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i have a couple hounds that are 2 and a half years old, never had a foot problem in there first two seasons, this year they have been blowing out pads,in the past only minor problems, ive been running them hard but only 1 or two times a week.last weekend one blew out a back pad never had this happen before. only thing different was i changed there feed,still 26/18 but a better quality feed. i have heard to much protein in cattle and horses can lead to foot problems but i havent changed those levels, what do you guys think , not running any harder than the past and there even has been a good dew,
THANKS TOM

Sounds like your running them to little. They may also be pushing harder and longer at the age they are at. You can try feeding them every other day to help their system catch up. It depends on your schedule but the every other day feeding program seems to work very well. I don't know that your feed is the issue but if I had to take a guess based on the information you gave I would say that a higher quality of feed would have more usable protein. When you get a feed with chicken by-product the maker gets to count the protein coming from beaks and feet and such in the mix even though most of that is not digestible. When you get a food that is meat based, they can use most of the protein and even though it's listed as the same protein/fat ratio on the bag, it has effectively changed by quite a bit.

tmalone,could be a fungus problem .I've had problems with it every so often.It is treatable.They make meds.for it.You may have to have it diagnosed by a vet.

I would get yourself some pad heal and road them to tuffin there feet a bit

Don/t know your kennel situation, but if it is hot weather & they are kenneled on concrete runs the summer heat can cause a problem with the feet. I have used TUF-FOOT twice a day for a couple weeks or so, then cut down and use as needed. For me it has worked well using twice a day a couple weeks after a lay off before running them. Also there is a product used by sled dog mushers that is a wax base product, called mushers secret, ( I believe, ) that a musher told me worked very well. Also if you have them kenneled on grass that is not good. Never heard high protein causing pad to peel. But, hot spots yes. Al

thanks for your replies , this will give some place to start,i will post when i get it figured out, im going to road them during the week. you may have a good point because the guys that are running more are not having this problem!!
thanks Tom

If hounds feet are not conditioned they will not hold up when ran hard. Andy

Conditioning of the feet by running them often is a must.

But how do you do that when the pad has been torn off? I use and keep in truck on all of my hunts a one gallon can of kerosene & a flat plastic container with a lid. When a hound becomes sore footed, just take his foot and place in liquid and remove as soon as foot is wet. I do this twice per day and most of the time, by the second day, feet are healed enough that the hound can & will go hunting.

I keep this up until the feet toughen up.

I road my hounds as much as 18 to 20+ miles sometimes and Garmin shows they have traveled from 30 to 40+ miles in a 6-8 hour hunt. My kennels are on concrete and if those same dogs are not hunted say for 2-3 weeks then different ones of them will get sore footed after one night of hunting or after a hard 2-3 hour cat race. Based on where I'm hunting or if I had to road on gravel/rock base roads a large part of night, I may only road half of pack for time and then switch out to keep all of pack sound. Always hoping that they will strike and not have to road and road and road!

Hope this helps,

Clyde

Clyde Lawson wrote:Conditioning of the feet by running them often is a must.

But how do you do that when the pad has been torn off? I use and keep in truck on all of my hunts a one gallon can of kerosene & a flat plastic container with a lid. When a hound becomes sore footed, just take his foot and place in liquid and remove as soon as foot is wet. I do this twice per day and most of the time, by the second day, feet are healed enough that the hound can & will go hunting.

I keep this up until the feet toughen up.

I road my hounds as much as 18 to 20+ miles sometimes and Garmin shows they have traveled from 30 to 40+ miles in a 6-8 hour hunt. My kennels are on concrete and if those same dogs are not hunted say for 2-3 weeks then different ones of them will get sore footed after one night of hunting or after a hard 2-3 hour cat race. Based on where I'm hunting or if I had to road on gravel/rock base roads a large part of night, I may only road half of pack for time and then switch out to keep all of pack sound. Always hoping that they will strike and not have to road and road and road!

Hope this helps,

Clyde

Are you adding anything to the kerosene, knew a good hunter who swore kerosene work well for him. Never tried it, would be less expensive than Tuf Foof. Thanks AL also enjoyed your post on your breed of cat hound.

Al,

I just use straight kerosene.

Thanks,

Clyde

Mushers secret works for frozen pads and running in sub zero temps. Tuff foot works in dry climates. Kerosene dries their pad out toughening it up especially in wetter climates. Sometimes the kerosene can dry them out to much. Like he said take the foot out quickly. 1 other thing I've used is pad heal comes with a brush to paint it on.

back in the day, we used allum mixed with rubbing alcohol it worked for me. make a paste and pack it on but you have to work fast as the alcohol evaporates

Pad heal helps and mist co-ops or feed store have the horse hoof stuff same ingrediants, and cheaper/bigger bottle. Like I said same ingredients

Get you some Kopper tox and give it a try.

festus wrote:Get you some Kopper tox and give it a try.

where would one find it?