An infected dog paw typically looks red, swollen, and moist, often with visible discharge that ranges from clear and blood-tinged to thick yellow or green pus. Depending on where the infection is and what’s causing it, you might also see bumps between the toes, crusting around the nails, cracked paw pads, hair loss, or open sores. Most dogs will also lick the affected paw constantly, which can make the surrounding fur look stained brown or rust-colored.
General Signs of an Infected Paw
The most reliable visual clue is swelling combined with redness. A mildly irritated paw might look a little pink, but an infected paw is noticeably puffy and deep red or even purplish. In more advanced cases, the entire foot can become grossly swollen, making it look almost sausage-like compared to the other paws. The skin between and around the toes often appears wet or greasy, either from drainage or from your dog licking nonstop.
Discharge is the other hallmark. A paw that’s draining fluid, whether it’s blood-tinged, cloudy, yellow, or greenish, is almost certainly infected. You might notice this on your dog’s bedding or see it matting the fur around the toes. A foul smell, sometimes described as rancid or sour, often accompanies the drainage and is a strong signal that bacteria are involved.
Hair loss on top of the paw or between the toes is common too. Constant licking pulls hair out and keeps the skin damp, which creates a cycle where the infection worsens. If you see bare, inflamed patches on a paw your dog won’t stop chewing, infection is high on the list.
Bumps and Nodules Between the Toes
One of the most distinctive forms of paw infection shows up as large, firm bumps between the toes, sometimes called interdigital cysts or furuncles. These nodules are red and filled with blood, pus, or both. They’re most commonly found on the front paws and tend to appear between specific pairs of toes rather than across the whole foot.
These bumps form when hair follicles in the webbing between the toes become deeply inflamed, dilate, and eventually rupture under the skin. That rupture triggers more irritation and secondary infection, so the nodule often grows, drains, partially heals, then flares again. If your dog has a single swollen, reddish lump between two toes that seems to come and go, this is likely what you’re looking at. Some older nodules become painless, hardened scars from previous episodes, but new ones are typically tender.
Nail Bed Infections
Infections can also settle at the base of one or more nails, a condition called paronychia. The nail fold (the skin surrounding the base of the claw) becomes swollen, red, and painful. You may see crusting at the base of the nail or a foul-smelling discharge oozing from the cuticle area. In some cases the nail itself looks discolored, loose, or misshapen.
This type of infection is easier to miss because it’s partially hidden by fur. If your dog is limping and you can’t find an obvious wound on the pad or between the toes, gently spread the fur around each nail and look for puffiness, crust, or discharge at the nail base.
Yeast Infections Look Different
Not all paw infections are bacterial. Yeast infections have their own set of visual clues. The classic sign is a “corn chip” or musty smell coming from the paws. The skin between the toes and on the pads often becomes thickened and greasy rather than oozing liquid pus. In chronic cases, the paw pads themselves crack, become crusty, and thicken noticeably.
The fur on a yeast-infected paw frequently takes on a brownish or reddish tint. This discoloration comes partly from the yeast itself and partly from saliva staining due to obsessive licking. If your dog’s paws smell like corn chips and the fur between the toes looks rust-colored, yeast is the likely culprit rather than bacteria, though both can be present at the same time.
Foreign Body Infections
Sometimes a paw infection starts because something got embedded in the skin. Foxtail grass awns, thorns, and splinters can puncture the paw and work their way deeper, creating a localized infection around the entry point. This type of infection often looks different from a generalized paw infection: you’ll typically see swelling concentrated in one specific spot rather than spread across the whole foot, sometimes with a small entry wound that bleeds or drains.
A rancid smell coming from a single wound, combined with your dog obsessively licking one exact area, points strongly toward a foreign body. These infections can worsen quickly because the embedded object continues to irritate tissue and introduce bacteria as it migrates deeper.
Infected Paw Pads vs. Dry Paw Pads
Dry, cracked paw pads are common and not always a sign of infection. The difference is what accompanies the cracks. A simple dry pad looks rough and may have shallow fissures, but the skin color stays relatively normal and there’s no swelling, odor, or drainage. An infected pad, by contrast, shows redness extending beyond the cracks, visible swelling in the pad tissue, moisture or discharge seeping from the fissures, and sometimes open sores or ulceration on the pad surface.
Dogs with infected pads are also more likely to limp or refuse to put weight on the foot. A dry pad might cause mild tenderness, but infection brings a level of pain that changes how your dog walks or makes them hold the paw up entirely.
How Infection Differs From Allergies
Allergies and infections can look similar on a dog’s paw, and they often overlap because allergic inflammation creates conditions for infection to take hold. Allergies alone tend to cause redness and itching across multiple paws, often all four. The skin looks pink and irritated but usually stays dry or only slightly moist from licking. There’s rarely a strong odor or visible pus.
Infection, on the other hand, is more likely to involve one paw or one specific area, produces discharge or a noticeable smell, and causes pain rather than just itchiness. A dog with allergies licks in a rhythmic, almost absent-minded way. A dog with an infected paw licks with more urgency and may whimper, pull away when you touch the paw, or guard it. That said, many paw infections start as allergic reactions that were scratched or licked raw, so both problems can be present simultaneously.
Signs the Infection Is Getting Worse
Most paw infections stay localized, but some spread into deeper tissue. If you notice warmth or swelling moving up from the paw toward the leg, that suggests the infection is no longer contained. Your dog may also develop a fever, lose interest in food, seem unusually tired, or appear depressed. These systemic signs mean the infection is affecting more than just the paw and needs prompt attention.
Other red flags include rapid worsening over 24 to 48 hours, a paw that was mildly pink yesterday but is now deeply swollen and draining, or a wound that smells significantly worse than it did the day before. A single small bump between the toes can wait for a regular vet appointment, but a paw that’s ballooning in size or making your dog refuse to eat warrants a faster response.