Rock salt and most chemical de-icers irritate a dog's paw and turns winter walks into a painful ordeal. Stay away from heavy salted areas. Inspect your dogs paws after outdoor play and walks. Check between toes and foot pads for cracks in the skin, inflammation areas for splinters, embedded gravel and etc.
When snow and stuck stick beneath your dogs paws, lumps of ice and mixed with rock salt and gravel can build up in the pads and toes and makes walking hurt. Always wash your dogs paws with warm water after outdoor play and walks. Do Not allow your dog to lick and/or chew lumps of ice off their feet. Ingesting rock salt or chemical de-icers can have toxic effects on your pet.
After washing you dogs feet with warm water apply Vaseline or Bag Balm to foot pads to soothe irritated pads. This can also be applied before walks. Cut any long hair between pads and toes, using sharp grooming scissors. Keep the hair even with the pads surface. Dogs with long feathering on front or back of the legs, keep this trimmed so it does not drag on the ground.
It's important to keep you dog's nails trimmed year long, but crucial in the winter. Untrimmed nails can lead to splayed feet, sore nail beds and even torn nails. When nails are long, the toe spreads apart when waking, leaving more space for snow and ice to build up.
see: Dogs file-Debra Kelly BellaOnline's Dog Editor. story written by guest author Sandy Moyer.
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