My dog is limping and we noticed a large flap of skin hanging off his large pad. What should we do? The pad looks raw but is. It bleeding. Does he need a vet?

If you feel he needs stitches, but normally anything you do or a vet does to a dogs paw is quickly undone by the dog. The dog will take care of this by himself, if you don't interfere. Don't try and keep him away from doctoring it himself, or it won't heal. He will lick it constantly but this is the way it has to be,

Foot pads are very difficult if not impossible to stitch, it just doesn't work well at all.
If it is a large enough flap of skin that you are afraid he may rip it off or get hung it on something and tear it doing more damage, then you may want to have your vet take a look. They will likely clip the remaining skin and send him on his way with antibiotics.
Otherwise, keep a good eye on it and let him deal with it himself.

A vet will probably cut away any dead parts, debride it, give the dog antibiotics, and probably bandage it properly. If you absolutely cannot afford to take the dog to the vet, then I would recommend you bandage it yourself. To do so, clean and dry the paw if possible. Put some Neosporin on the injury. Making sure the flap of his pad is flat, put a square of gauze on it. Now, get a roll of gauze. Fold a large enough piece to extend from above the top elbow joint up near the body at the back of the leg, down the leg, across the bottom of the foot, around to the top of the foot and up the leg past the top joint again (but at the front. Fold it over on itself and repeat until you have several layers. Now start at the back of the leg and put this long bandage in place, making sure the remainder of the gauze will be on the outside up the top of the leg. Then wind the gauze around the leg on an angle, starting above the joint and go down towards the foot... not too tight, but tight enough to keep it on. Then go back up the leg and cut the gauze off once you reach the top of the leg again. Now, get some white medical adhesive tape. Cut some six inch or so pieces and wrap them over the toe area from the back to the front. Then wrap the tape around the leg starting at the top and going down to the bottom. Remember, you don't want to cut the dog's circulation off; you are just holding the bandage on for 2 to 5 days and to protect the foot area from dampness. Two days will be okay, but if the dog leaves it on and doesn't seem to be bothered too much by it, leave it on a couple more days. Then use blunt nose scissors and starting at the top, cut the bandage off. (You can buy scissors that are blunt on the bottom. This is the part you would stick into the bandage at the top and cut down past the joint closest to the foot. At that point you might be able to pull it right off. If there is ANY infection at all, the dog must be seen by the vet as soon as possible. The other issue to consider is if you live in an area that tetanus is prevalent. If so, then I would definitely take him to a vet. I've worked with a dog with tetnus. It's a horrible disease.

Hope this helps.

Didi

You can also soak his foot in epsom salts to keep it clean and disinfected. It also promotes healing.

When my dog cut the pad of her foot I used polysporin and bandaged it during the day and put one of my boyfriends sock on it to keep dirt and crud out of it during the day and at night when she was inside we un bandaged it so the air could get to it and so she could take care of it herself, it took about 1 week for her to walk properly on it and 2 more weeks before it was completely healed.

Had this happen to our lab cross.

The vet simply cut off the part that was detached, cleaned it, bandaged it, and sent us home. From what the vet said the paw pad is very much like a human finger nail. It hurts to have it ripped off, but it does grow back, and won't leave any lasting damage.

Just make sure to keep it clean and bandaged, but yes, you will need to go to the vet to have it taken care of. Definitely don't recommend that you try to cut it off by yourself.