Cracked or Burnt Dog’s Paws from Hot Pavement – How to Prevent & Treat

Paws up if you are a pet parent concerned about the general health and fitness of your dog! Because today, we are going to talk about how to prevent burnt paws on a hot day and the treatment if your dog has burnt paws!

And now the key points are: 

1. Walking on hot pavement/sand can burn our dog’s paws. 60 seconds is all it needs for skin to burn. 
2. Daytime temperatures in Singapore may not be conducive for long walks.
3. Musher’s Secret Paw Wax can help dogs withstand hot surfaces better for short walks and loo breaks.
4. A good pair of Dog boots is not just a fashion accessory. It can protect your dog from burns if you need to be outside on hot surfaces for a few hours.  
5. Burnt paws can lead to painful infections. Always check with your vet for the proper care necessary for your dog to heal his particular injury.  

How Hot is the Asphalt Pavement our dog is walking on?

Have you ever seen these hot asphalt awareness pictures?

Asphalt – a mixture of dark bituminous pitch with sand or gravel, used for surfacing roads, flooring, roofing, etc. – source

They’re almost always in Fahrenheit, but I was interested in what it means in the local context of Singapore.

If you live here or if you’ve been here before, you will know that our weather is stinking hot and humid. And this chart shows that for today – 16 July 2015 – we are expecting temperatures to start climbing from 28°C at 7a.m. to 33°C from 1p.m. onwards. Air temperatures of ten out of our twelve hours of daylight are expected to be warm at 30°C and higher.

And what that means for us is – Tadah!

Cited abstract here. | Donna says get me out of this hot outside and let’s go home! 

Our asphalt pavement temperature may be higher than 52°C, and generally may be more than hot enough in the day to burn the skin or fry an egg! No joke. WWF made a video of breakfast being cooked on asphalt pavement here if your interested. :P

So it seems to me like there is perhaps no good time to walk the dog unless it’s between 6am – 8am or after sunset.

In fact, even without this exercise of looking at temperatures, if you’ve walked your dog long enough at different times of the day, you may have discovered the exact same thing from experience, albeit with less specificity.

I certainly did!

 

It’s too hot and burns my paws to walk, human!

When I first adopted Donna, it was important to me that I walk her more than an hour a day to exhaust her for various reasons. Weight loss was one of them.

We used to visit the shelter after lunch. We took her out to walk down the road and back, so it didn’t seem like a bad thing to walk her despite the heat of the day. I guess subconsciously, we just assumed that a dog’s paw pads are tough because we see the other shelter dogs walking at that time too.

Not true.

If the surface feels uncomfortably hot to your bare feet, then it is too hot for your dogs paws. – Dr Joanna Paul, Creature Clinic

Both dogs’ and cats’ pads are very sensitive to hot temperatures, but it’s our dogs we really need to look out for….Dogs, on the other hand, are willing to do almost anything we ask them to — even walk over hot coals. In fact, every time we put our dogs on a leash and go for a walk on South Floridian mid-summer (somewhat similar to Singapore) hot pavement, that’s effectively what we’re asking them to do. – Dr Patty Khuly, PetMD.com

But I didn’t know than, did I? Once adopted, I took Donna out early in the mornings, but the long walks could mean we were sometimes trudging back home at a time that is already too hot!

But Donna had a mind of her own so it didn’t take long for her to make that mind known. Like in that picture above where her tail is tucked in and she desperately wanted to go back the way we came (which incidentally is heading away from home. – – ). So all I could do was encourage her along, take breaks along the way and continue to coax her to walk some more.

We were almost home. There was an underpass we needed to go through on the way home. And apparently Donna felt it was nice, sheltered and cool enough to just flop herself suddenly on her side and play dead. – –

I was still a newly-minted dog idiot owner back then and desperate to get home. So I thought what if I just continue walking, surely the pull on her lead will get her back on her feet again.

Guess what?

That action resulted in me dragging the dog a couple of steps, with her sliding along on her side on the floor. OMG!

She absolutely REFUSED to move anymore.

I can her drag along, and she would just lie there to be dragged! Of course, I was horrified, and not only because random passers-by started laughing at us.

Thankfully, we finally got home. And Donna was still fine. She didn’t get heat-stroke or anything, which was lucky because I didn’t know anything about heatstroke back then. But her paws probably hurt her a bit.

Nowadays, I limit her long walks to night time. I have said that I hate night time walks because it’s dark and sometimes I can’t see her poo to pick it up properly. But the plus point is it really is cooler not just for the dog, but for the human too! (You can check out some of the ways we make our night walks fun here.)

AND, I can really see the difference in Donna. In the daytime, she would be active on a walk for perhaps 15min to half hour, then you will see her tail flagging and she would seek out the nearest shade… and refuse to move…

This video was taken during a poo break at noon because we had a Pet Cruise scheduled at 2.30pm.

But in the coolness of the night, this dog starts out at a fast trot like she really enjoys it. And I can’t help but run along with her. :) And if I let her, she can probably go for more than an hour, maybe two and still not be tired and want to go home.

I have to say we still do short loo breaks at various times in the daytime because she doesn’t do it at home, so having the knowledge and products to protect her paws is still necessary.

 

Ways to Protect Your Dog’s Paws from Being Burnt

So in the last 2.5 years of having Donna in the family, I did what everyone else did. Take her out for daily walks, go home, wipe her down. There were ample opportunities to care for her paws in the process.

A) Before the walk

Once a week before we head out for our walk, I apply a thin layer of Musher’s Secret paw wax on Donna’s paws.

What’s Musher’s Secret?

Musher’s Secret is “a dense, barrier wax that forms a breathable bond with your dog’s paws”. There are several reasons why I preferred it over some of the other brands in the market.

1. Developed for use with sledding dogs
It was specifically “developed in Canada for use with sledding dogs (and so), it provides tenacious protection even in the most extreme conditions“. So I know Donna will be getting the best protection out of this product.

2. Good word of mouth for hot weather performance
Even though it’s developed for extreme snow conditions, it has pretty good word of mouth with regards it’s performance in hot weather from active dog owners like running with Sam and the OC backyard. They use it in the summer time too.

In fact, I first heard about Musher’s Secret from running with Sam, who of course writes about running with her German Shorthair Pointer, Sam. :P (I read her to motivate me to run with Donna. HAHAHAHA! :P)

Musher’s Secret has also been featured on The Hydrant and these other news media.

3. Musher’s Secret is food grade and non-toxic
Being the anxious dog owner, I of course wanted to know if this product is food-grade because I know Donna will spend time licking her paws. :P

According to the manufacturer, Musher’s Secret paw wax is made from “a blend of several food-grade waxes, then refined according to our our own special formulations.  Musher’s Secret is the safe, non-toxic way to protect your dog’s paws.”  The waxes are 100% natural according to the Musher’s Secret website here.

Buy on Amazon here – 60g tub or 200g tub

 

B) During the walk on a hot day

1) Walk on grass. Minimise contact with asphalt, concrete, stones, sand and hot surfaces.
As much as possible, we keep to grassy areas for Donna. It’s pretty lucky for us that Singapore pavements and sidewalks are typically lined with a grassy border with shady trees, before it hits the road, so that’s not too difficult on short walks.

And if you’re worried about grass allergies, it’s interesting to note this reply that I got from a Musher’s Secret representative via email.

The (Musher’s Secret) product …forms a semi-permeable layer to allow the pads to breath while preventing the absorption of  lawn chemicals and pesticides as well as grass allergies.

Donna doesn’t have grass allergies, but they spray and fog our neighbourhood precincts during dengue season so this function of Musher’s Secret seems pretty cool.

 

2) Carry the dog or Use a stroller, dog carrier or a basket when crossing hot surfaces.

This option is great for small dogs, for example if you live in a more concrete jungle type of urban area, or if you need to across the road or carpark, etc to get to a nearby park with grass.

But it’s typically more difficult for bigger dogs like Donna, unless you get a tricycle like this:

Tricycle rented at Jomando Adventure and Recreations, Punggol Settlement.

 

3) Wear dog boots
But no worries, because all dogs also have the option of dog boots.

Even if it’s before noon or closer to late afternoon/evening, the roads and pavements can still be baked and the weather in general just too hot to be comfortable for dogs to walk for long.

And while I only take Donna out for short loo breaks when it’s hot, sometimes we still go out to longer events in the daytime. Recently, we brought Donna to the DBS Marina Regatta and to a couple of doggie birthday parties where she spent much of the time on hot concrete or sand.

I have learnt that in cases like this where the dog will be out for prolonged periods and in contact with hot surfaces, dog boots may also be more useful than a mere decorative accessory.  But I also read that dogs only sweat through their paws and so I asked Dr Jo of Creature Clinic, if dog boots could be more of a hindrance than not to a hot dog.

I wouldn’t be concerned about boots in terms of sweating and heat loss. Panting is much more important, and if the environmental conditions are too hot for panting to be adequate, you’re dog shouldn’t be out there exercising, they should be somewhere shady with plenty of fresh water to drink. – Dr Joanna Paul, Creature Clinic

It’s really hot out here, says Cookie. Dogs with long fur like Cookie may start feeling the heat soon than short hair dogs like Donna. That long tongue is a sign that he needs to hydrate and cool down in the shade. :)