Our Max has a red swollen paw
 

We have a 2yr old and he has a red swollen paw. He licks it raw. He's been seen once (6-8-09) and was given Simplicef and prednisone, swab came back positive for bacteria. He stopped the behavior but don't know if the paw got better. Now it's back day 3. Read that food allergies can cause this so we are starting to rotate foods. He also has had benedryll for the itching. His upper lip area seems swollen too.
We are not sure what do next. It getting costly to keep going back to vet but we will if it doesn't go away.
Any suggestions???? Thanks

How is he now? He could have been stung or bitten. With the swollen lip it sounds like an allergic reaction to a sting or bite in this case he should see the vet. If you have already taken him to the vet try soaking the foot in chamomile tea. 2 tea bags in a small bowl of warm water. This will draw out infection and also relieves skin allergies (Non Toxic).

Max is still the same but I will try the tea-Thanks
He did see the vet and had meds that is why I didn't think a bite since it's in the same spot again but maybe it didn't heal all the way the first time.

My pom would get that and the topical stuff didn't help but the antibiotics did. But it would come back occassionally but not so quickly. The vet may need to change the medicine. What foods are you feeding? Try getting one with out grains like wheat ot and corn.

I agree a Hypoallergenic food would be in order here. And you may need a cone collar to keep him from licking so he doesn't get a ( lick Granuloma ). The chamomile tea can be used as a rinse for the whole body, don't worry about getting it in his eyes or mouth it sooths allergy eyes and they can drink it for a tummy ache too. Steep 3 or 4 tea bags put it in a clean milk jug fill the jug the rest of the way with water and pour it over his body after bathing and do not rinse it off just dry as usual. The chamomile deactivates allergens. If he has allergies never use oatmeal shampoos.

put him on natural balance venison and sweet potato asap for 12 weeks nothing else.

could have been a bee sting and then licking it caused reaction in mouth. Has this happened alot or a one time thing?

Join allerdog on yahoogroups.com if dealing with allergies

Bath in dr bronners mild unscented baby shampoo as it has all organic oils and great for allergy dogs. It has coconut oil and coconut oil is natural antifungal and antibacterial. Also you should be doing probiotics for this dog internally -- dds plus is non dairy and you can get from vitamin shop -- i do two capsules a day

i have been dealing with allergies for 5 years not fun

NO OATMEAL SHAMPOOS - it is a grain and most dogs are allergic to it.

another good shampoo is blue hypoallergenic it has aloe vera in it but it does not have coconut so i just switched back to dr bronners as my dd had a bacteria infection so thinking the blue did not have coconut which allowed bacteria to get in hair follicles so need to use a coconut based shampoo. I also use coconut as a topical for hot spots - works great

another thing you can do to stop the licking is to put a bunch of coconut oil on the paw and then get a baby mitten and use a scrunchy around the baby mitten. I do this when dd starts her obssessive licking after i have tried washing her paws.

so sorry allergies are the worst as no real cure just keeping dog comfortable :( but if this is an on going thing get to a dermatologist that specializes in allergies. We go to one and have been for 3 years now and they are the specialist in this area