Blown out pads...help!

[10Key]

Hunted the desert yesterday, had a good time in the cold, albeit slow for birds...got back to the house and one of Chukar's pads was 2/3s gone. What the heck do I do with that? I was staying at a friends house so I covered it up to avoid oozing on their carpet...but now that we are home, what is protocol to expedite healing? I am getting conflicting info on web searches.

[runamuk]

if it was my dog and pad was actually missing i would wrap with bag balm gauze pad and vet wrap until healing was commencing.....this wrap would need to be removed and red one every 24-48 hours in my opinion based on the dog and environment....however my experience is show dogs, rescue dogs, and pets only not really working dogs....

[wildweeds]

Pad heal or straight bleach

[10Key]

If I use pad heal or bleach, do I keep the pad exposed or cover it? Is licking of the area by the dog ok?

[NW-GSP]

Vetricyn! The stuff works wonders. You can get it from most co op stores

[Bmcox86]

This has happened to my setter twice this season, first time I was terrified and wrapped them and emt gelled them everyday, they weren't healing, was told by a vet to unwrap them and let the dog keep them clean himself, so I did and he was back hunting 3 days later.

Happened again and I just cleaned them once after we got home and he was fine in a couple days.

Just clean them real good and don't push him to hard the first day or two after.

[benbo30]

Vetricyn! The stuff works wonders. You can get it from most co op stores

vetricyn is great , thats what i use on my horses when they get cuts , my weimaraner had some open wounds on her pads from the frozen snow so i put some bag balm on it and the wound closed up and healed i left them exposed for her to lick and clean as she needed to , they say a dogs saliva helps with the cleaning and healing process

[JLS]

If I use pad heal or bleach, do I keep the pad exposed or cover it? Is licking of the area by the dog ok?

I'd try to keep the pad covered until it starts to heal.  Once it does, keep bag balm on it so it doesn't crack.

[wildweeds]

Obviously you don't want the dog licking bleach, pour some in a small bowl,dip and hold the collar until it's dry.On the pad heal I just swabbed it on and cut em loose back in their crate.It has been my finding through the years with different dogs that those with black pads have tougher feet than their lighter padded counterparts.

  The bleach implements a chemical burn and dries the pad out thus making it tough,Tannic acid does the same thing and was told by my vet that years ago that was the way houndsmen toughend feet.

Bag balm is the last thing you want to use,it softens the pad,unless of course you want to vet feet after every trip.

[benbo30]

Obviously you don't want the dog licking bleach, pour some in a small bowl,dip and hold the collar until it's dry.On the pad heal I just swabbed it on and cut em loose back in their crate.It has been my finding through the years with different dogs that those with black pads have tougher feet than their lighter padded counterparts.

  The bleach implements a chemical burn and dries the pad out thus making it tough,Tannic acid does the same thing and was told by my vet that years ago that was the way houndsmen toughend feet.

Bag balm is the last thing you want to use,it softens the pad,unless of course you want to vet feet after every trip.

bag balm would be ok on open wounds IMO , i only use it on open wounds on thier pads . quick question for you on the bleach thing what if the dog has a open cut or wound on his pad is bleach ok to use wouldnt it sting the crap out of them?

[JLS]

Obviously you don't want the dog licking bleach, pour some in a small bowl,dip and hold the collar until it's dry.On the pad heal I just swabbed it on and cut em loose back in their crate.It has been my finding through the years with different dogs that those with black pads have tougher feet than their lighter padded counterparts.

  The bleach implements a chemical burn and dries the pad out thus making it tough,Tannic acid does the same thing and was told by my vet that years ago that was the way houndsmen toughend feet.

Bag balm is the last thing you want to use,it softens the pad,unless of course you want to vet feet after every trip.

I should have clarified.  I meant use Bag Balm when the pad is regenerating and is starting to dry out and get thicker.  I have had my dog crack his while it was in this stage.  It's usually a week or so, then I let it dry out and harden up.

[AspenBud]

if we're not talking about a cut here I would NOT wrap it. It might be worth a call to a vet to see if they can recommend a numbing spray to try and keep the dog from wanting to lick the area however. I've gone through this with a couple of my Pointers and they were fine after a week or two of rest (no big runs or hunting).

Bear in mind, I'm making this statement without seeing the wound.

The bleach trick is interesting, but personally I'd stick with tuff foot...after it has healed.

[benbo30]

or better yet just get some boots ?? i was thinking of doing that with my weimaraner in the snow mostly as it seems she is preety sensitive to the snow , my labs are ok in the snow some tough dogs they are

[JLS]

I use rubber boots on my lab when I'm chukar hunting.  I've read about wrapping their feet in tape too, maybe try that at first if you don't want to use the tuff foot?

If the dogs feet are soft, and she spends a lot of time in house, any wet, snow, icy conditions are going to be tough on her once her pads get wet and soften up.

[runamuk]

to each their own we greased feet and hooves when it was snow and ice and cold it helped reduce snowballs in the pads.....I used bag balm others used vaseline....

bleach is a caustic so yes it chemical burns....try bleaching your own skin just to get an idea what you are doing then proceed from there.

again I am not a dog person houndsman, or game dog person, sled dog person (these ones are where i got the grease idea from) herding dog, sheep dog, cattle dog, schutzhund dog, or pit dogs......just a chick who somehow ended up with other peoples messes for 20 some years

[bearpaw]

Our hounds will sometimes run 10 to 20 miles on a hunt and we have found tufffoot or blukote to work wonders on dog's feet, you can get it at many hound hunting supply businesses, check with Double U, one of our forum sponsors located near Yacolt, WA, I bet Buddy can send some up tomorrow to you.

http://www.dusupply.com/dog-supplies/supplies/first-aid.html

[10Key]

Here is a shot of the worst one. We uncovered it and cleaned them with epsom salts and left them dry. He is licking them on occasion.

[bearpaw]

Happens all the time with hounds, even worse than yours looks, get some of the stuff I mentioned. Use it before you hunt too, it will toughen up the pads so they don't tear them up so bad. 

[benbo30]

Our hounds will sometimes run 10 to 20 miles on a hunt and we have found tufffoot or blukote to work wonders on dog's feet, you can get it at many hound hunting supply businesses, check with Double U, one of our forum sponsors located near Yacolt, WA, I bet Buddy can send some up tomorrow to you.

http://www.dusupply.com/dog-supplies/supplies/first-aid.html

since you use the tuf foot is it a spray ?? im thinking about ordering it up for my dogs as we will doing some shed hunting and putting some miles on our feets here soon ..

[Mudman]

Dont use bag balm on open wounds!!!!  JEEZ!!!  BLEACH on wounds??  Are you kidding?  Pour bleach on your wounds!!!  Warm water, epsom salt ok too.  Clean use neosporin type creams.  Telfapad is nonstick bandage for this.  Keep clean and sterile and allow healing.  Bag balm on open wound makes it worse. 

[benbo30]

Dont use bag balm on open wounds!!!!  JEEZ!!!  BLEACH on wounds??  Are you kidding?  Pour bleach on your wounds!!!  Warm water, epsom salt ok too.  Clean use neosporin type creams.  Telfapad is nonstick bandage for this.  Keep clean and sterile and allow healing.  Bag balm on open wound makes it worse.

how does bag balm on a cut or open wound make it worse , seem to work on my dog just fine , needless to say i use it on cuts on my self as well

[runamuk]

blue kote is good stuff on horse feet

bag balm is essentially vaseline and a sulfa based antibiotic

do research is my suggestion

[AspenBud]

Don't bother wrapping the wound. You'll just create a nice place to invite infection if you do. Let it air out and nothing outside of being in the yard for exercise until your dog's gait is back to normal.

Tuff foot works alright. Though honestly nothing beats feet toughened through use. If you don't road your dog, consider it. You can do a poor man's version with a bike if you don't have a quad and land.

[jetjockey]

Roading is a great way to toughen pads, but you still have to be careful.  I road, and hunt my Brittany 3-4 times a week.  My roading "rig" consists of a POS Murray mountain bike with the Springer attachment.  I've been roading her on pavement in my neighborhood since she came home in early December.  Her average run is 7 miles at 12 MPH.  Last Thursday I noticed a small spot on one pad that was getting raw.  It wasn't bad enough to worry about, and I hunted her Saturday, but now I've got a pair of boots coming from Gun Dog Supply anyways.  I'm going to alternate her roading with boots and not with boots to keep her pads tough, but not over do it.

10-Key.  Look into a product called Granulex.  It's gods gift to hunting dogs.  It's a spray that aids in healing and should be in everyone's first aid kits.  I've used it several times, and it WORKS!! 

[10Key]

Thanks all for the tips! Woke up this morning and the pad stopped weeping and it looks to be hardening up. We planned on hunting this weekend, but we may have ended our season on Saturday...Dogs health first!

[Mudman]

blue kote is good stuff on horse feet

bag balm is essentially vaseline and a sulfa based antibiotic

do research is my suggestion

I did.  This is professional Vet. care advice.  My wife deals with this alot.  Bag balm is not good for open wounds and can slow healing and sometimes promote infection.  It can be good for other uses however. Not open wounds. 

[10Key]

Have kept the pad dry and uncovered. We've also kept the dog inactive. I think it is looking pretty good after only 48 hours:

[jackmaster]

BLUKOTE, you can get it at any feedstore, not sure if i spelled it right, but thats what we always used on are hounds when they tore up a pad  good luck