OCD? Licking?

sunprintz · 04-29-2006, 06:59 PM

Lately my 7 year old Lhasa Apso has started licking his paws, almost constantly, when I'm not home. He's with my husband and my daughter most of the day, and usually remained calm, relaxed and stress free (he, we thought had a relatively stressfree life) but the past 3 weeks, he has begun licking his paw. Mainly the left or right front....sometimes the back. The vet, said, airborne allergies, nothing works.......once I'm home he's fine, goes to sleep and life is good once again.....OY.........HELP!!!:confused:

Curbside Prophet · 04-29-2006, 11:38 PM

If it is allergies, the vet is right, there's not much you can do, but ask your groomer if she has any tips. But it could also be due to boredom. If this is the case, I would walk your dog more frequently, at least twice a day for 30-45 minutes. Finally, it could be caused by food sensitivities. You might want to try a sixty to ninety day trial of an “antigen free” diet such as Nestlé/Purina’s HA diet or Hills s/D. These diets have been processed to reduce the size of large antigenic protein molecules that bother some pets. Pets with food sensitivities will have this itching problem year round and not seasonally. Good luck.

Trish · 04-30-2006, 01:13 AM

I actually had a similar problem to this as well. Except she was licking the floor over and over again. Sometimes she would actually be laying down and start licking the floor without even lifting her head. She doesn't do that anymore but I noticed that she likes to lick the sides of her kennel now.

Whirling Dervish · 04-30-2006, 12:18 PM

For food, also check out **** Van Patten's line. I had a lot of luck with the duck and potato formula. There is also some good venison out there, but it's expensive. Worth it, IMO. We also discovered my dog was allergic to most fertilizers--he licked a lot--so you might check if there is fertilizer and weed killer put down in parks if you walk there.

There are a few good meds out there, though. If I had not lost my little one to something else, I would have taken him to a local vet dermatologist. Do you have specialists in your area?