Frenchies with allergies? Try a foot soak.

As many of you know, frenchies are prone to allergy problems.  With springtime at hand there are numerous outside substances that can aggravate your dog.  If your dogs are licking or chewing on their feet, you may want to consider a foot soak.

Harley is my personal rescue frenchie who suffers from food allergies and outside allergies.  This is something we have been doing at our house to keep her foot chewing under control and it has seemed to work.  Not only has her foot chewing decreased, but her facial irritation from the foot chewing has also subsided, and she is no longer coughing.  She was in-taking all those nasty external substances that she's allergic to and coughing as a result.

I found the foot soak recipe at Healthy Pets by Mercola.com.  I was able to get the povidone iodine at my local HEB for only a few dollars.  It is also available at CVS and Walgreen's.  I used a small reusable plastic food container to soak Harley's paws.  This allows me to use a small amount of the iodine and easily store the mixture for a couple of days afterwards.

 The container is large enough for me to soak two paws at a time.  I mix the foot soak just as instructed in the video and fill the container with just enough water to cover her paws fully.  Then I add the povidone iodine until it resembles the color of tea. 

I soak her front paws for a few minutes (the video suggests between 2-5 minutes) and then switch to her rear paws and soak those for a few minutes.  I dry her paws in between the soaking.  She seems to tolerate it just fine, and it does not stain her paws.  I do not rinse her feet afterwards, I only pat them dry with a towel.

I had previously used Malacetic wipes on her paws to clean her feet.  Not only are these much more expensive, but they didn't do the job that this simple foot soak does.  A foot soak really cleans the allergens and toxins your dog picks up in the yard everyday.  Harley seems to be happier and isn't chewing on her feet as much.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/10/25/dog-foot-bath.aspx