Frito Feet: The Science Surrounding the Smell

Playing at home on the sofa with her smallest dog Jonesy the corgi, Dawn had to giggle to herself when she caught a whiff of his toe beans and thought, “Wow that smelled like corn chips!”

Corn chips. Tortillas. Popcorn. Some people even say they smell like baking bread.

So why does it happen? The skin of most animals is home to a lot of microbes. As Bill Bryson puts it in A Short History of Nearly Everything, “If you are in good health and averagely diligent about hygiene, you will have a herd of about one trillion bacteria grazing on your fleshy plains—about a hundred thousand of them on every square centimeter of skin.” Dogs’ feet are a great place for bacteria and yeast to take up residence because there’s a lot of moisture and little to no air circulation in the folds and pockets of skin between the toes and footpads. Bacteria flock there and reproduce with exuberance.

All these microorganisms emit their own distinct odors (they’re what give us BO), and that popcorn or corn chip smell on some dogs’ feet could be due to yeast or Proteus bacteria. Or it could be Pseudomonas bacteria, which smell a little fruitier. Both are known for their sweet, corn tortilla-like smell. Additionally, because dogs sweat through their paws (Just as human feet sweat!), that sweat can activate the smell in this bacteria

As we said, it’s perfectly normal for there to be a lot of bacteria on your pet (and you!). There are worse things these bacteria could be doing besides making your dog smell like delicious snacks. Frito Feet is no cause for alarm unless the odor is really overwhelming. That could be a sign of an infection and should be checked out by your veterinarian.

Once Dawn discussed Frito Feet with her friends and realized Jonesy wasn’t alone, she went home to Jonesy’s big GSD brother Ralph to catch a whiff of his pads. “Popcorn!”

It’s the little things, really.