If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know I love dogs. I am that person who will always ask if I can pet a puppy I see at the park, and I’ve fallen in love with many the puppy in an instant. I also do a bit of dog walking here in Calgary, and if a pooch has longer fur that comes out between the pads of their paws, I’ll usually have to give them a bit of a pedicure when we get home. Ice balls tend to clump up on the fur and accumulate between the pads on their feet, and that can’t be comfortable. Add to that the salt and sand we use for traction, and the general coldness of winter, and being a bare-pawed dog on a winter walk can be uncomfortable. That’s where this Protective Pooch Paw Wax comes in.
My friends Jane and Kevin have a very lovely Golden named Mitzi, and a few weeks ago Kevin tagged me in one of those Facebook DIY videos on how to make a paw wax and asked if I could make some for Mitzi. The idea of the wax was basically a water-repellent layer to protect the paws from the assorted unpleasantness bare paws encounter in the winter. I took a look at the video and I liked the idea, but it was all in tablespoons and other volume measurements, so I thought I’d improve on it by creating a weight-based version using some of my favourite ingredients.
I’ve heard from some dog owners that they use Bag Balm on their pup’s paws—I gave some a poke, and it’s quite tacky and ointmenty, which got me thinking about cera bellina. Cera bellina is a modified beeswax that creates oil gels that are delightfully ointment-y and really different from balms made with regular beeswax. Because this waxy balm is meant to protect paws and help soothe and heal any pre-existing irritation, I also included lanolin (which is amazing at creating a water-repelling barrier), calendula, and olive oil. I intentionally did not include any essential oils as there’s a very good chance this balm will be licked off by pooches, and I’m concerned about the poisoning risk.
Consistency-wise, I aimed for a softish salve/balm rather than a firm one. When I was testing this on Tobyn, my parent’s Bernese Mountain Dog, I really appreciated the softer consistency; it was easier to get a scoop on my fingers and work it into his paws quickly (a bonus if your dog doesn’t love having their feet man-handled). The softer texture also made it easier to get it properly spread around. You could increase the amount of beeswax if you find the final product is too soft for your tastes, but I would recommend making it this wax first, and adjusting later as needed.
Once you’ve got all your ingredients, this comes together pretty darn quickly; there’s a bit of an infusion period for the calendula if you don’t already have some infused oil on hand, but once that’s done you’re just melting everything through and pouring the mixture into a tin to set up. I’d recommend something wide and shallow so you can dip/swipe the dog’s paw across the surface of the tin and then rub that in for speedy application.
Protective Pooch Paw Wax
42g | 1.48oz calendula-infused olive oil (learn how to make your own infused oils here)
8g | 0.28oz lanolin
10g | 0.35oz cera bellina (USA | Canada)
3g | 0.1oz beeswax (USA / Canada)Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a small saucepan.
Weigh the infused olive oil, lanolin, cera bellina, and beeswax into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
Once everything has melted through, remove the measuring cup from the heat and stir to combine. Continue stirring occasionally as the mixture cools to ensure an even consistency.
When the paw wax has cooled to a semi-solid, transfer it to a tin. I recommend something relatively wide and shallow for easy application. Rap the tin on the counter to help the paw wax settle down, and leave it to finish cooling. That’s it!
To use, use your fingers to apply it to the pads of your dog’s paws before a walk.
Because this salve is 100% oil based, it does not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Kept reasonably cool and dry, it should last at least a year before any of the oils go rancid. If you notice it starts to smell like old nuts or crayons, that’s a sign that the oils have begun to oxidize; chuck it out and make a fresh batch if that happens.
If you don’t have cera bellina, you can use an equal amount of beeswax (USA / Canada) instead, but that will obviously result in an end product with a different consistency (it won’t be ointmenty/gel-like). Check out this experiment for more information.
If your calendula infused olive oil has been infusing for ages and is really strong, I’d recommend using half infused olive oil, and half regular olive oil.
This is great! This could also be used as a protective wax for chickens in cold weather to prevent frostbite to their feet, combs and wattles.
Ooh, interesting! As I’ve never raised chickens I really can’t comment on that, but I would be very interested to hear if you try it 🙂
This is so freaking awesome!!! I’m going to make this tonight for my pooch, his paws get chapped due to the cold when we go to the cabin. #doglover
Aww, yay! I can’t wait to hear what your pooch thinks of his new paw-dicure 😉
I really wish I had had this for my Rottweiler. She died 4 years ago today and I still remember how hard Calgary winters were on her feet as she aged. Sadly, I never thought of Bag Balm 🙁
I hope this recipe helps lots of others be more comfortable. Thanks for sharing!
Aww, no 🙁 Now I’m sad thinking about your lost pooch. Loosing a dog is incredibly painful, I’m so sorry. Perhaps this will cheer you up a bit? His name is Cooper, he’s 10 weeks old, and beyond adorable!
My mom and I were just talking about how dry our doggo’s paws are, and how we needed to make a paw balm for him!
Woohoo! Happy to help the family pooch 😀
Won’t my dogs just lick it all off?
It’s designed to be applied directly before going for a walk; all the dogs I recruited for testing were generally preoccupied enough with the excitement of the walk that they didn’t lick their paws until we got home, and at that point it was mostly worn away/absorbed (and I find most dogs lick their paws after a winter walk to get the ice clods out anyways, so the licking might not’ve had anything to do with the balm).
Hummmm….. I wonder… cuticle balm? I’ve been aching to try to replicate one, but I failed the first attempt.since I’ve no puppy
Definitely can’t hurt! Except for the lanolin smell. Ick. Maybe this instead?
Hola! I did try that one a long time ago. Nope, didn’t quite work as well as I hoped. My curitcles tanned up beautifully though! It’s was funny! Ended up using it as a foot balm.
I don’t mind the smell of lanolin. The one I have reminds me of apple sauce. I so want to make apple sauce.
Ha, weird! I must admit I am likely a poor cuticle balm tester as my cuticles seem relatively happy/I don’t really care about them LOL.
Lansinoh lanolin is used by breast feeding moms. It is safe for babies to ingest, and it is much lighter and less odiferous than any other lanolin I’ve found. I used it as a diapering balm on my girls, and I continue to use it on my lips, dry hands, and in all my diy applications calling for lanolin. In local stores, it is found with the bottles and breast pads. I’ve also purchased it from Amazon.
Oooh, good to know! I will keep an eye out for it 🙂
I’m fairly sure dogs are bothered by essential oils — so many are included in dog repellant sprays, mainly because the overpowering smell is tough for their sensitive noses — so leaving them out is definitely for the best!
Yeah, that is precisely why I never include EOs in anything for dogs. We can’t ask them, but I know how much an overwhelming smell can bother me, and my nose stinks compared to the nose of a dog!
I’ve been using your Hemp, Oat and Shea body butter on my cats’ paws when they get dry scaly spots but this sounds really good, too. The Hemp, Oat and Shea works great, by the way, and melts right into the skin. I’m interested in trying this out and seeing how this works. 🙂 Thanks for another exciting idea and recipe!
Ooh, what a great multi-tasking of that recipe! Happy making and enjoy those kitties 🙂
Hello Marie, I’ve been having problems registering to the forum. I think i was supposed to put in a new password and click reset? I’ve tried to reset it several times but always seem to get this message “Your password reset link appears to be invalid. Please request a new link below.” Any idea what went wrong?
Hmm—I think you got this sorted, right? Fingers crossed!
😀
Yes! I did it! I don’t know what was going wrong yesterday, but now i managed to make a forum account! Thank you Marie for creating a place for all us bees to chat!
Yay! Happy chatting 😀
I’d love a recipe for dry chapped hands, especially for gardener’s. Any ideas? I thought the puppy paw one could be a starting point as it’s softer than a balm
This one would likely be great as written—it’s healing and protective, and there’s certainly nothing in here that makes it dog specific 🙂
Could this be a diaper balm?
For sure, but it wouldn’t perform the same as one that contains zinc oxide, like this one 🙂
Hi Marie,
I love your blog! You have awesome recipes! I Tried couple already and I love using them!
I would love to make this balm for my best friend puppy! Unfortunately I only have beeswax. Could it work if I only use beeswax and if you could tel me how much to use?
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing these awesome recipes!
Thanks! This will work with beeswax; I’d probably drop a gram or two as cera bellina is a bit softer 🙂
Hi Marie
I don’t have ceramic Bellini…..could I sub it with coconut oil or Shea butter…..thanks for the easy recipe…..
No, not at all—please review this and this to learn more 🙂
Hello Thanks so much for sharing this. I was wondering is there anything I can use to in place of the lanolin?
I’ve discussed some possible alternatives in my encyclopedia post on lanolin 🙂