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My puppy keeps licking her raw, irritated leg. How can I stop her?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 6 months and 10 days old | 44 lbs

My puppy obsessively licks her leg. It looks like she hurt herself initially (not sure if bug bites or her brother nipping her, or something else) but that has now scabbed over and she still licks it until the area surrounding gets irritated, raw and red. Any suggestion as to what may have caused the initial scabs? And suggestions to stop her licking it now?

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1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Linda G, MS, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on November 8th, 2018

Hello. That does look extremely irritated. The first thing to do is put an Elizabethan cone on her to prevent further self-mutilation. You can clean the area with a good skin cleanser like Hibiclens, available at all pharmacies, but in all honesty, I would have your vet take a look at this. She may need a mild steroid ointment to control the inflammation as well as oral antibiotics. But the important thing is to keep her from continuing to lick the area until some healing has occurred. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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