Yeast Infection On Dog Paw

Mamanyt1953

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The chamomile tea certainly will NOT hurt one thing, and WILL ease the itching, if nothing else. I'd suggest trying active culture plain yogurt. Make sure the label says "Active Culture" and not "Made with Active Culture." There is a huge difference. In California, you should have no problems finding active culture yogurt. It's great for yeast infections of ANY type, including thrush in infants. Swab it on, and if you can, cover it so he doesn't lick it right back off again.
 
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sabrinah

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I'm trying to give each treatment a fair shot so I'm not going to try the yogurt until tomorrow or Thursday. I'm most certainly trying it though!

The tea seemed to make his paw feel better. I'm treating all his paws because I figure if one is a mess they're all capable of becoming disasters. He didn't kick me quite as hard this time when I checked the problem paw, which I'm going to take as a good sign. I treated his ears with Zymox Otic just in case and figured it wouldn't hurt to put a little on the patches on his inner thigh. I don't know if he stopped licking and chewing because Zymox tastes awful or because he feels better, but I'm satisfied either way.
 
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sabrinah

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His paw is looking better! The skin is still a bit swollen but it's a light pink now, not an angry red.

The patches on his inner thigh, on the other hand, are angry red. I put more Zymox on the region but I don't know that it's doing anything. If Zymox doesn't make it improve by tomorrow, it's yogurt's turn.
 
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sabrinah

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I don't want to use apple cider vinegar because he's always tearing up his pads, and personal experience says vinegar in an open cut or scrape doesn't feel good.
 
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sabrinah

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In literally any other part of California active culture yogurt would be everywhere. Not here. The only place that's likely to have it is nearly 30 miles away. Since the semester is over I'm not over there regularly anymore. If I have to go that way this weekend I'll try to hunt down the yogurt. In the meantime, I got apple cider vinegar. I don't want to put it on his paws but I did put it on his thighs, which definitely look better after a couple of Zymox treatments. I'm either going to irritate my cat enough that she scratches the heck out of my hand (not hard to do at all) or give myself a few papercuts to see how bad the apple cider vinegar soak will hurt before I do it to him. Last time I accidentally got it in a cut I was not a happy person.
 
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sabrinah

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Aaannnndddd now his armpits are a disaster. His armpits and thighs almost look like a rash. Little red bumps. His paw is still pink instead of red, but the underside is still swollen.
 
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sabrinah

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So every morning we do an apple cider vinegar soak (which he hates) and every night after walkies we do an iodine soak. I tried the tea for 2 days but I wasn't impressed. His paw looks less red but he still chews and licks it if he's not wearing the cone of shame. For his thighs and armpits, it's been apple cider vinegar in the morning, iodine in the afternoon. They still bug him to death but they look so much better. In a couple more days his armpits and thighs should be completely healed. His back is incredibly itchy. If you pet his back his leg starts thumping and he licks his lips, which he only does when you scratch an itchy spot. I got some hot spot itch relief spray today that I'm going to try out. He's scared of spraying things because of his previous owners, so I'm probably going to use the recommendation on the bottle to mix it with water and pour it on him.

He despises the foot soaks so much that the only way to get him to cooperate is to use kitty kibble as treats :rolleyes3:
 

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sabrinah sabrinah , what does his paw look like right now (red, inflamed, sore, or normal? Any swelling?)
When you trim his nails do you get even the most minor resistance around that sore paw or the toes that look the worst.
I've heard mixed reviews on allergy testing but we've done a specific type that has been really good at pinpointing what the animal is allergic to.
How often does this guy get a bath? Would you be willing to do a rinse of cool water after a very dilute rinse of vinegar (apple cider) and water to give him some relief?
 
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sabrinah

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The paw is a little red and definitely swollen on the underside, but not as much as it was. Looking from the top it doesn't look swollen at all. I've looked at it thoroughly and there doesn't seem to be anything stuck anywhere. The swelling is probably more because he chews on it any chance he gets. I take his cone off for him to eat and he always tries to run in a corner and chew on the foot before I can get his cone back on. It doesn't bother him enough to impeded him in any way though.

I haven't trimmed his nails since I noticed the paw was bugging him. That's actually how I noticed- I was doing our usual routine (check for anything between the toes or in the pads, clip the hair between the toes, paw wax, nail trim, usually spread over a couple days) and he wasn't pleased when I touched that paw. Of course, that made me inspect his foot really well and I noticed it was red, swollen, and smelled a bit like Fritos. He still doesn't like me touching the bottom of that paw. He tries to pull it away and will lick my hand, which is his nice way of telling me to stop.

He gets a bath whenever he needs it, but the average is probably monthly. I don't do stinky, dirty dogs. Sometimes he goes 3 months, sometimes he only makes it 2 weeks if he finds something gross to roll in. If we go to the river in the summer he gets a bath immediately when we get home, same for if I take him into the forest.

Last time I asked the vet about him being itchy all the time she just said he seemed fine because he wasn't itching during the appointment. She said if he was really itchy that often he would be scratching during the appointment because stress makes it worse. Beast was literally trying to climb me like a tree; itchiness was the least of his concerns. All she would say is a lot of dogs and people get environmental allergies up here so just put him on Benadryl. Benadryl was very much not helpful. Cutting out pork got rid of the itch. Until now. I did ask about allergy testing and she said it's a waste.

Everything I read said not to rinse the paws after soaking them. Wouldn't it kinda ruin the soak?
 

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If you think it's environmental, give Claritin or Zyrtec a try. Sometimes they work better than Benedryl.

Dog allergies are just the worst.
 
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sabrinah

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I have no idea what it is or what's causing it. All I know is it's way worse up here than anywhere else. I definitely can't afford to give him Zyrtec, but I'll look at Claritin.
 
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sabrinah

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I have a handful of Zyrtec left from my own spring/summer allergies so I'm going to give them to him. If they work I'll keep him on the generic. Online it says 0.5mg/lb, so he would need 2 pills a day. I'm thinking I should start with one and build up to 2? Maybe (hopefully) 2 won't even be necessary. If he does need 2 it'll only be $32/year because Amazon has it for $16/365 pills.

He's made it 2 hours coneless (but fully supervised) without licking or chewing himself :banana1:Except for scratching his back and licking his butt after he farted. Dogs are gross :barfgreen:
 
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sabrinah

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He's nearly healed! :banana1:

The underside of the paw is still a bit swollen and a little pink, but it's way better and he isn't chewing it anymore. The rash on his legs and armpits is almost gone. His back is a little sensitive but not as itchy. He still has a few small red patches in his groin region but nothing major. There's a red bump on his chest but I don't know if that's part of the yeast issue or just a bug bite. He's always had a good sized bald patch on his chest and it's prone to getting chewed on by bugs. The last vet I asked about the bald spot just said it's because his chest is disproportionately deep for his body and the hair is constantly rubbed off :dunno: Every night he's getting one cap of ACV in his food along with 2 generic Zyrtec and his usual 2 pumps of fish oil. I'm going to try cutting back to just one Zyrtec once he's all healed. I really hope he doesn't have to be on Zyrtec year round here.
 

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I believe when our dog had yeast in-between his toes we used white vinegar which we wiped on with a cotton swab. I think it cleared up pretty fast. It was really red though and stunk like corn chips.
 
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sabrinah

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I'll keep white vinegar in mind! Thank You! Hopefully, I never have to deal with this again though
 
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