How can I prevent my dogs paw pad injury?

Paw pad injuries are often preventable. Scout out areas where your dog may be playing, and remove things that might injure your dog's pads, including broken glass, debris, or chemicals. Steer your dog away from superheated or cold surfaces, which can injure your dog's pads. You can also protect your dog from disease and injury with a lifetime wellness plan from your veterinarian. It's simple: you make an interest-free monthly payment, and in return, you gain access to diagnostic tests for your pet and often unlimited office visits. You can choose from a range of plans and coverage. Your dog, and your dog's paw pads, will thank you.

To prevent dog paw pad injuries, check between your dog’s toes and look for - and remove - debris that’s become stuck in their pads. Trim the hair between the pads, as this hair can get long, attracting thorns and other painful grasses. Trimming your dog’s nails can also prevent injury. Moisturize the pads, as this will help prevent drying and cracking, and ask your veterinarian about moisturizer that’s appropriate for dogs. Rocks, extreme temperatures and certain terrain can cause paw pad injuries, so being mindful of these hazards is also important. Paw pads also insulate feet in winter and summer months, and help your pet traverse different kinds of terrain, but even with this protection, injuries can still occur. If you’re unsure about developments on the paws or pads, contact your veterinarian.

The best way to protect your dog’s paw pads from injury is to have them wear dog booties when walking, hiking, and playing on rough terrain or in extreme temperatures. If your dog has a tough time wearing booties, you can invest in a paw pad wax or balm that helps condition and protect your dog’s paw pads. If you’d like to take your dog hiking, go on longer walks, or play games of fetch in a rough-terrain dog park, get your dog’s paw pads used to it over time by starting with short-duration exposure to those surfaces. This way, you’ll be slowly building up their calluses. Take a minute or two every day to do a paw check on your dog, look for any rips or tears on their pads, and check between their toes and paw webbing for anything that might have gotten stuck in there. Keeping the hair that grows between your dog’s paws cleaned and trimmed helps keep their paws healthy and gives more traction on slippery surfaces in your home, and trimming dog paw pads also makes it easier to spot when there is a problem. Avoid walking your dog on hot pavement and avoid letting your dog walk on surfaces that have been treated with de-icer or salt, as these can burn their paw pads. Take your dog out for their walk early in the morning or late in the evening to keep their paw pads safe from pavement burns, and if you’ve got to take them out during the hotter parts of the day, protect their paws by walking them on grass and other surfaces that are likely to be cooler than the streets and sidewalks. With some easy preventive measures like daily paw checks, conditioning your dog’s pads to rougher terrain, and using booties or paw pad wax or balm, your dog will be able to enjoy their hikes and walks all year round.

To prevent paw pad injuries, keep your dog inside during extreme weather conditions. If your dog must go out for exercise or elimination purposes, give them a path away from ice or hot asphalt to protect their paw pads. Clearing ice from walkways or avoiding iced-over surfaces and walking directly in the snow will give your dog a better chance of avoiding slicing their skin on sharp ice. Hosing off hot surfaces such as asphalt or hot patios in the heat of the summer will cool down the surface enough for your dog to walk over them. Keeping your dog's paws clean and keeping the hair between the pads trimmed is a great way to prevent yeast from growing. Bathing the feet each day with an anti-fungal shampoo will help clear the yeast and heal the skin irritations caused by the licking and chewing. You can also add probiotics to your dog’s diet to help the body get rid of the yeast. Adding a low sugar yogurt to your dog’s meals is easy to do, and they will love the taste. Avoid areas where the terrain is rocky and sharp. You can apply wax to the paw pads to protect against scrapes.