drag than the fancier ones with heavy soles, rubber, etc.
 
I’m the cover is rubbing the hair off, I’m thinking you’ll have to try boots. No other way that I can see to keep the brush/weeds off the hair.

Be aware some boots rub hair off as well. I hand rubber Lewis boots years ago and they rubbed a lot of hair right down to raw skin. I got rid of them.

I’d be thinking something light but durable. Maybe light nylon?

Good luck!
 
Thanks all who responded. As a wrap up, what ended up being the case is that good ol’ Cash had developed some fairly significant arthritis in his front ankles (undoubtedly my fault with allowing him to jump out of the truck for years) and so he was dragging his front feet through the brush rather then fully flexing his ankles. Hunting him this season has made it worse, so he’s on Rimadryl etc. and resting for the next few months. what is working very well are front ankle braces I purchased from Chewys. I can see that he’s in less pain and in better spirts when walking around with them on then without them.

I did ended up having success finally with boots as a short term fix on the rubbing problem after going through a few different brands and models. Found one that worked great
 
tomt said:
Just wondering if anyone has seen this before.

I just returned from a solo trip to South Dakota early due to a problem my Lab is having with his feet. The pics below are of his worst front foot, but the other front foot has 3 spots the same size and his back feet have 3 and 2 small spots on them. Most are close to the claws but not all. The 1st picture below was taking Thursday, a day that I took off from hunting to allow "Cash" (my 9yr old) to rest. The 2nd picture is what the wounds looked like on Monday, the day I took him into the Vet.
I noticed the first "wound" after I was done with the 3rd field I walked on day one. I thought that somehow they were "rub wounds" from the CRP etc, but after the 3rd day I realized that the #'s of them were increasing and it wasn't getting any better with neosporene, wrapping with gauze at night etc. I didn't notice him licking or nipping at his paws (my first mutt yrs ago had that problem with his food allergies). Each day, more or the spots appeared and were raw and bloody while hunting. As I was fortunate enough to fill my limits fairly early each day, and Cash didn't exhibit to much discomfort, I hunted 3 days, took the 4th day off to rest him and hunted the 5th day prior to heading back home. I was planning on staying another week and sticking around S.D. to look at some breeders for potential new pups, but as everyone here could probably attest to, hunting just anit much fun without your dog.

The one thing I did different this trip was give Cash a baby aspirin after hunting each day. I thought that this might of caused an allegeric reaction and stopped giving them to him.

The Vet said that she has never seen or heard of wounds such as these. She started him on a topical steroid and a couple of pills (Cephalexin anti biotic and Prednisone- Skin medicine). No fungus was present under a black light. (I told her about the aspirin).

Anyone ever see this before? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I have hunts scheduled for the 15th through the end of the month. Obviously, I will rest him if these spots don't clear up but since he is 9, I'd hate to keep him home since he really doesn't have that many more years ahead of him. He really was spot on this last week with the birds, took me right to many, many roosters and hens... all on public land...
Thanks
tomt said:
Thanks all who responded. As a wrap up, what ended up being the case is that good ol’ Cash had developed some fairly significant arthritis in his front ankles (undoubtedly my fault with allowing him to jump out of the truck for years) and so he was dragging his front feet through the brush rather then fully flexing his ankles. Hunting him this season has made it worse, so he’s on Rimadryl etc. and resting for the next few months. what is working very well are front ankle braces I purchased from Chewys. I can see that he’s in less pain and in better spirts when walking around with them on then without them.

I did ended up having success finally with boots as a short term fix on the rubbing problem after going through a few different brands and models. Found one that worked great
Click to expand...
Glad you figured this out. I did have a lab who had sores on her feet from an allergic reaction to grains in her food. Just sharing in case anyone runs into with their dog. It’s something to consider.
Click to expand...
 
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