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My dog has black hair clusters on paw pads and licks them. What is it?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Male | neutered | 52 lbs

Hi my dog has these sort of blackhead looking black groups of hair clusters between his paw pads. They don't seem to agitate but he does lick his paws a lot, but that's always been the case. These clusters pull out easily and when examined appear to be 10 or 20 straight hairs held together by a single casing

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By C. Rathjens, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on January 6th, 2018

It looks like King has a skin infection. This is called potodermatitis and can be caused by allergies to food or something in the environment, irritation from salt on the ground in the winter, and many more causes. You can try soaking King's feet in Epsom salt bath twice a day for a couple days and also placing an e-collar on him so he's unable to lick at his feet. If they are still red and he still wanting to lick at them after a couple days of this I would recommend taking him to his veterinarian because he probably is in need of some medication to stop the itching, as well as antibiotics. Good luck to you and King!

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    Answered By Joy Fuhrman, DVM, MBA, CPA

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    The hearts are normal and are not of concern. However, King does need to be treated for the skin infection that is likely due to allergies. The skin infection may be allowing the clumps of hairs to be so easily removed.

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