cracked pads - Page 1

My young female (6mths) was noticed limping on her right front leg and on examination was noted to have developed several craks on her pads pad some of which appeared fairly deep but not to the point of bleeding. She is in a concrete run but mainly exercised in the nearby field. Hopefully as she grows the pads will harden but untill then is there anything I can do to help with the healing of the cracks. John.

John...Cracking pads can be caused by an injury or it can occur with some disease problems, especially the immune mediated problems like phemphigus. You should avoid exercising your dog for a while and give him /her a rest. I know that there are boots made for working dogs in USA, if the problem does seem to be repetitive injury from running. It might also help to apply petroleum jelly or other moisturizer.

Mushers use a product call Tuf Foot, you can buy it on the internet - Tuffoot.com - I think. A large animal product, Coppertox, might help too, but it's messy and you need to use it out of doors and allow it to dry before bringing her inside. You should be able to find that at a feed store. Booties might help for now when you let her exercise provided she will let them on, some will, some won't. If you decided to try them, buy them from someone who mushes their dogs, they are the ultimate experts on feet problems and know which booties are the best. Be sure to keep a watch between the toes too as GSD's seem to be prone to interdigital cysts and they need an entirely different method of treatment. They will appear as a purple colored hard lump on the webbing of the feet between the toes and can be quite painful. My GSD has one on each front foot when he was around a year old.

If the cracking does not seem to be from injury,then try to provide her something softer to get off of the cement-straw,shavings ect.. until it heals.Try putting some triple anti-biotic ointment in the crack,then something thick like vasaline or better yet Bag Balm-it's worked well for me before.Aftr it is healed completly you can purchase a pad strengthener. Do you use water to clean out the run everyday?Pads can become softer and raw from being on wet cement.As she gets older her pads will toughen naturally.

Whilde different Jellies can be good, a woman taught me something many years ago, #1 get the moisture back into the pad. You can {if your dogs feet do this} in small boots as we use on SAR dogs, and then put Ponds Cream in them it works wonders! In general I alternate days off and on for about five days. Jerry

I found some good products that may be helpful to you at jeffers pets go to http://www.jefferspet.com/ssc/products.asp?CID=0&mscssid=93K17A6GVF5D9P9PHS4N48V477C49C5E&area=&BrowseList=649&dept_id=650&r=1 copy and paste this it will take you right to the pad care section

Thanks for all the replies I will try some of the softeners and rest her for a few days. Hopefuly this will sort out the problem. John.