Licking Paws Constantly

Can you tell me why my dog is always licking her paws?  She has allergies but takes medicine for that.  The vet said she has OCD and will need medication - has this happened to anyone else?

I have another dog we found under a tractor - healthy now but I noticed she breathes very fast.  Even when she is sleeping.  Is there something wrong with her?

Thanks for whomever answers me:)

[emsybaby]

i doubt she has doggy ocd or needs medication!!! omg your vet wants your money!!
firstly what is she allergic to?? my dog licks her paws and legs all the time. we found out she's allergic to wet/cut grass of all things! she has medication for this throughout the summer.
my nan's dog used to nibble his feet all the time, along with any creases in ppl's clothes.
never caused either of them any issues. my dog' feet get sore but thats due to the grass allergie. i've never heard of animals with ocd!

[twopack]

Paw licking is a common way for allergies to be expressed in dogs.  You could try supplementing with flax.  It is a terrific source of Omega-3 fats and will sometimes help with allergies.  It will also be terrific for the coat.

I used Omega Farms Canine Shine for a lab mix I had once.  The licking behavior was completely stopped and his paws were healed within six weeks.

[Misfits4Me]

Paw licking is irritated feet, yes from allergies. And it can be caused from a number of things... Wet grass, pollens, dust, certain foods, etc. can trigger the inflammation.
Like twopack said, supplementing with a Omega 3 fish oil or flax will help. It sure won't hurt....It's possible that food is the culprit. I'd  try a grain free diet for at least the summer and see if that helps. You want NO wheat, corn, or soy in the diet. All of these can cause skin allergies!!! Read the label of the food you feed and see what it contains. Also, your treats. Check them, too. And, rinse her feet off when she comes in at bedtime, and dry them real well. This will help. also.....Good luck and please let us know how she's doing....Karla

[chasha33]

I have a Pekingese that licks one foot all the time and she has gotten a lick granuloma from it,Which i am having to treat with antibiotics and then with steroids later.She went blind several months ago and she will lick at her foot when she gets bored. OCD in dogs is when they repeat a certain habit over and over again that is what it is.It is very common and they can be treated with several meds that can help Or you can try to keep them from licking there feet.There are several different things that you can do.They make little leggings ,there are collars,you can spray ther feet.Does she have a lick granuloma on her foot from all the licking?You can use the Omega 3 and it helps with alot of different things.Also there is a med called Atopica which works really well for allergies and steroids does good,But i wouldnt want to use steroids for long periods of time.Well good luck and take care.Please keep us posted

[Patti180]

Thank you so much for all you answers.  We  have her on a different allergy medication and she seems to be doing better.  

[skydnsr]

I'm going to take up for the vet, to some extent.  Diagnosing OCD is what the vets are trained to do.  If they treat a dog for hot spots, and they get the dog's lesions cleared up, and the dog continues to lick, then they turn to the OCD notion, and they treat the licking as that.  It's not necessarily a greedy vet that wants only your money who does that -- it's a vet who is going by his training.  

That said, I would continue to pursue better management of the allergies, if I were you -- as others have suggested.  I had a dog like this, and I never believed what the vet said about the OCD, and I managed to keep that dog off of OCD medicine until she died of old age, and I'm glad for that.  She had occasional lick granulomas, but for the most part, she was lesion-free.  

With that particular dog, the secret was to jump right on the problem, hard, and right off the bat, anytime I saw that she was starting to lick.  Usually it worked very well to treat the problem with Benadryl around the clock for a few days, as long as I started that up very quickly.  If I let her get very far into the lick cycle before I started the intervention, and if she did get a significant hot spot, then it had to be treated with a course of antibiotics and corticosterioids to clear it up.  Then she typically wouldn't lick for a while, until something else, like an insect bite or whatever, started up another episode.  

Something that I kept in the back of my mind, but never had to do, was RAST testing or skin testing for allergies.  I managed to work with her, her whole life, without having to go to the expense and trouble of that.  But I would have, if I had had to.  I did notice that she did not tolerate red meat or wheat in her diet, after the first few years of her life.  You might try to see, by process of elimination, if there are any food triggers for your dog.  Also, obviously, try to figure out the environmental triggers -- dust, mold spores, pollen, grasses, etc.

Good luck.  If it turns out that OCD treatment is the only solution, consider it.  But there are a lot of other things you can do, before you get to that point.

[chasha33]

What is the med that they put your baby on.My Bulldog is on Atopica and it has really hlped him alot.Please keep us posted.Take care and God Bless

[twopack]

Glad your dog is doing better but I'm going to suggest trying the Omega-3 fatty acid supplements again anyway.  I'm not usually a supplement junkie but this stuff really does work (and has the added benefits of a beautiful coat and healthy heart).  Why would you want to pump drugs into an animal when an alternative might work?

BTW, I was so impressed with the results for my dog and horse that I started taking the human compound for my personal benefit.  Goodbye IBS.