Bleeding Nail Beds After Playing in Snow. Why & How to Fix?

We have a pit bull/boxer/lab mix who just turned a year old in November, and this is our first winter with him. We went to the park the other day (being Michigan, it's got a nice layer of snow built up), and noticed that his feet were bleeding after about 10-15 minutes of playing. This is a dog who plays hard: constantly chasing, leaping for, and pouncing on balls.

We took him right home to check out his feet, and saw that there was bleeding happening at the base of every single nail (dew claws too). His pads were totally fine, it was just his nail beds that were bleeding.

His nails stay pretty short from all the running around outside he does, so we didn't think that was the issue. Our other dog was outside just as long, and wasn't any worse for the wear.

We got him a pair of dog boots to try to protect his feet today, and within three seconds and two corners out the door, three of them flew off.

So my questions are as follows:

-Has anyone had a similar issue with the nail beds bleeding in the winter? And was there a cause other than jumping through too much ice and snow?

-Any ideas on ways to protect our poor guy's feet that will stay on a super active, 300% energy dog who's favorite thing to do is run as fast & hard as possible outside in all seasons?


Photo is Bruce with some homemade fleece booties, which did a really good job twisting around on his feet before falling off, so tonight we tried a "real" pair; this real pair: http://www.petsmart.com/dog/shoes-so...pfm%3Dcategory, which also came off pretty easily.

Oh Courtney, I'm afraid I can't help but I wanted to say what a lovely dog Bruce is. I love his boots.
Hope someone comes up with an idea to help soon, remember this is predominantly a British site so the time difference may mean it takes a while for you to get answers.

I've had a few dogs over the years who bled in snowy conditions.

Seems it's not uncommon.

I wondered if they bled at other times and it was perhaps the snow showing it up but it was definitely just during snowy / icy conditions.

I know you said it was 'nail beds' but I also found grit / salt to be a problem with their pads.

I'm no expert on this subject, but I do know that ice is as hard as concrete. I had a large dog long ago who would rip her nailbeds apart running full on over concrete. Ice can also cut you which I think would make running on it even worse for a an extremely active dog. Before the days of available boots for dogs I used to use a few layers of heavy winter socks that I would buy second hand at flea markets and yard sales and hold them on with Coban. Coban is a very stretchy and kind of sticky ace bandage type stuff that comes in bright colors but it's not really reuseable. You have to be careful not to cut off his circulation with it, but it worked great.

Aw! What cute chops!

Unless it's rock hard ice perhaps. Dog runs uses nails to dig in to grip and change direction.

I think it's easy to imagine why it's the nail bed if you lift a paw and press a finger underneath the pad - nail comes forward and points down = nail digs in like an anchor and the nail bed is like a buffer and gets chafed against the ice/snow?

Are his nails brittle at all. I would try to coat them with something like bag balm or those types of thick ointments used to protect paws from cracking in the cold. Put a load on at the bases of his nails and see if that works. You can also put on vitamin e or c (can't remember which one it was I did on Hank, i'll try to find out again) oil on his nails and basses everyday to strengthen them a bit more.

Pretty sure it would have been vitamin E. You can also try plain, old cocoa butter, too.

I'll second Timber's suggestion of bag balm! It's good stuff, very protective. If you can't get it, even plain Vaseline is ok.

Does your dog have a lot of fur between his toes? If so, you may need to clip it out-- fun, I know. Ice and snow can catch in hairy feets and cause all kinds of trouble. Salt is another serious issue. One of mine, my eldest, can't walk on salt at all-- he'll keel over and put his feet in the air, it hurts him so badly. But I've never seen blood. I would protect him from snow and salt and consult a vet soon!

I sometimes take a friend's dog to the park where he can run full out and he is very energetic too... we have the exact same problem in the snow. The dog seems fine and doesn't complain, but there are blood marks left in the snow and people get nervous. It is just his nail beds not the pads and there is no salt in the fenced in park, just hard snow, not ice... I thought it was because his nails were TOO long? Boot help if they stay one... I tried musher's secret (a balm) but it didn't really help. I think the dog needs a nail trim, but it is unfortunately up the owner, not me... How are things with your boxer mix?

Trauma could be the cause but most likely just aggravating an underlying condition. We often see a problem in dogs that causes nail bed bleeding called lucoid onchodystrophy. You might Google this condition and see if it fits. Vitamin E and fish oil supplements will often help. If this is the problem, vaccines have been incriminated as a possible cause. Might want to ask your vet. If this is the case, the vet might want to use steroids to treat it as it is usually considered an immune-mediated problem. I would not recommend this as the side effects of the drug can often outweigh the problem. There are some nice Chinese herbal formulas that can help with this problem if it is the case. Good luck.