Cracked paws have many causes. She may have walked on a chemically treated area or just hit some rough ground. Dietary deficiencies can cause cracked paws sometimes. She does need to see a vet to diagnose a possible cause so you can do what you can to prevent more of this in the future.

In the meantime soak her paw in warm water to clean it. After is is well dried apply a little Panalog if you have some or Neosporin ointment if it appears inflamed. If it's just cracked and not swollen or infected plain old Vaseline will do.

Most important is to keep her from licking at it. If you wrap the foot she won't be able to walk on it. A wrap needs to go up over the "ankle" or it will not stay put. A baby sock or even a cut off toe end of one of your socks will be best. Just attach it with vet tape or self clinging sports wrap (same thing).

It's the pits that these things always seem to happen over a holiday.

Probably the best advice has already been given. But, maybe you can cushion the pad when you apply the wrap.

If she's still limping badly, call the vet's office first thing in the AM. My vet is open half day tomorrow.

If you do decide to cushion it be sure to change it often. Dogs "sweat" through their pads and it can get funky rather quickly. The point of the covering is not for comfort but to prevent further injury and licking and allow it to heal.

Poor thing. I hope she is better soon.

When Stoney caught his pad on a discarded fish-hook (#$@%$# careless fisherpeople at a public park!) it tore a good-sized cut. We rushed him to the vet, where he cleaned the pad but told us there really wasn't anything he could do as far as bandaging it. Stoney hobbled for a couple of days, and then gradually the pad healed and he was just fine. We did put a little E-collar on him for a short time, he wanted to lick it and wasn't supposed to. He HATED that collar and as soon as he realized that licking = collar, he quit doing it. He would get his nose and mouth RIGHT THERE by the cut and just breathe on it, but he didn't lick. LOL. He was a funny boy.

Help your your baby girl have a quiet and uneventful day ... and if possible, find out what caused the crack in her paw and fix the situation.

How does an e-collar work to keep a dog from licking? How does the collar "know?" I'm familiar with them for barking but did not know they can work for licking.

We had an old mattress in the laundry room for the pups to lay on. Molly finally dug a hole in it and exposed the coils. I got the mattress up so the boys could get it out in the truck for the dump. Well, someone got it down and Junior cut his pad on the coil. We have some salve from the vet and it healed. Takes a little bit of time and we had to miss a few of our longer walks. We put the collar on at night only. The rest of the time he was good.

The e- collar looks like a funnel- it keeps the animal from being able to reach body parts to chew on. We got ours when each of the dogs were fixed. We have a whole assortment of them, lol.

Trish

I would say cover it up when you take your lovey outside to potty but I bet it will heal faster if it allowed to have air. I'd put some antibotic ointment on it and make sure she doesn't lick it off.

We have to watch the dark asphalt here in the summer. Sometimes its too hot and the pads will actually blister on long walks.

The E-collar Stony is talking about it the elizabethan collar (They're the cones over the head collars._, not electric.

Vickey

Of course, the lampshade thingy! I thought "e" meant electronic.

She's not having a good day. :(

And not to gross anyone out, but is this a cracked paw pad? I must admit, I never spent too much time looking at her paws before this.

This little crack seems to be causing her a lot of pain. She will not put any weight on it at all, and she's a fairly tough little dog.

Could be a bit of glass in it also--thus the cut.

I just talked to my DIL, who has worked for a vet for years about it - she said you should definitely have a vet look at it. She said cuts in the pad are sometimes hard to get to heal (esp. those between the pads, which yours doesn't appear to be.) Yes, she says it should be bandaged but how it is bandaged is just as important - guess it has to do with the circulation. She says you do not want the dog licking it as their mouths are a home for germs. So try to get her in ASAP.

I wonder if soaking in in Epsom Salt water might help? That's only a guess. Hope it heals quickly!

A vet should look at it. Have you ever tried "Corona"? Nope, not the beer! It's used for treating cows udders. It can be quite messy, but my daughter who has 12(!) sled dogs recommends this. HTH!
peg_mn

I'm sorry your beautiful dog is hurting.
I would clean the paw very well, apply neosporin then apply desitin to the cracked area. The best cover I can think of is a clean thick sock wrapped with duct tape. She probably will get it off eventually but the duct tape will slow her down. Desitin is a cure all for scratches and cuts on our horses.
Messy but effective!

I hope she recovers quickly!

Lori

I'd be worried about infection. You don't have an emergency vet in your area?

Tally, that was my question too. Most of the cities and bigger towns have at least one emergency vet. If you live close to where I think you live there should be one not too far from you.

My DH says, clean it, then super glue it shut....then wrap in duct tape so she "can't" lick it. I thought that was sound advice....

I wouldn't superglue anything until I knew the wound was clean. The last thing you want to do if it's infected or punctured is to seal the infection in.