ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by LAURIE

My maltese is male and 15 months old, he constantly licks his front paws so much that he no longer has hair on his paws and they are a brownish red in color. has anyone else had this problem? I'd like to know what I should do.he also loves to get a hold of socks and when he does it's no time before he has torn them to shredds, he knows he is not supposed to have the socks because he will go somewhere and hide when he does get one and gets caught with it i do tell him bad dog. we have bought him these stuffed lambs wool looking toys but he has them for a day and has destroyed them too shredds!!!! Any suggestions on a good chewing toy? He has alot of those nylon bones and rubber toys but won't play with them.

DISCUSSION:

Hi, Our Pepper (8 months) loves to steal socks/mittens etc. too. Since he doesn't have all of his teeth yet, he didn't do much damage yet. However, I saw a newspaper article in our local newspaper that I thought I'd pass on while we are on a similar subject. There was an article regarding a woman who revived her 5lb toy poodle using CPR. The dog was having trouble breathing over a period of a few weeks and the vet told her that it was due to his teeth being in poor health & would need to have his teeth removed. Somehow the vet felt there was a connection between his teeth and breathing problem. Anyway, over this past weekend the dog had gotten progressively worse & was in major distress regarding his breathing and the owner performed the CPR. After consulting with several vets and finally taking the dog to a major veterinary hospital out of state, they discovered the dog needed emergency intestinal surgery. Apparently, the dog had a ball of yarn wrapped around his intestinal area that was causing his breathing problem. The article never went into detail as to how this dog acquired the ball of yarn. They did sawy, however, that the ball was approx. the size of a small orange. I am now very leary about Pepper chewing on socks/mittens and all the miscellaneous items he seems to enjoy so much. I also took away a chew rope that he had for this same reason. He has enjoyed the nylabone carrot chew bones & chicken and cheese nylabone. I also found the "Roarhide" made by nylabone which is a bone made of rawhide, but the rawhide is basically ground up so that it can't get caught in their throat. Not sure, if this answers your question, but I would hate to see any of our "furry friends" have the same encouter as the toy poodle I mentioned.
-Lydia/Pepper

One thing that could be causing your dog to lick and chew on its paw continuously is an allergy. The second is simply boredom. Dogs groom and lick and fuss over their feet when there's nothing to bark at and nothing to sniff and chase. If the dog's paw seems red, this may just be a result of contant licking--a dog's saliva has enzymes in it that tend to leave a reddish stain on the animal's fur when she licks a spot repeatedly. I notice my hands will itch sometimes after Pixie Bella licks me. Just to be sure, though, I would examine the paw for signs of punctures or cuts. If the paw is swollen and you see a hole or a cut, this could be caused by a foreign object, such as a thorn or a piece of glass, that the dog has been unable to remove. It's likely that anything you could get out with tweezers, the dog would have already removed with her teeth, but if you do see the object, remove it and swab the paw with a mild antiseptic. Clean it twice a day until the sore spot clears up. I notice Pixie Bella will fuss with her paws if she is bored. I usually start a game of retreive so she can run back and forth. She forgets about her paws. She's sitting there looking at me like, "Are you talking about me again!?" I would consult my vet if things didn't improve. Her paws must be getting real sore.
-Vicki