Any injury can cause your dog's paws to start bleeding, including punctures, dry skin, and even broken nails. Your dog can injure their paws in several ways, but the most common reasons why your dog's paws are bleeding are due to punctures and abrasions.
- Laceration: A laceration occurs when there is a cut or a tear in the skin or pad of your dog's paw. Lacerations can be caused by anything your dog's paws come into contact with, including rocks or broken glass while on their daily walks. Depending on what caused the laceration, they can be deep or shallow.
- Puncture: Similar to a laceration, a puncture can happen from walking on sharp objects. The difference between a laceration versus a puncture is that a puncture is typically a cut straight through the tissue, while a laceration is more of a tear. Punctures are typically deeper than lacerations because the material that caused the puncture went straight up into the tissue rather than off to the side.
- Abrasion: An abrasion occurs when your dog's paw or paw pad is scraped against something, similar to sandpaper. It's similar to a scraped knee someone might get from falling off their bike.
- Dry skin: Dry skin can affect dogs anywhere on their body, but especially on paw pads that are subject to harsh, drying weather conditions, such as snow, ice, salt, and hot pavement.
- Infection: Dogs can get skin infections on their paws that can cause itchy and inflamed skin. In particular, a yeast infection can also cause redness and discharge from the nail beds. Because infections can become uncomfortable and itchy, your dog may excessively lick or chew on its paws for relief, which can cause further irritation and bleeding. Other infections can occur due to lacerations or even insect bites. A tick removal that leaves an open wound can easily get infected and cause bleeding.
- Allergies: An allergic reaction can cause itching anywhere your pet has skin, including its paws. Seasonal allergies are common in dogs, but dogs can also have allergic reactions to anything, including food and insect bites and stings. For example, if your dog was stung by a bee on its paw, it could be experiencing an allergic reaction, which can cause irritation and itching, making your dog want to excessively lick or bite their paws, which can cause bleeding.
- Broken toenails: Dogs' paws can bleed as a result of a broken or cracked toenail. If you've gone a while without having your dog's nails clipped, the nails can easily get snagged on something outside or in the home and cause bleeding near the nail bed.
