Why Your Dog Won't Stop Licking Their Paws

Is your dog constantly licking or chewing their paws, even when there’s no visible injury? While many pet parents dismiss this behavior as a simple habit or boredom, it is often a sign of underlying inflammation, yeast overgrowth, or even radiating joint and nerve pain. In this episode, Dr. Randy Aronson explains why that "corn chip" smell is a major clue for yeast and shares a simple "distraction test" to help you determine if your dog is suffering from a medical compulsion rather than just a behavioral quirk. We dive into the holistic perspective on paw health, moving beyond surface-level symptoms to find the root cause of your pet's discomfort.

Beyond physical injuries, we explore the hidden environmental factors affecting our dogs today, including the high levels of glyphosate and weed killers found on common walking paths and golf courses. Dr. Randy discusses how these toxins build up in your dog’s system through their paws and what you can do to mitigate these risks. Whether you're dealing with potential "lick granulomas" or anxious self-soothing behaviors, this video provides the integrative veterinary insights you need to keep your pet comfortable and healthy.

#DogHealth #HolisticVet #PawLicking #PetWellness #DrRandyPetVet

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Products and Resources I Recommend

Dental:                                                                                                                            TEEF: https://teefhealth.com

Cat Grass/Catnip:                                                                                                          Pet Greens; https://www.petgreens.com/

Books
Four Paws in Five Directions; by Dr. Cheryl Schwartz
The Forever Dog; by Dr. Karen Shaw Becker & Rodney Habib

Ear Cleansing Solutions
Oti-Clens Cleaning Solution for Dogs & Cats
Triz EDTA

Tests
Nutr...

Transcript

Randy Aronson, VMD, CCRT, CVA (00:01)

So we're going to talk about excessive paw licking. Perfect. So our question today is from Mick. ⁓ And he's asking, is it normal for my dog to lick his paws constantly even when there's no visible injury?

A lot of times, paw licking is just kind of excused as, you know, habitual. You some people compare it to nail biting and sometimes that's all it is, quite honestly. But it's usually caused by inflammation. Okay. So we want Nick to understand that even if you don't see anything, sometimes there's microscopic things going on between the toes. Exactly. So that's why we like to take a cytology. Exactly. So what might those things be? Well, we see yeast, ⁓ which often, you know, we talk about it smelling like corn chips.

Like, yes, I was going to say a brand name and then I said, you know what, Ships works just fine. ⁓ It could be due to pain. So dogs will often lick joints or paws when they're painful. What people don't understand is they can have shoulder pain, but it can radiate down to the foot. Yeah, exactly. And they're licking their paw and yet it's not in the paw itself. But it gives us a clue as to the region. Absolutely. your veterinarian would be, you know, definitely, ⁓ you know, there to be able to make that diagnosis and help you with that. ⁓

Again, we talked about anxiety or self-soothing. My dog does it because of anxiety. Yes. Are you making an anxious situation for your dog at your house? You know, I think he came to us in an anxious state of mind. I was kidding, of course.

And then there's also nerve pain, know, so what we call neuropathic discomfort, which can really cause, you know, radiating down, you know, people talk about their hands burning or itching or something like that. so here's, here's a test that I tell my owners. If you can stop them from licking and immediately he tries to do that again, that's not boredom. Okay. That's just not. No, I like that test. So there's compulsion or discomfort there. So we have to make sure we see, we want that dog seen by your veterinarian as soon as possible. figure out what's going on.

Lick licking can lead to things like granulomas, are open. We can have open sores. We can have these calcified really hard areas that don't heal. These get to be thickened infected type areas. Yeah. And they're much harder to treat if they're at that stage versus early on. So it's important to get in early. And then this is a small comment, but I have heard from people they're not worried about their dogs licking their feet because I've been told that dogs mouths are so much cleaner than humans. Right. And that's not true.

⁓ We don't want dogs licking their feet. They can just exacerbate issues like you were saying, get to this granuloma stage. And it's really not something that we just kind of want to turn a blind eye to, you know? Yep. And one more little...

piece that I didn't mention was remember that in these days, weed killers, glyphosate or Roundup is a huge problem in our pets, especially our dogs that go to golf courses or walk around. I I walk around here in Tucson and they're spraying this stuff all over the place for weed killer. And remember your dog walks on it and then licks its foot.

And guess what? It's building up in the body. There's glyphosate. And I don't care what the current administration is doing about not regulating glyphosate, but it's a huge toxin. In fact, in veterinary schools, they're finding in patients that have gone to postmortem in their livers, up to 30 times the amount of glyphosate in their liver. And we do have a podcast about glyphosate as well. We do. And how to mitigate that on your dog. be sure to check that out. Absolutely. So I think that covers it all on polychaene. Okay, perfect. Well, thank you

for answering that for me. Great. thank you guys for joining us. We love answering your questions. I love answering them because I always get to learn a little bit more while I'm in vet school. If you guys have any other ones, please feel free to add them to our social media accounts at Dr. Randy Petved. So YouTube, Instagram, ⁓ and thank you guys so much. Absolutely. And remember, subscribe and follow us because it really helps us get that information out to you guys.