What causes my dog's painful paw boils and blisters that won't heal?

Hello, I'm sorry to hear this about Juno. I think allergies are a really good rule out in this case, whether to food or environment. An extremely strict hypoallergenic food trial carried out for a minimum of eight weeks (ideally twelve) would rule out a food related problem. Environmental allergies to things like pollens, grasses, dust, etc may be more responsive to systemic allergy medications (oral tablets like Apoquel or injectable Cytopoint) or topical therapies like regular paw cleanings with medicated shampoos and mousses. Wiping down her paws after going outdoors with a clean damp cloth or hypoallergenic baby wipe may help as well. Due to the location of the sores on the paw pads themselves, auto immune disease could be possible though less common. A deep biopsy may be needed for diagnosis- a consult and diagnostics with an internal medicine specialist or dermatology specialist may be good next steps for working this up if your general practitioner veterinarian feels that allergy treatments have been exhausted. I hope this is helpful. Best of luck getting answers and relief for Juno.

I would recommend that you have Mo examined by a vet. From the pictures, these don't look like blisters. They could be caused by allergies, foreign bodies, autoimmune disease, deep bacterial or fungal infection, etc. The vet may need to do a biopsy to see what the cause is so that Mo can receive appropriate treatment.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Bodie, it sounds as if he has had a rough three days. Bodie's lesions on his paw could certainly be related to an underlying environmental or food allergy that resulted in the development of a severe superficial and possible deep pyoderma, which can be difficult to treat if the bacteria present are resistant to normal antibiotics. Other potential causes could include fungal infections (depending on your location), and neoplasia (cancer). For lesions that do not respond to typical therapy with antibiotics and anti-itch medications (such as corticosteroids, Apoquel, Atopica), it may be necessary to perform a culture/sensitivity of the lesions to determine what type of bacteria present (if any) and what antibiotic it is sensitive to, or even a biopsy which could help rule-out certain fungal infections or neoplasia. I would recommend having Bodie re-evaluated by a veterinarian if the sores do not resolve to determine what the appropriate next step will be.

Poor Zues - those lesions are quite prominent! Recurrent interdigital (between the toes) lesions can be frustrating and can be caused by a number of different issues, including atopy (environmental allergies), food allergies, bacterial infections, yeast infections, mange, autoimmune issues, or even cancer. In many cases, secondary bacterial infections occur when dogs lick or chew at their feet, meaning that the bacterial infection happens on top of another cause, like allergies. This might explain why the antibiotics helped initially, but the lesions then recurred. At this point, it sounds as though more diagnostic testing is needed. Your vet will likely want to do some skin cytology (examining some cells under the microscope) to check for signs of bacteria and/or yeast, a skin scrape to check for the mites that cause mange, and may even recommend taking a biopsy so that a pathologist can evaluate the affected tissues. Depending what those tests show, your vet may then recommend trying allergy medications (such as Apoquel or Cytopoint), a prescription hypoallergenic food trial, or other medications. I understand how frustrating this issue must be and wish you and Zues all the best!

Hi, and thanks for your question. Although a picture of it would help to determine the underlying cause more specifically, generally speaking this could be due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

Oh wow that does look painful. Lesions on the foot/footpad are most commonly either from chronic irritation, immune mediated, a symptom of disease elsewhere (such as hepatocutaneous syndrome from liver disease), allergy (although this looks quite severe for that), vasculitis, or cancer. I would recommend that your girl be seen for bloodwork, needle sampling of the lesions on her head, and likely skin biopsies of her feet. This is th best way to get to the bottom of this painful process for her and get the correct treatment prescribed. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!