Are there any vets or vet nurses or dog owners who have had a dog with a split paw pad?
It’s not a deep cut, so I’m sure it doesn’t need stitches - I keep it clean and it definitely isn’t infected, it looks like it is healing. It is just awkward as it is right in the middle of her pad and so she has to use it to walk.
Is there anything else I could be doing?
(If it hasn’t healed in a few more days, I’m taking her to the vet)
I don’t know how you would fix it, but apparently to help stop it happening, you can pee on the pads. Thats what we had recommended to us anyway.
You the dog, or you the human?
There is a product called Bag Balm that is really good for this. It was orginally developed for livestock (cow’s udders) but has a lot of different uses. It is a thick, gooey salve that has a small amount of antiseptic in it that helps cutsa heal without infection. It will also keep the pads of your dog’s feet supple so they won’t crack any more.
IANA dog (although you don’t know that over the internet), but Lissa is right. Bag Balm is the shiznit. I use it for cracked and callused heels, leaving it on overnight under footie sox, and it works a treat. It was recommended to me by an actual podiatrist (who is not a dog either).
It’s good stuff for winter dry hands, too. I have a little tin of it. Our dog hates it (she doesn’t like the smell and tries to get away from her own feet), but I’ve seen it work on other dogs.
OK, I use Bag Balm on my own feet (despite not being a dog, at least last time I looked <YMMV>), but I’m darned if I know what a “shiznit” is! Will someone help this hopelessly out of touch 50 year old?
THanks in advance!
Shiznit is an alternate term for what you doggie leaves behind on his daily walks.
Thanks guys - I’ll try looking for Bag balm here, or an equivalent because I can’t imagine it is imported here.
In New Zealand? It is almost certainly available there.
Ask any sheep raising farmer about it. Or a dairy cattle farmer. Just about any farmer that breeds & raises small nursing mammels will know about this.
Other common names are udder balm, teat ointment, etc.
There’ll be something similar, but can’t imagine NZ farmers importing something that they use in great quantities as it would be too expensive.
And this is a *good * thing? In my lexicon, saying something is “the shits” does *not * speak well for it! God, I *am * out of touch!
There is most likely some sort of equivalent. The place to look would be an ag or farm type store, feed store. This stuff is like bear grease, but it will heal the pup right up. I have used this stuff for its actual purpose and it works wonders there as well.
Hope your dog gets to feeling better.
Oh, and we bought it here in Texas in a little tin labled “utter balm.” If the store owner doesn’t know what Bag Balm is, they will know what utter balm is.
They probably won’t know what shiznit is, however.
Our dog had a cracked pad and we just kept it clean and put a sock on over it because she kept licking it open. We taped around the sock with bandage tape at the top to keep it on. It took a lot of tape to keep her from pulling the sock off, pretty much the whole leg was sock and tape. But it worked and it healed. The vet told us if she wouldn’t leave it alone she would get the cone, and she hates the cone. But the sock worked.
Here’s one of my better ideas (I really need to send it into Heloise):
When your dog cuts its pad open, to avoid him getting blood all over your house, a MAXIPAD makes a great wrap for it. Wrap it with a little surgical tape to secure it.
Well, it’s not something a farmer has to use every day. Once in a while, a cow will get a sore or cut on her udder, but they’re not applying it every day to every cow. It’s more like medicine, not lotion.
I only use it when I see that my dogs’s paws are getting really rough and chapped, or they’ve injured a pad. For every-day type application, I’d say a normal hand lotion would be fine. They also sell conditioning sprays for dogs’ foot pads that you can get in almost any pet store.