Sunday 19 July 2009

Manic paw licking.





For some reason Wilf has started to lick his back paws with what appears to be a manic determination. He does it every year at this time - so it must be some form of allergic reaction. Has anyone else come across this problem? I wash his paws in a saline solution twice a day but it has no effect whatsoever.
Up to the local bar this morning. At last the tourists have started to arrive much to everyones delight. The Dutch and the Danes seem to have returned to their annual routine of migrating en masse to southern europe. Not a moment too soon - the hotels and restaurants are decidedly empty. Even the very fancy hotel on the coast that is always full has sent us an e-mail offering 35% off a room for nights between now and mid-August. Last year we were only able to get in, after a cancellation, in mid-September.
Swine flu mania continues to sweep Italy. In the supermarket the aisles were full of large displays selling disinfectant, face masks,and medical hand gel.




3 comments:

kks said...

it is definitely allergies...if there has been no change in food, likely the grass or pollen of some sort, washing probably won't help much....try some diphenhydramine (benadryl)
should check with Veterinarian, but dose is 2mg/kg by mouth...of course the quickest cure are steroids....the benadryl may or may not have any effect....hope this helps

Dog_geek said...

It does sound like an allergy, but it could be an inhalent allergy - some sort of pollen he is breathing in, perhaps, rather than a contact allergy from something he has gotten on his feet. If it is a seasonal occurrance, that makes me thing it probably is a pollen.

You might want to try antihistamines, although they typically do not work as well in dogs as they do in humans. If it gets really bad, you could try a short course of prednisone, although that is not something you want to use long term - but it might get you past the worst of it. There is allergy testing available for dogs - if you can identify the allergen, you can do allergy shots. That might be more expense and trouble than you need to go through for a seasonal problem. Hope he feels better soon!

Angus said...

Thanks to both of you. It's really helpful to get advice from others who've been through it or recognize the symptoms.