Zeus' paws are falling apart from licking!!

Zeus' paws are looking pretty bad atm, he keeps licking them and the black pads are coming away leaving it red and sore. The last time it happened we weren't sure if he was doing it from licking or if he'd hurt his foot. We were putting socks on it, bathing it etc but it was looking infected so we took him vets which cost us £105!! He had antibiotics but not long after he's doing it to himself again, both back paws are looking sore atm. Anyone on here experienced this or have any help for us? Can't afford to be spending 105 at the vet every week atm lol and we want to put a stop to it altogether.

Licking paws excessively can be a sign of an allergy. Does your dog lick excessively any where else that you have noticed?

What food do you feed your dog?

I would also be looking at diet. We have just had Winter allergy tested as he is constantly itchy on his back.
I was feeding him potato with his raw mince and his is allergic to it!!!! We now have a better idea of where we are going now. Just as a note, Winter is also showing as being allergic to most grasses, rice, but not wheat... so it might be worth having the test done. We are claiming on his insurance for it.
Let me know if I can be any more help.

Where are you walking him, could it be something he is walking over, or something you are washing the floor with?

My friends collie has recently been to the vet as he was chewing the skin off his pads. Her vet diagnosed dermatitis following allergy to harvest mites and gave her steroids for him. It's healing up nicely now.

Try takIng him off dog food & home feed for a few weeks to see if it settles. Although grass isn't actively growing at present, it is wet & damp with moulds / spores coming down off the trees which can cause allergies. After youve been out exercising, wash/bath his four feet in a saline solution &. Let dry naturally. Approx 3 teaspoons salt to basin lukewarm water

We have thought it could be an allergy, he does get the odd dry spots/lumps on his skin and he seems to be itching more recently. He is a bit of a licker but haven't noticed him lick himself anywhere else excessively. He is fed on Arden Grange Lamb and Rice.

Thanks, perhaps we will have to do that. Is it expensive?

Atm we are just walking in the fields, either school fields or Nature Reserve fields.

Lol I don't think its something i'm washing the floor with

Thanks for the comments so far

What other food does he get...treats/tid bits?

I would ask the vet for steroids tbh just to calm it then think about testing, otherwise he's going to get infected paws. Poor lad, hope you find a solution soon.

My vet will prescribe steroids without a consult for my girl when her skin flares up.

You can have allergy testing (blood test) done for around £120 (this is for environmental and contact allergies testing only, it’s around the £300 mark for testing for all three i.e. food, environmental, contact allergies). There is also skin scrapings for allergy testing that can be done, but I’m not sure how much it is. Apparently skin scrapings are more reliable than blood testing. I had my dog allergy tested in June via a blood test and it revealed what he was allergic to. Please note however, sometimes, unfortunately, neither test will reveal any allergies (even if the vet knows the dog has an allergy) but it is worth trying if you can identify what the allergy is (that’s if it is an allergy). Speak to your vet and see what they think.

HTH