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Petroleum Jelly Dog Paw Balm: The Worst Advice For Dog Paws We've Ever Heard!

Some people turn to petroleum jelly as a paw balm when their dog's paws are dry, cracked and damaged as it can be difficult to know how to effectively treat them without causing further harm. If you do turn to petroleum jelly - read this post to discover why this is a terrible idea.

Why you shouldn't use petroleum jelly as a paw balm application...

Petroleum Jelly Dog Paw Balm - MyPamperedPup.com

Some owners turn to petroleum jelly as a treatment for dry, cracked and damaged paws. This is genuinely a bad idea, but it's not your fault - all too often there's a huge lack of information on the subject of proper dog care and treatment.

We're committed to the care and well being of every animal so we decided to cover exactly why it's not a good idea to use petroleum jelly on your dog. Instead, if you're looking for a healing paw balm try Soft Paws a proven paw balm for moisturising, healing and protecting dry, cracked and damaged paws.

Firstly, petroleum jelly isn't safe to consume.

Petroleum jelly is just that, it's refined from crude oil which means it's certainly not for eating. When applying petroleum jelly to dog paws as a paw treatment, they're going to try and lick it, of course they are, it's new and interesting (though tastes terrible).

According to several online sources, consumption of petroleum jelly in humans leads to some pretty nasty side effects:

  • Abdominal pain
  • Coughing
  • Diarrhoea
  • Irritation of the throat
  • Shortness of breath
(https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002525.htm)

Imagine those symptoms in your dog!

Ingesting petroleum jelly is a very real risk for your dog. 

Secondly, petroleum jelly can be incredibly irritating to a dog's eyes, nose & skin.

In applying the jelly to the paw, they run the risk of rubbing it from the paws directly into their eyes and nose, which can cause serious irritation - as they lick the jelly they further spread this to their face as well as ingesting it! 

Thirdly, petroleum jelly doesn't actually have any healing or moisturising properties for your dogs dry, damaged and cracked paws!

The jelly works by trapping moisture which is already in the skin - if the paw is already dry then it means that there's not really any significant moisture there, so the jelly isn't really doing anything but clogging the pores meaning the dog can't sweat and comfortably regulate their temperature through them. Instead, specifically designed paw balms and waxes, like Soft Paws work by deeply penetrating the paws with moisture and locking this moisture in with a protective, natural wax barrier and heal from deep within the paw itself. 

Next, petroleum jelly can lead to worse problems from yeast, fungus and bacteria.

Applying the jelly to paws simple clogs them up, creating a non-breathable barrier which traps dirt and moisture. The jelly contains no natural antioxidants, antibacterial or anti-fungal properties meaning it creates an environment for bacteria, yeast and fungus to thrive in. Paws spend all their time touching the ground so they're bound to pick some nasties up - also, if the pads are dry, cracked and damaged it's the ideal place for infection to take hold, not to mention if your dog enjoys licking them this can easily spread the infection internally to your pooch! 


Petroleum jelly has varying different grades and qualities depending on which one you choose to buy.

It's true that Vaseline claims to be free of any cancer-causing chemicals but the same can't be said for all other brands and cheap labels of the product. Depending on which brand of petroleum jelly you choose to buy, you could run the risk of gambling with your health and the health of your dog!

Choose the right products for the job, choose a natural, healing dog paw balm.

Choosing a specialist product that's been crafted specifically to soothe, nourish, heal and protect your dog's paws is always the best option. You can read more about our story of creating Soft Paws and understand the hard work, dedication and trial and error that went into developing the best dog paw balm available.

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