# Very Strange Activity



## DougAndKate (Sep 16, 2011)

I took Elroy on a hike Sunday morning. We went to a new area in a local state park that was very swampy to say the least. Lots of standing water and lots of mud. Anyway, upon returning home, we gave him a bath and fed him his breakfast. A little after Noon he settled in on his bed and started to fall asleep. It seemed the minute he actually hit deep sleep he jumped up out of nowhere, and began scratching at the rug with all 4 paws, almost like he was running in place or digging. He would also chew on his one paw quite extensively for a few minutes. This continued over the course of the day. He would settle back down, and as soon as he was just about asleep, he would jump back up and do it again. 

We did some research online and someone suggested it may have been some sort of parasite in the mud that got into his paw pads. We inspected his paws pretty thoroughly and couldn't find any cuts or scrapes or anything. They were really pink but we assumed that was from the scratching on the rug. We rubbed some bag balm on them and gave him a few doses of benedryl over the rest of the afternoon. He was finally able to sleep at about 7PM and slept under a blanket on the floor between my wife and I until we all went up to bed at 10:30.

We were just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar. It kind of freaked us out for awhile. He seems fine today so far...

Doug


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## Vizsla Baby (Nov 4, 2011)

Sounds like he was having night terrors - one of my kids used to have them. They seem like they are awake but they aren't. 

My Vizsla does lick & chew her feet a lot - sometimes she'll just lay there and put her whole back foot in her mouth & just gently "mouth at it". She's not obsessive or hurting herself so we haven't corrected her. She only does it once or twice a week.

She did go at her foot once after being outside - she stepped weird and chewed it a lot - I suspect she had a sticker or something in it - I never saw anything though.


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