Prevention of pododermatitis in French Bulldogs

All you need to know about pododermatitis in French bulldogs

Let’s admit! French bulldogs are naturally predisposed to suffer from certain health issues, but if we take a look at their appearance- they’re simply unique and adorable. Lately, dog owners started to become more informed about various dog skin diseases, but not many owners pay attention to their tiny body parts-paws.

Paw health issues mostly affect dogs from the Molossi group of dog breeds, and we are sure you’ve seen at least once in a lifetime an English or French bulldog with inflamed and swollen paws. Whether we talk about paw licking or the appearance of pimples and nodules between the dog’s toes, dog paw issues may become severe if they’re not treated on time.

If your dog started to excessively lick or chew at his paws, it’s definitely the time for taking him to the vet. Sick skin looks swollen, red and painful and may even lead to the hair loss. Depending on the level of the issue, a dog can also start to limp.

Dog’s paws do a lot of important work for their bodies, so you must be a responsible owner and to take care of your Frenchie’s feet. The most common health issues that affect dogs’ feet are called pododermatitis. If you’re not sure whether your dog is having any kind of pododermatitis issue, these are some of the most common symptoms: crust (scabs), nodules, dog excessively licks/bites his paws, ulcerations of the paws, pus from the lesions, red and swollen paws, paw’s hair loss, hyper pigmentation, thickening pads, blisters, absences on the paws.

By determining your Frenchie’s condition, you need to know that when the cause is a local factor (such as a foreign body), trauma (burn) or local irritation, the treatment will be relatively simple and effective. Since the paws are exposed to many harmful effects of the environment, it’s of great importance to find out what is the main cause for your fluffy family member’s suffering. Here are some of the causes of pododermatitis in dogs: allergies (grass, dietary or seasonal allergy), fungal (yeast, mycetoma, ringworm, blastomycosis), bacterial infections, parasitic (ticks, mange mites, mites, fleas, hookworms, nematodes), tumors or cysts, auto–immune diseases (lupus and pemphigus), malnutrition, obesity, idiopathic trauma (hot pavement, hard irritations), environmental, hormonal diseases.

Pododermatitis is easy to be determined because it can be diagnosed by a physical examination. Physical examination includes listening to dog’s lungs, checking his body temperature, and of course looking at his paws. Besides these tests, your vet will perform two more diagnostic tests. The first one is using skin scrapings for checking the presence of Demodex mites, and the second one is yeast and bacteria test. The healing process of pododermatitis depends on the level of injury/infection. If your dog has a bacterial infection, he will be treated with antibiotics for 1-3 months, but if there is a fungal infection, the treatment will last longer, for at least 7 months. In some severe cases, a dog may need a toe removal because it’s the only solution for a complete process of fungal infection.

What would be the best prevention?

The best prevention for keeping your Frenchie’s paws healthy is a regular cleaning. You always need to keep your dog’s nails trimmed and to daily check between his toes whether there’s some dust, mud or grass. Tweezers can be of great help in removing a foreign object from his toes, and a feet balm may be the best solution for keeping his pads soft and shiny. Our natural based “Silky Paws” balm can be found in our online store –https://frenchie.world/products/silky-paws-balm-by-frenchie-world and its ingredients are carefully formulated to soothe your best friend’s dry, cracked, chapped or rough paws. “Silky Paws” balm protects your Frenchie’s feet and makes his paw-skin stronger by cautiously chosen ingredients such as natural propolis, sweet almond oil, grape seed oil, tea tree essential oil, peppermint oil, and lemon citronella oil.

Beside the over-needed hygiene, you also need to protect your French bulldog’s paws from extreme weather, since a walk on too hot or too cold pavement (such as sand in summer or ice in winter) can cause serious injuries to his paws. Dogs’ paws are especially sensitive and can even get burns, blisters or red ulcers. Different kind of chemicals such as salt can also cause wounding and infection in your dog’s paws. For preventing him from dangerous chemicals, it is recommended to be used as a petroleum jelly.

After reading all previously mentioned causes for your dog’s pododermatitis, you’re probably wondering what else can be the source for this kind of issue. Well, pododermatitis may also affect other dog breeds (and not only bulldogs), especially when the contributing factors are genetic or caused by irresponsible breeding.

We also want to mention that French bulldogs are prone to suffer from interdigital furunculosis because of their short hair on the webbing between the toes. Dogs with spread out toes, those that suffer from allergy or have a problem with obesity, may develop interdigital cysts between their toes. If your French bulldog shows some of the following symptoms, seeing the vet is more than necessary: limping, changed color of the skin and hair between the toes, discharge from between the toes, biting or licking the toes. In some extreme cases, a dog may also need a surgery which can lead to the permanent change of your Frenchie’s paw.

In order to avoid all unnecessary health issues, your Frenchie requires a good paw-care. Many dog owners take their dog to the vet when it’s already too late, so you need to always keep in mind that prevention is the best solution for any kind of issue!