My dog is limping, licking her red paw, and growling. What's wrong?

Question

My dog is limping and licking her paw. She won’t let me get a good look at it without growling but what I can see looks red and irritated in between the pads of her paw. Not sure what happened. She came into the house last night from the back yard and licked at her paw all night and most likely all day while we were gone.

Julie Settlage, DVM, DACVS-LA, CVA · Accepted Answer

Poor Chubby!! With her symptoms coming on so suddenly, it is likely that she stepped on something that has injured her foot. It could be a very mild cut (those can still be quite painful!) or a more serious injury like a small stick still embedded in her foot - and a myriad of other injuries. When these injuries happen, dogs show exactly the signs you are seeing. Compare her injured foot to the other one - if it is swollen I highly recommend you see your veterinarian within the next day or so. If safely possible, try to distract her from her injured foot with a very tasty treat and see if you can look closer to see what is going on. Small shallow cuts, although painful, can heal on their own, you may see a thorn you can remove (but only if Chubby will let you!!). If Chubby just won’t let you look, as long as there is no swelling, watch her for another day to see if she is improving. If she is not getting better in 1-2 days, or if her paw starts to swell or smell bad, definitely seek help from your vet!! Meanwhile, don’t give her any human medication for pain as these drugs can hurt her. I hope Chubby starts to feel better soon. If you decide to take her to your vet, they may decide to sedate her to be able to thoroughly examine her foot and then decide the best course of action. While she is limping, you should try and keep her activity low by leash walking for potty breaks and keeping her in the house otherwise. Good luck!! Thank you for using Pet Coach!

My dog is limping, licking her red paw, and growling. What's wrong?

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