Burt's Bees Hand Salve - is it safe if licked?

[QuickSilver]

Hi lovely people,

Newbie greyhound parent alert! Have opened our hearts and lost our sofa to an ex-racer and the learning curve has been an eye-opener! He kindly agreed to come home with us in April '21 after a broken right hock ended his racing career and made our lives all the richer for it.

Unfortunately, have recently noticed our boy limping sporadically (on any type of surface) and wondered if he's developing corns even though we can't actually see any evidence (even tried the toothpaste trick)

He's got rough pads, a couple have cracks, so thought I'd try rubbing in Burt's Bees Hand Salve to see if that might help. However, apart from disliking any thing touching his paws (always been this way since he's been with us) so applying it is tricky, he also licked his paws briefly afterwards.

Was just wondering if this will be detrimental to him? Should I have wrapped his paws up in something afterwards?

Are there any tricks to make it more enjoyable for him so he's not yanking his paws away and trying to curl them under his body??

Any info/advice would be gratefully received!

Thank you. ☺️

[greysmom]

Well, they're sore and painful, so it's natural he'd not want them to be handled.  It could be their poor condition rather than a corn that's making him limp, particularly since you can't see one.

Burt's Bees shouldn't harm him in the miniscule amounts he might lick off, but most "corn dog" people cover the feet afterwards with stretchy toddler socks so the dog can't get to the paws.  

Treats can usually cure everything - one person feeds a stream of small (one gulp and down) bites of a super YUMMY treat - like roasted chicken or liverwurst or whatever he thinks is a *very* high value treat - while the other puts the cream on.  Make it as fast and easy as possible in the beginning - get some on, cover the foot, move on.  Once he's not so shy about his feet being handled you can spend some time massaging it in thoroughly.  He may also benefit from epsom salt soaks once he will tolerate them (soak a wash cloth in epsom salts dissolved on warm water, wrap around his paw, cover with a plastic bag to prevent dripping).

The BBS should help with his paw condition too, though if you need to walk for exercise/toileting you may want to invest in some good quality boots, particularly if you're walking mainly on concrete or asphalt.  If you've been walking in a city that uses salt on the roads, make sure you wipe off his paws with baby wipes or a Paw Plunger when you come inside.

If the BBS doesn't help after a week or 10 days, you and your vet should consider other reason for his paw condition - a food intolerance, contact allergies, autoimmune disease, fungal infection.

There's also a group on Facebook called "Greyhounds with Corns" that's been very helpful for a lot of people.  Good luck!!

[Time4ANap]

We've used this with a couple of our dogs to soften the corns and every one of them licked it.  No problem. 

[HeyRunDog]

I use it on Graces corns and she licks it off with no detrimental effects.

Grace doesn't like her feet being touched either especially when laying down but will put up it when she's stood up. I also put a baby sock on her foot after applying Burt's Bees and then a boot. The sock also makes it easier to slip her foot into the boot.