Let me just say that there are a lot of myths associated with allergies and dogs. This is a challenge for our brains because we as humans are connect-the-dot reasoners, and we feel extremely confident in our ability to do that even when we’re wrong. So it’s not unusual for us to build some mythology around the stuff that we can’t easily understand.
If you want to read a deep dive on allergies in dogs, then I urge you to read this article. It has causes for allergies, the standard of care treatment plans, and symptoms of allergies that are incredibly important for all pet parents to understand. The most obvious allergy symptom: licking paws.
Primarily we hear from our clients that dogs lick their paws because they have some sort of other reason besides itchiness to do so; they’re cleaning themselves, or they’re self soothing, or they have some degree of a painful foot. Let’s debunk those myths so we can ensure these dogs get the treatment they need to resolve the itch.
1. “Dogs Lick Their Paws to Groom Themselves”
Dogs do not groom themselves well. You generally would not see that behavior unless they stepped in something like sap. They’re generally not going to be concerned with the perfect grooming situation like a cat would be.
2. “Dogs Lick Their Paws Because They Are Painful”
Sometimes people will come in with their allergic dog thinking that they are licking their paws because they are in pain. We most commonly see this with our patients with known arthritis and their parents connect it, thinking they are licking at the arthritis.
This stems from the understanding that “Dogs lick their wounds.” Dogs will absolutely lick a wound, but a wound is going to be an open lesion, gross tasting thing. Dogs that like to eat nasty stuff, are going to lick themselves if there is an open wound because they actually like the taste of it. That is what we mean when we say “dogs lick their wounds”: they’re licking a wound, not an internal wound from arthritis, causing them discomfort.
3. “Dogs Lick Their Paws to Self Soothe”
We will occasionally get a dog who is anxious and they’re licking at one particular spot. That spot tends to be right at the wrist or at the ankle, and those are different situations than licking at the actual paw. They will not be licking their whole foot in an effort to self soothe.
4. “Dogs Lick Their Paws Because They Are Bored”
This argument is made because dogs are only going to lick their paws when nobody’s interacting with them. That’s really not coming from boredom, it’s coming from a lack of distraction from their itch.
You’ll see that the two most common times that your dog is going to be itching themselves is first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed. And after dinner/before bed. During those times of the day, there’s just not a lot of distractions going on – you’re not out of bed, yet they’re awake, and they’re waking up to this increased amount of itchiness that’s accumulated overnight, and they go right to it because they have no distraction.
After dinner and before bed, most people are not really doing anything; they may be on the couch or reading a book, they’re watching TV, whatever, but not doing a whole lot of interaction with dogs at that point in the day, typically. And so this is a common time for paw licking to play out.
If the dog is distracted – for example: they’re out on a walk – you could have a 10 out of 10 itchy dog, (by the way, be sure to check out this link to understand what the scale of itchiness looks like for dogs) but they’re not going to be itching at all. When you’re on a walk, you’re distracting them from their itch.
Then they go home, get left alone to recover from their walk, and then boom: they’re licking their feet again.
5. “Coconut Oil Will Help the Itch”
Another common myth is that they are going to be helped by using coconut oil on the area. The “cure-all” used to be tea tree oil. Unfortunately, these natural remedies that come with promises to work every single time just do not work. An itchy, allergic dog has a profound problem with their immune system and treating it externally will not work when it’s an actual internal problem.
6. “Changing the Diet Will Fix The Itch”
It’s unfortunately just very, very unusual for a change in diet to completely resolve the problems.
Takeaway
There’s no normal expected amount of itchiness, and unfortunately a lot of dogs suffer until all pet parents can understand this. This is not something that you should just be continuing to monitor when your dog is spending half of their night licking their paws, or undistracted waking time licking their paws or rubbing their face, or licking their groin or whatever it is that they’re doing.
A dog that is licking their paws is itchy.
You can read about managing the itch through allergy care here.
Book an Appointment at Alicia Pet Care Center by calling 949-768-1313. We are a family owned, full service animal hospital in Mission Viejo, CA and have 9 doctors who can help you with managing your pet’s allergies.
About The Author
Matthew Wheaton, DVM, Chief of Staff Alicia Pet Care Center| Matthew Wheaton, DVM has been practicing Veterinary Medicine for over 25 years. Vet Med runs in his veins; his father was also a well respected Vet in Orange County for 30 years. Matthew Wheaton graduated from vet school at UC Davis in 1996 and quickly started a career in emergency care before purchasing Alicia Pet Clinic in the summer of 2000. He has turned the hospital into the state-of-the-art, 9 doctor veterinary facility that it is today. He also has 3 pets at home, and 3 human children!
You can read more of his bio here.
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