Can a dog get "athlete's foot"? My springer spaniel has what appears to be a fungi between the pads on her feet. She licks & chews at it constantly. It looks whitish & at the same time raw & her pads seem to be further apart than normal & I know it hurts her. I've found some improvement with an antifungal cream but she keeps licking it off. HELP!!!!!!!!!
They can get fungal infections which would present this way. It would be best to have your vet take a look at her. She may need antibiotics and possibly an anti-inflammatory to help with the irritation. Until you can get her seen you can try doing warm epsom salt water soaks for 5 to 10 minutes twice a day. This may help with the pain and irritation. You can also give her some benadryl to help with the inflammation. It is given at a milligram per pound so if she is 50 pounds then she would get 50 milligrams. The strength should be printed on the bottle. Make sure that it is just plain benadryl with no other medications added.
Reply to Animal Eyes's Post: You didn't tell me how to cure it. Just what to do for a day or two and go to the vets. You didn't comment on what I was doing for treatment, which I feel is as good if not better than your suggestion. My vet will tell me over the phone how to treat her and It won't cost $9 unless I have to go into the office, So I don't know exactly what you did to help, but if receiving a payment is the ultimate goal. Let me know as $9 is really not the issue for me... Jean
I'm sorry for any misunderstanding. The problem is that your dog can get a fungal or bacterial infection and it can reoccur if the underlying problem isn't resolved. You can do over the counter treatments but until you know what you are trying to treat it can return and waste your money. Both of these type of infections can have several causes with allergies being one of the most common. If it is allergy related it could be food or grasses or molds or anything that we are allergic to. If the allergy isn't treated then the infections will continue to return regardless of what you try to do at home, in some cases even allergy shots don't work. By talking to your vet you will be able to narrow down what is causing the infections and hopefully get her some relief. It may be that a food change is all that it takes or it could take continual treatments when outbreaks occur. Here is a website that can give you more information on canine allergies. I hope it helps. http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/medical/canine-allergies.html