Cut Pad - What To Do?

My parents have been looking after the dogs today and when I went to pick them up I noticed splodges of blood on the floor. Anyway, I remembered Jed had been licking his foot earlier so I examined his feet and he's cut a pad, the biggest one. I couldnt ask my parents about it as they were out but I assume they dont know or else they would have let me know.

Anyway, I prefer to try and sort things out at home if I can but how do I go about nursing it? It isnt a serious cut but it is bothering him as he's limping and flinches when I touch it. I cant see anything in it but it obviously needs to start to heal.

I've bought some baby socks to try and protect it when he goes out but should I be minimising his exercise or take him out as normal but with a sock/bandage on?

Should I even be taking him to the vets?!

Any advice would be appreciated.

Posta apiccie of it and we'll be able to offer more help. It depends on the wound

If he were mine, I`d bathe it with dilute antiseptic or salty water to clean it, then put a cotton sock on it with masking tape or similar round the sock at the top (not too tight), and keep the dog in till it healed. If it`s big or you suspect there is grit in there, get the dog to the vet.
Make sure the wound is clean, that it can `breathe`, and that the dog can`t lick at it. If the dog goes out for walks it will take far longer to heal and may get dirty/ infected.

i bathe quite a few times a day in boiled & left to cool abit warm salty water, i also use purple spray (that you use for the horses) on the cut to harden it up abit, after a few days i stop batheing but keep purple spraying till heeled, takes a few days

A cut pad is not much of a problem and they are rarely stitched even if the cut is severe, however if there is still something in there, like glass, that is a problem. So I would bath in saline frequently and if the dog is still paying it a lot of attention to the foot after the weekend a trip to the vet to check that there is nothing in the cut would be wise

Thanks guys for your advice.

TBH, it doesnt seem to be bothering him today and there hasnt been any blood on my floor so I think it's just a little cut that wont take long to sort out.

Great advice from everyone. Bathing it in boiled and cooled salt water is a good idea.

About a year or so ago, Roxy was limping on and off and I couldn't find anything wrong with her. I examined her all over but found nothing, I even gave her some Arnica incase she's had a sprain or something, but the limp didn't go away.

About 4 days later, I noticed a tiny speckle on her pad. Extremely tiny it was. I bathed it with boiled and cooled salt water a few times a day for a couple of days aswell as covering it with a clean baby mitt each time. Still the limping continued, although on and off this time and she had the occasional lick at it.

Since it hadn't disappeared I took her to the vet who examined all her pads and this tiny wee speckle (which I thought was already healing). He got his microscope headgear on and fiddled about this speckle for a few seconds with a tiny needle and fished out a tiny bit of glass! I felt quite sad at the thought that she had been hobbling about with this bit of glass stuck in her pad, but she was fine as soon as the glass came out.

I'm sure you know to be aware just incase it's something like this with Jed.