The footpads are the toughest, thickest skin on a dog, built over a fibroadipose cushion rich in nerves and glands. When they thicken, crack, crust or ulcerate, dogs go lame, and the pattern of what else is affected (nothing, the face and mucocutaneous junctions, or the whole dog) narrows a long list to a few diagnoses. Several of those diagnoses, including distemper, pemphigus foliaceus and superficial necrolytic dermatitis, are serious systemic or immune diseases that show up first on the feet.
Key facts
Disease of pads at a glance- Species and system: dogs; integument (digital, metacarpal and metatarsal pads), often with nasal planum or mucocutaneous junction involvement.
- Main groups: inherited keratinization defects, infection (canine distemper virus, secondary pyoderma and Malassezia), nutritional and metabolic disease (zinc-responsive dermatosis, superficial necrolytic dermatitis), immune-mediated disease (pemphigus foliaceus, vasculopathy) and physical injury.
- Classic presentations: horny, fissured pads on all four feet of an otherwise healthy puppy of a predisposed breed; hard pads in an unvaccinated dog with discharge and neurologic signs; crusted pads plus crusts on the nose and ears; crusted, ulcerated pads in a dog with liver disease.
- Zoonotic: none of these conditions is zoonotic, but canine distemper is highly contagious among dogs and many wild carnivores.
What's inside
12 sections in the full guide- Key facts
- How the NAVLE tests this
- Cause and pathophysiology
- Clinical signs
- Diagnosis
- Differential diagnoses
- Treatment and management
- Prevention, control and public health
- Prognosis
- Quick review
- Test yourself
- References
The full guide also has 5 tables, 3 figures, 3 self-test questions and 24 references, available to NAVLE members.
Read the full study guide
The full guide is part of every NAVLE plan, with diagnosis and treatment tables, figures, a quick review and self-test questions. Start a free trial to try the question bank, or log in if you are already a member.