Please Check And Rinse Paws After Walks On Cold Roads

[eingana]

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I've recently seen images of quite how badly dogs' paws can be injured by road salt and grit.

What most people aren't aware of is that road salt is often not sodium chloride, and if it is then it's often mixed with other things as well as grit, and all of this can cause all sorts of injuries and allergies for poor little paws that have to come into contact with it.

If you think about it, if you have a tiny nick in the surface of your paw and then you stand on a piece of solid salt, that's not going to help much and will be really painful, and that's going to be worse for dogs that are light enough that their pads are quite soft naturally and dogs that have injuries already on their paws. The salt also dessicates the skin on the pads, leading to chapping and cracking in the surface of the pad.

Please rinse and dry your dog's paws after walking out anywhere that road salt or grit could be spread

 

[banana]

Good tip - thanks

 

[Dizzyjenni]

That really wouldn't have occurred to me - thanks!!!

 

[lurcherman]

hey yeah good tip but ive been doing it for over 25 yrs, i use vetasept with water, think thats what its called a cheaper version of hibiscrub

 

[eingana]

Glad to hear you already do it lurcherman

This was just intended as a prompt for anybody who road walks. Apparently the RSPCA know of at least 250 dogs last year killed by either road salt, screenwash or antifreeze picked up on the paws during a walk and then ingested as they wash their paws when they come in.

 

[Purdy Bear]

I was also told that road salt can have antifreeze in it and so can cause dogs major problems. I even found a hole acorn in between my dogs paw pad one day, its amazing how much rubbish they pick up on their paws.

I just use a simple ice cream box filled with warm water and a normal bar of soap and dried with an old towel.