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What causes a dog's chronic paw rash, licking, and limping?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Australian Cattle Dog | Male | unneutered | 70 lbs

Bravo has had a rash on his paw for months, despite being on antibiotics for it. It gets better then gets worse, but it hasn't gone away. He licks it and it gets worse. Now, for the first time, he is limping because of it.

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1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on August 3rd, 2019

This can be caused by various reasons such as fleas, mites ,fungal infection, bacterial infection and allergies. the first 4 needs to be ruled out before we start treating for allergies. in order to do that first de-flea Bravo with a high quality flea treatment such as advantage spot on, if it doesn't help - take him to the vet in order to check for/treat the other possibilities. If everything is ruled out, then an allergy treatment can be started. Usually an hypoallergenic food is a good way to start together with anti histamines. if it doesn't help - the best solution is a medication called Apoquel which treats allergies with great success and without side effects.

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