Every year around now the same appointment appears. A dog who was fine in October is suddenly lifting a foot halfway around the block, licking at their paws all evening, or flatly refusing to walk on a stretch of path they have used for years. The cold gets the blame. The sidewalk is usually the culprit.
What is actually on the ground
From the first freeze onward, Calgary paths carry a mixture of things. The city sands the walkways it looks after, and that mix is mostly fine gravel with only a trace of salt. The concentrated material is on the private stretches, because the bylaw puts the sidewalk bordering a house on the owner, so what your dog walks through is whatever each neighbour chose to spread.
The chloride-based products work by lowering the temperature at which water freezes, so ice turns to brine instead of staying solid. That brine is the problem: it pulls moisture out of the soft tissue of a paw pad and irritates it directly. The result is a chemical irritation, not a frostbite injury, and it builds over repeated walks rather than appearing all at once.
Chinook country makes this worse rather than better. Every thaw and refreeze means another round of product going down, so a Calgary dog walks through more of it in a mild winter than in a steadily frozen one. The slush puddles that form in a chinook are the most concentrated thing on the route, and they are exactly where dogs like to walk.
There are two separate problems on top of the chemical one. Snow and ice compact into hard balls in the hair between the pads, which is painful to walk on and pulls at the skin. And grit and sharp refrozen crusts cause straightforward cuts, which a dog will keep walking on because the foot is cold and numb.
What to look for
- Lifting one foot, or a hop-skip step partway through a walk rather than from the start.
- Stopping and sitting down on a salted stretch, or refusing a particular route.
- Licking or chewing the paws for a long time once home. This is the sign most owners notice and most owners misread as a habit.
- Redness between the toes, which is where it shows first, before the pads themselves look wrong.
- Dry, cracked or flaking pads, sometimes with a split that opens up when they flex.
- Ice balls you can feel as hard lumps in the hair between the pads.
- Blood spots on the snow or on the floor inside.
There is a second reason the licking matters. A dog who grooms salt off their feet swallows some of it. Often that causes nothing at all, and when it does it is usually drooling, a bout of vomiting or loose stool. A dog who gets into a stored bag or a loose heap has swallowed a far larger amount, and that brings a rising sodium level on top of the vomiting, which can lead to tremors or seizures. If your dog has eaten ice melt rather than licked it off a paw, call us.
The routine that solves most of it
This takes two minutes and it is more effective than anything you can buy.
- Rinse or wipe the feet after every winter walk. A bowl of lukewarm water by the door and an old towel. Get between the toes, not just the pads. This one habit handles the majority of cases.
- Keep the hair between the pads trimmed level with the pad, not scooped out below it. Ice cannot ball up in hair that is not there.
- Keep the nails short. Long nails change how the foot lands and make an already sore foot worse.
- Try boots, but do not spend much before you know. Some dogs accept them readily and some will not tolerate them at all, and the ones that fit badly cause their own rubs.
- A paw balm before the walk gives a barrier and helps with cracking. Ask us which, and put it on before rather than after.
- Walk around the slush, not through it, and choose a snow-covered park path or pathway over a heavily salted sidewalk when you have the choice. Keep off plowed roadways, because those get the rock salt and the brine — the road is the saltiest surface on your route, not the safest.
- Store the bag sealed and up high, and sweep up any that scatters on your own walk.
If the pads are already cracked or there is a split between the toes, that is worth a look rather than a balm, because these get infected and a lame dog in December is a long month. Our medical services cover the skin and paw side of this, and our urgent care handles a dog who has swallowed a quantity of ice melt or come home with a bleeding foot. A routine visit is also where we keep the nails short, which is half the job done, and where you can ask us to check the hair between the pads while your dog is on the table.
Worth a mention while we are on winter: in a real Calgary cold snap, the thin-haired edges are what suffer. Ear tips, tail tips and paws are where frostbite shows, and it does not look dramatic at first — pale, firm, cold tissue that only turns red and swollen later as it thaws. If you suspect it, do not rub the area and do not use direct heat on it. Warm the animal gradually and call us.
Our hours
We are open Monday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, Tuesday to Friday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Our hours can change and we keep them current on Google, so please check or call before a holiday visit.
A sore paw will keep until we are open. A dog who has swallowed a quantity of ice melt, who is vomiting repeatedly, who is weak or unsteady, or who has a wound that will not stop bleeding should not wait. If that happens outside our hours, contact VCA Canada Calgary Animal Referral and Emergency Centre, which is the after-hours hospital we refer to, rather than waiting for the morning. For anything swallowed, you can also reach ASPCA Animal Poison Control at 1-888-426-4435 while you travel.
Common questions
Are the pet-safer ice melts actually safe?
They are generally gentler on pads and less of a problem if a little is licked, which is worth having. None of them is harmless, and the mechanical irritation of walking through any of it still happens, so the rinsing routine still applies.
My dog licks their paws all winter. Is that always salt?
Not always. Winter paw licking is also a classic sign of allergic skin, which flares when the house is shut up and the heating is on. If rinsing after walks does not settle it within a week or two, it is worth investigating properly.
How cold is too cold for a walk?
It depends enormously on the dog. A thick-coated northern breed and a short-coated small dog are not in the same situation at the same temperature. Watch the individual animal: shivering, lifting feet, turning for home, or wanting to be carried all mean turn around.
Should I put something on the pads to toughen them?
Toughening is not really the goal. A pad needs to be supple and protected rather than dried out, because a dry pad cracks and a split between the toes gets sore and stays sore. You are not trying to soften a pad to nothing either. A barrier before the walk and a rinse after it is the balance we want. Ask us before you put anything on a pad that is already split.
Do cats need any of this?
Yes. Outdoor cats walk through the same products and then groom their feet and coat. The difference that matters is size: a cat is small enough that it takes far less swallowed material to cause real trouble, not just an upset stomach. Check the pads and between the toes, and call us if they have been grooming hard after being out.
Speak to the team at NorthWest Animal Hospital
If your dog has started limping on winter walks or will not leave their paws alone in the evening, book a visit. Bring them in before the pads crack rather than after, because the second version takes much longer to settle.
Published by the team at NorthWest Animal Hospital.
This article is educational in nature and is not a replacement for hands-on assessment of your own pet by a veterinarian.
NorthWest Animal Hospital
110, 141 Carrington Plaza NW, Calgary, AB T3P 1Y3
Phone: (403) 930-3500
Hours: Monday 9:00 am to 6:00 pm; Tuesday to Friday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday 9:00 am to 6:00 pm