ChowChow.org

Hi everyone!

My goodness, it has been so, so long since I have been on here and I miss that.

Miss Mia is now almost seven years old and beautiful as ever.

Recently she has started to lick her lips a lot.

We have been to the vet to check for any obvious causes...nausea, bloat, oral discomfort, swallowing or eating something unusual, seizures, pica, etc. vet checked her tummy, mouth, throat, teeth (she had her teeth cleaned professionally last year), urine, fecal, skin, etc. The vet found nothing out of order.

She has been consistently on the same organic limited ingredient food, Dasaquin, probiotic, organic treats (very few daily) etc. In short, nothing has changed in her food or supplements.

Nothing has changed in her environment (new cleaning products, new routines, etc.).

Nothing has changed in her day to day life. I am home all the time. She gets daily walks. I can discern no difference in her demeanor. She acts the same as she always has. We spend a lot of time together and she seems as happy as she has ever been. When she starts to lick her lips, if I get up to go into another room, she follows me quite happily and is fine until she settles down again and then, she may or may not resume the lip licking. She can go hours in between without doing that. So, I don't believe that she is frustrated or anxious.

We go out often; I take Mia and Chutney (her brother) out on errands and walks. So, I'm quite sure she isn't bored. And, I have made an effort to include her in a lot during the day - including things to keep her mind occupied.

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to include everything I have done to ascertain the reason for this. Medically, physically, emotionally, physiologically...I can find nothing wrong.

Anybody have any ideas?

Thank you!

sorry i can't help but i just wanted to say our chow chow has started this licking of lips recently.
every thing you said is as if i was writing the post, .....
I'm also at home with her all day, nothing has changed in her routine , her food is the same ,no stress in her life. The only thing she has had is a full tooth cleaning at the vets and one tooth was extracted, that was in late nov. last year.
I can't exactly say when we noticed her doing this but its been a while, vet says she is fine, she seems fine, and its the same with her where she doesn't do it all the time but its enough for us to have noticed.
very strange,

It is so strange, isn't it?

My vet and I have wracked our brains to try to figure out what is causing this.

And, like you say, it isn't all the time.

You don't mention where you are at, but in my neighborhood we have been having a tough winter. Salting the roads is out of control and everything is covered with a salt white glaze. Certainly not a scientific diagnosis, but is could be a case of salt air, which would cause him to be licking.

Hi all, I'm in Georgia.

No salt or snow melter. And, I am keeping her off lawns that have had professional weed killer etc, which in my neighborhood, is all of them.

We walk to parks and our back yard is totally chemical free. (Of course, it looks like it too, lol!)

But, good idea, because I bet that's bothering a lot of paws up north.

Thank you!

I'm in the uk, no salt in my area, we have had no snow at all, its been quite mild resulting in extreme rainfall and lots of bad winds.
The fields have become so waterlogged that our walks have been path wailk because its so wet, water logged and muddy every where. Worst winter i have experienced in years for all this rain.

So not many other people saying their chows do this.

Hello long, long time no speak I have missed seeing your two though I have caught occasional glimpses of them on Fb through Jacquies page. How lovely to see their little faces again.

I have a friend whose chow did this and it turned out it was the food. They had not changed his food but it seemed it was causing him to feel nauseous......at the suggestion of the vet they changed it it stopped him licking altogether. He had been on the same food for some time so there seemed to be no reason why it would cause this to suddenly happen but he was licking in a very similar way to your description

It may be something completely different with Mia. Just thought I would mention it.

The other thing that springs to mind is when Bramble is going through a bad patch with her legs she licks and bites her feet on the other legs. Cold she be suffering from the start of arthritis or something like that?

Thank you!
I really never would have thought of the food being an issue.

Funny thing though, I did just change their food to a lower protein because Orijen and Merrick were to high. We are trying Wellness now. Maybe that might help her not do that so much.

We will have to see