Orange paws and itching after the park.

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Bees
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:41 am

Orange paws and itching after the park.

Post by Bees »

Hi, I'm a bit stumped and could so with some help identifying the cause of this.

Fox has a lot of allergies. He's had blood tests at the vets and we have it mostly under control through diet and both topical and oral medication. However he's recently been biting all his paws raw, all the way up to the knees. We frequently visit a dog park and last time I was there it was just after it rained. He ran through the grass and when he came back to me his paws, all the way up to his knees, were bright orange. As the weather dried up a bit the orange became less pronounced. I washed his legs when we got home and I saw the orange wash off into the bath water.

Some other things to note. Other dogs with while legs had also got orange staining. Some of the other owners I spoke to said they had orange stains on their shoes/feet recently. And other dogs have been really itchy, but only the ones who are already known to be sensitive. Some have scratched near their tail so the fur has fallen out. Some dogs are completely fine.

I spoke to the groundskeeper for that park and he said they cut the grass but do not put any chemicals down.

I can only assume it's some pollen, maybe from a grass or maybe from a tree. Or at this time of year would it be more likely to be a fruit?

Fox does have a known allergy to rye grass. So maybe the orange is not causing the itchiness at all and it's a coincidence. Obviously we're staying away for now, to see if that helps with the itching, but it means he can't see his doggy friends. :(

However, if anyone has any ideas what could be causing the orange that would be awesome, thanks!
JudyN
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Location: Dorset, UK
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Re: Orange paws and itching after the park.

Post by JudyN »

Whereabouts are you located? This will help determine what type of pollen may be around.

A quick Google threw up this thread which mentions grass rust, a fungal disease: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/s ... ing-orange If you do an image search on 'grass rust' you'll see it is visible on the blades of grass, so you might be able to check the area you were walking.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Bees
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:41 am

Re: Orange paws and itching after the park.

Post by Bees »

Wow, thank you, that's was a good find. The colour on Fox's paws was almost identical to that horse's. When I did a Google search I only found things about dog's saliva turning their fur orange.

I'm in Norfolk, England, but I think you've found exactly what's causing the orange colour. Will do some more searching to see if it can cause skin issues.
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