To find a dog licking its paws or hot spots excessively can be quite unsettling and it is one of the most common complaints from pet owners.
While suspicion usually falls on allergies or behavioral issues as main causes, there is rarely any exact answer as to what is behind paw licking and why it deserves special attention. This means most dogs get treated for the wrong thing in the wrong way a majority of the time.
Dog Allergies Licking Paws and Hot Spots Obsessively…
The first thing most dog owners do when they find their dog licking its paws or hot spots obsessively is try to make it stop. Yet, the thing to understand is that before the advent of veterinarians, Mother Nature needed to ensure the canine species could capably survive in its element. To do this, she gave them two things to help doctor themselves when necessary: fast healing skin and a natural germicide in their saliva to help clean and heal minor abrasions and wounds.
To see a dog licking its paws or hot spots is a clear sign that it is trying to heal something in its skin. However, the question is: what could be so aggravating in the skin as to cause excessive paw licking or hot spots?
The Part Dog Food Plays in Your Dogs Allergies
Once a dog owner understands that the chief function of skin, the largest organ of the body, is to excrete waste the answer begins to become clearer. Once a pet owner also understands that the commercial dog foods most domesticated canines eat is rife with chemicals and toxins, the answer is nearly complete.
Whether bagged or canned, commercial dog food is filled with non nutrients a dog’s body was never designed to process. Because these components are not recognized by a dog’s physiology as nutrients, the immune system kicks into overtime to battle what it sees as invaders. Eventually, the immune system wears down as it fights the daily dose of toxins building up in a dog’s sensitive vital inner organs.
In an attempt to restore balance, a dog’s body will begin to excrete the chemicals and toxins. The result is a fierce case of a dog licking its paws or hot spots that cannot heal because the immune system has become suppressed. To get these chemicals and toxins out of a dog’s system, it will need the diet Mother Nature intended for its physiology: a diet of fresh raw food.
As stated by Dr. Tom Lonsdale, BVet Med, MRCVS, “A natural diet acts as food and medicine for pet carnivores. It works wonders and minor miracles. We need those benefits now.”
Unlike the chemical concoction of commercial dog food, a fresh food diet of raw meat and whole or minced bone offers live enzymes, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals plus a full range of over 35 proteins and much more, all in their most natural, unaltered state.
With no preservatives and additives, the immune system is boosted rather than suppressed. This means, much to the relief of a dog and its owner, the problem of hot spots or a dog licking its paws excessively can vanish within weeks never to be seen again.
Watch the short video below about dog skin allergies and dog allergy symptoms.
For further informations on how you can stop your dog itching so much get my free report below.
About Dan
I totally agree, dogs were not meant to eat corn or other fillers that fluff up most big box dog foods!
However, with the obsessive licking, I had a little terrier mix that, I don’t know if it was the stress of moving or the new back yard lawn, she would lick and lick her paws until the hair was all but gone.
After many vet trips, skin steroids, and other changes, the only thing that worked was an all natural salve called Dermapaw. They even make a sock harness that keeps the stuff on their feet. (And she liked that much better than the vet hed cone anyway!)
Hi Kahley
Thankyou for sharing your story. It’s tuff facing the realities of diet being responsible for our dogs maladies but excessive paw licking is a dogs way of taking the constant itch away brought on by allergic reaction to excessive additives. The vets will treat the symptoms but this is a clear case of going round in circles until the cause is taken in hand and stopped through quality diet change.
Great article! I switched my dogs to a raw homemade diet over a year ago and so many of their problems went away – most importantly was all the itching. But even a cyst on the elbow of my mastiff just naturally disappeared after only 6 months on raw!
Hi Karen
Thanks for commenting, I really appreciate feedback. As you have discovered, the absolute key to all this is a strong immune system. All those live nutrients from the raw food were able to go into the body and do their job which in this case, feed the skin and aid your dogs immune system to form a reponse to that cyst.
Simple yet so powerful—>Food as medicine.
What kinds of raw meat, just like ground beef?
Hi Hanna,
Most kinds of raw meat are fine, best given on the bone like a chicken quarter or lamb rib depending on size of dog. You can feed ground beef too some of the time but feeding in larger chunks than can be swallowed will mean your dog has to chew it, breake it up and then swallow the resulting smaller pieces which means time spent working on the large chunk and great teeth cleaning. This all helps keep your dog employed, excellent workout on the head, neck and shoulder muscles and keeps teeth nice and clean so no dental problems can arise.
Hope this helps.
Just like to add my two cents: We switched our lab over to a frozen raw diet five months ago and he still licks his paws raw. Top and bottom. So I’m not so sure a raw diet is completely the answer. Thinking of trying the Dermapaw myself.
Hi Leslie, something is not balanced with the diet for this to happen. The Dermapaw is only a tempory measure. You need to look into the underlying cause and fix that.
Happy for you to send me an accurate breakdown of your dogs diet and health history, and I’ll see what I can do to help.
Hi, Our 3 year old dog (terrier x bichon) licks her front right paw repeatedly. On occasion it gets really bad (like now) and she wakes up during the night to lick it. She has been to the vet many times and has had an xray to see if something was stuck in the paw but as yet we cannot pinpoint the cause. She is a very poor eater in general and we have to force feed her in the morning to eat something otherwise she gets stick yellow bile. She rarely eats her dog food (Royal Canine) and just holds out until we cook her some chicken, beef (steak!) or give her cooked ham. If a dog only has a problem with one paw do you think it could be a diet allergy?
Hi Laura, love Bichons and personally think they have some terrier in them so your dog must be a real charachter. You’ve kinda given the answer in your question, let me explain.
The excessive licking is diet related as explained in the article, she just focusses her attention on that one paw where the allergy is felt most. Her poor eating habits are in direct relation to her diet regimen. She simply hates commercial pet food as you have witnessed, it makes her feel bad and the poor licking is the ich she can never scratch. She wants food alright as evidenced with the bile production and the cooked food she holds out for.
By switching her diet to a raw food diet, she will stop the paw licking, develope a heathy eating habit and be very healthy for the long term plus the stress she currently displays will stop.
Hope this helps, ask if you need further help.