Q. This is Donna from Sonoma and I want to know how I find out what allergy is making my dog gnaw at her paws and why the skin on feet and between her toes is so pink and irritated?
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A. This answer is for Donna in Sonoma. Donna, thank you for your question about your dog that has been chewing between her paws and her toes. This often is due to allergies, although sometimes it can be caused by a yeast infection between the toes. I would have that checked out first. Your veterinarian would take a cotton swab, rub it between your dog's toes and look at a slide under the microscope and may be able to see some yeast on that slide. The treatment for that is a medication that may be taken by mouth or put right in between the toes. One problem with medication on any kind of sore like that is your dog will tend to lick the medication off. Or, if your dog has allergies, something in the air, they can definitely show up as skin problems, ear infections, loss of hair, itchy skin, itchy between the toes, and the only way to determine that is to do some allergy testing, just like they do with people. A good place to start, however, would be to perhaps give your dog some Benedryl and I would ask your veterinarian how much Benedryl you can give; that is an over-the-counter product, of course, and depends on how much your dog weighs. If the Benedryl seems to be effective, there is a good chance that it is allergic and you may be able to control it with Benedryl alone or possibly other products such as fatty acid caps. Thank you very much for your question and good luck.
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Q. I'm Dallas from Gold's Beach, OR. My dog eats poop. How can I make him stop? Thanks.
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A. This answer is for Dallas in Gold Beach. I'm sorry to hear about your dog's problems. Dogs eat feces of other dogs or their own. That is known as coprophasia and is a fairly common problem in young dogs and fortunately, most dogs outgrow it. It doesn't usually cause any medical problems. However, I would recommend that you get your dog de-wormed regularly with some oral de-wormer that you can get from your veterinarian. To discourage it, it's usually a behavioral problem, which means cleaning up any dog feces as soon as possible so that your dog doesn't have access and then trying to deny your dog access to any other dog's droppings as well. Fortunately, your dog will outgrow this habit; they almost all do. In the meantime, good luck and thank you for your question.
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