A cut or graze on a paw or pad

What this tends to look like

• A lot of blood for the size of the wound, because pads are unusually well supplied
• Limping, or holding the foot up, out of proportion to how the cut looks
• Blood spots trailing through the house
• Sometimes a flap of pad lifted, or grit visible in the cut
• Often between the toes rather than on the weight-bearing surface, which is easy to miss
• Frequently from glass, a sharp stone, hot pavement, or ice and grit in winter

What is usually going on

Pad wounds are the exception to almost everything else on this page. Pad tissue is dense, tough, poorly elastic and very well supplied with blood, which means a small cut bleeds a great deal, will not hold a stitch well, and takes considerably longer to close than the same cut on the body. Two to three weeks for a pad is normal where a week would do elsewhere.

The real difficulty is that the wound is on the part of the animal that touches the ground. Every trip outside contaminates it and every step reopens it. That is why pad injuries need a protective covering when the animal goes out, and why they need it kept dry and uncovered indoors, because a permanently bandaged foot goes soft and macerated and heals worse. Getting that pattern right, protected outside and open inside, matters more here than any product.

A deep pad cut, a lifted flap of pad, anything with grit you cannot rinse away, or bleeding that will not stop should be seen. So should any pad wound that has a foreign body in it, because grass seeds and glass fragments migrate and are a common cause of a foot that will not settle for months.

What people commonly use

Educational information only — not veterinary advice. Check with your vet before starting anything new.

Where to find them

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What you can do at home

• Firm pressure for a full five minutes without lifting to look. Pads bleed more than you expect and stop with patience
• Rinse thoroughly with clean water. Grit left in a pad is the commonest reason these do not heal
• Protective bootie or a taped sock for going outside, removed and the foot dried the moment they come in
• Uncovered and dry indoors. A foot bandaged around the clock heals worse, not better
• Short lead walks on clean hard ground only. No grass, sand, mud, or off-lead running for two weeks
• Check between the toes as well as the pad. Wounds hide up there and are routinely missed

What progress should look like

How long to give this before you conclude it is not working.

• First 24 hoursBleeding controlled, wound properly rinsed, and a protection routine in place.
• Three to five daysLimping should be clearly improving. A pad that is more painful on day three needs looking at.
• Two to three weeksRealistic closure time for a pad. It is genuinely slower than skin elsewhere.
• If it is not healingA pad wound still open at three weeks usually means a retained foreign body. That needs an examination.

When to stop and call your vet

• Bleeding that restarts heavily, or will not stop with five minutes of pressure
• A lifted flap of pad, or a wound you can see grit or glass inside
• Swelling that spreads up above the foot, or discharge and smell
• Refusing to put the foot down at all after the first day or two