sore pads

Hi James,

The foot pads on dogs are a specialised skin structure where the cells of the skin grow outwards almost like closely packed thick hairs. This allows for a certain amount of wear to occur, and in most instances the growth of the pad surface is able to keep up with the amount of wear.

From your description there is little doubt that the pads have worn too thin and therefore there is very little protection to the underside of the toes, and would certainly cause the pup pain whenever he walks on rough surfaces. There is some anecdotal evidence that the lighter coloured pads are softer than the more common darker variety, and do tend to wear quicker.

Unfortunately there is no magic cure that can solve this problem quickly, and the only real solution is to allow the pad surfaces to regrow thick again. That means no running for at least a couple of weeks, and certainly no long walks on abrasive surfaces such as concrete not only during this time but also from here on in to avoid wearing the pads quicker than they can regrow.

While the Sudocrem cream you are using is great on most skin abrasions, it may be keeping the pads too soft and could therefore increase the speed at which the pad surface wears. So for the time being it may be best to simply wipe the pad surfaces twice daily with something like rubbing alcohol or alcohol wipes to dry the pads out a little and aid in toughening the surface.

Cheers,
Tom