Perpetually dry and cracking paw pads. Please help

- Desperate for suggestions - One of my cats has had a skin issue for the last 6 months. It started with him overgrooming his paw pads until they were raw, and then transitioned into him overgrooming other areas as well (legs, sides, tail, tops of paws, and scratching at his neck and ears.) We have had him at the vet multiple times for this, and they have checked for fleas and parasites. No parasites and he’s on preventative as well. Currently he’s on 5mg prednisolone daily, and it’s stopped the overgrooming, but his paws still get so dry. We recently switched him to a hydrolyzed protein diet, and also changed his litter to a non clay non scented alternative. We are on about week 6 of the food trial, and almost done with our first week of the new litter. We feel like we notice moderate improvements, but are still having to balm his paws daily/every other day to make sure they don’t get dry to the point of cracking. An allergy is what makes the most sense to me to be the culprit, so we have our fingers crossed the litter and food change fixes it over time. He’s an indoor cat and it’s full blown winter where I live (20 degrees and a blizzard today), so environmental allergies are off the table since everything is frozen. If the litter and food change DOESNT solve the issue over time, I’m kind of at a loss for what could be the issue. I’ve done a lot of research, and I know that when it comes to paw pad issues, the main culprits are fungal infections, bacterial infections, yeast infections, and Pododermatitis (pillow foot). I’ve looked at hundreds of photos of cats affected by these problems, read countless articles, and know the symptoms by heart at this point, and neither the symptoms or appearance of these 4 ailments match what’s going on with his paws. Curious if anyone in here has experience with a situation like this and has any suggestions as to what could be the culprit. I included a photo of what his paws are like so you can get a better idea of what’s going on. If you zoom in on his pads you can really see what I’m talking about.

Did not mean to include the first photo, my apologies. I will also add, he has a tad bit of hair loss, but the only place he has that is his back hocks (elbow area) on his hind legs

Hello!  I can see that you've done a lot of constructive thinking about this already.  I can put my twopennorth in regarding a few things, however.  First, I don't agree that environmental allergens are off the table because everything is frozen.  There are ample things within a household that a cat can be allergic to - dustmites (your house doesn't even have to be very dusty), carpets,  plants and so on.  Fleas are always a possibility- its one of the most common allergies and can appear a complete mystery where they come from.   However, sometimes dry pawpads can simply be down to central heating systems perpetually drying them out, or even overgrooming (they can get caught in a cycle whereby licking them makes them sore, and when the pads are sore, they lick).   Furthermore, sometimes cats lick their feet or joints when they are in pain, so it can be connected with arthritis - and even something like pancreatitis, in place of grooming the abdomen.  Its also worth noting that healthy cat feet don't get randomly infected;  infection tends to be an effect of persistent licking (breaking down skin barriers) rather than the cause.  Bacteria and yeasts reside on cats feet naturally and are in a good place to invade superficial skin when it is cracked.  Using something to lubricate the feet is indeed a good idea and your vet will undoubtedly put you onto the best thing local to you (I can tell you don't live near me if you have temperatures anywhere near approaching  -20).   I hope that something there helps and wish you a Merry Christmas if that's appropriate to you.

Ps You might find it useful to type 'dry paw pads' into the search window of our blog.  Things brings up one or two useful pages.