Sunday, September 30, 2012
Bath time
I heard somewhere that a dog can shake something like 80% of the water out of their fur. Watching Lolly shake after her bath, I totally believe that!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Vet visit, part I
Okay, so here's Tuesday's post that never did get around to being written.
Vet appointments are always interesting, but with our laundry list of issues, I knew this one was going to be extra special. My dogs go to a holistic vet who takes a thorough history of all the known issues and really tries to avoid medications. It was interesting trying to provide a history on Lolly, since I've only known her a few weeks, but I did my best. We went home with four different prescriptions, a request for a urine sample, a follow up visit in two weeks and instructions to increase both of their fish oil and start Lolly on probiotics. I guess I should back up and go through issue by issue or I may be completely turned around by the end of this post!
Both dogs were having itchiness issues. Wolfey has always scratched and chewed when he's anxious and Lolly came to me with fleas, so I didn't stress too much over this, but it definitely was a large part of why I had scheduled the appointment. Wolfey's favorite place to chew is his right front leg and he was chewing to the point that he had reopened an old sore and started a new one. Honestly, going in, this was my biggest concern. The vet, though, was not so concerned. I was already using the drops they had given me for the last sore and she said most likely it was just from the stress of having a new dog in the house. She said that, like last time, the chewing would stop once he was settled and as long as the drops helped, not to worry about it. The fact that both of the dogs are scratching, though, was a concern. The vet combed through Lolly's fur and determined she needed to get a closer look at the skin irritation. Poor Lolly has a bald patch now. :( I'm glad she shaved it though, because it was way worse than I realized. Without going into detail, I'll just say I was pretty grossed out. The vet did a scraping and ran some tests, but everything was inconclusive, leaving her to believe it just about has to be scabies, better known as mange in dogs. Eww, gross and yuck! According to my vet, scabies is species specific and I have no reason to worry about any possibility of myself or any of my friends or family being infected; however, according to pet.webmd.com, "Scabies, tiny spiderlike mites, are highly contagious and are transmitted primarily by direct contact and through contaminated grooming equipment and kennels. These mites are also transferable to humans and other pets." Okay, I'd known it was transferable to other dogs and already had plans to keep my dogs home and away from other dogs until they were done with their treatment, but this bit about it being contagious to humans - yikes! Further down in the article, it does say that scabies can only live for three weeks on a human, but still, who wants to itch like that for three weeks? ASPCA.org says that it's pretty unlikely that scabies will be transmitted, either from dog to dog or dog to human. I have to admit, I'm inclined to believe my vet and the ASPCA, but the webmd info still worries me. Webmd goes on to say "Probably no other skin disease will cause your dog to scratch and bite at her skin with such intensity. The severe itching is caused by female mites tunneling a few millimeters under the skin to lay their eggs. The eggs hatch in 3 to 10 days. The immature mites develop into adults and begin to lay eggs of their own. The entire life cycle occurs on the dog’s skin, and takes just 17 to 21 days." Oh, ick! I put the pieces together and realized that most likely this means webmd is saying that while scabies can bite and live on a human, they cannot reproduce on a human. This helps a little, but still, I do not want to have to deal with this!
Vet appointments are always interesting, but with our laundry list of issues, I knew this one was going to be extra special. My dogs go to a holistic vet who takes a thorough history of all the known issues and really tries to avoid medications. It was interesting trying to provide a history on Lolly, since I've only known her a few weeks, but I did my best. We went home with four different prescriptions, a request for a urine sample, a follow up visit in two weeks and instructions to increase both of their fish oil and start Lolly on probiotics. I guess I should back up and go through issue by issue or I may be completely turned around by the end of this post!
Both dogs were having itchiness issues. Wolfey has always scratched and chewed when he's anxious and Lolly came to me with fleas, so I didn't stress too much over this, but it definitely was a large part of why I had scheduled the appointment. Wolfey's favorite place to chew is his right front leg and he was chewing to the point that he had reopened an old sore and started a new one. Honestly, going in, this was my biggest concern. The vet, though, was not so concerned. I was already using the drops they had given me for the last sore and she said most likely it was just from the stress of having a new dog in the house. She said that, like last time, the chewing would stop once he was settled and as long as the drops helped, not to worry about it. The fact that both of the dogs are scratching, though, was a concern. The vet combed through Lolly's fur and determined she needed to get a closer look at the skin irritation. Poor Lolly has a bald patch now. :( I'm glad she shaved it though, because it was way worse than I realized. Without going into detail, I'll just say I was pretty grossed out. The vet did a scraping and ran some tests, but everything was inconclusive, leaving her to believe it just about has to be scabies, better known as mange in dogs. Eww, gross and yuck! According to my vet, scabies is species specific and I have no reason to worry about any possibility of myself or any of my friends or family being infected; however, according to pet.webmd.com, "Scabies, tiny spiderlike mites, are highly contagious and are transmitted primarily by direct contact and through contaminated grooming equipment and kennels. These mites are also transferable to humans and other pets." Okay, I'd known it was transferable to other dogs and already had plans to keep my dogs home and away from other dogs until they were done with their treatment, but this bit about it being contagious to humans - yikes! Further down in the article, it does say that scabies can only live for three weeks on a human, but still, who wants to itch like that for three weeks? ASPCA.org says that it's pretty unlikely that scabies will be transmitted, either from dog to dog or dog to human. I have to admit, I'm inclined to believe my vet and the ASPCA, but the webmd info still worries me. Webmd goes on to say "Probably no other skin disease will cause your dog to scratch and bite at her skin with such intensity. The severe itching is caused by female mites tunneling a few millimeters under the skin to lay their eggs. The eggs hatch in 3 to 10 days. The immature mites develop into adults and begin to lay eggs of their own. The entire life cycle occurs on the dog’s skin, and takes just 17 to 21 days." Oh, ick! I put the pieces together and realized that most likely this means webmd is saying that while scabies can bite and live on a human, they cannot reproduce on a human. This helps a little, but still, I do not want to have to deal with this!
The best description for mange I could find said "Scabies attacks the skin of the ears, elbows, hocks, and the underside of the chest and face. The onset is abrupt with scratching, hair loss, and inflamed skin in these areas. Crusty ear tips are characteristic... In the later stages the skin becomes thick, crusted, scaly, and darkly pigmented." This sounds like Lolly. Ugh!
I've already ordered the medication and will start treatment as soon as I get it, but my biggest worry is that I've had Lolly for about a month and a half, and in that time, she's been around my parents, my sister, my nieces and nephews and several of my friends, not to mention my walking buddy's dog...and that she sleeps with me! I'm really hoping that my vet knows what she's talking about and that pets.webmd.com is wrong but I'm still worried. I'm supposed to have company over Saturday and I almost want to tell them not to come.
Okay, I really got off on a tangent here once I started researching, so I'll save the rest of this post for another day, but I'll end it with this tidbit:
Rescue dogs are just that - dogs who are rescued from abuse, poor care and generally bad living conditions. When you take in a rescue dog, you take them with all their dirt, bad habits and poor health. Wolfey came to me with a parasite as well, although thankfully he didn't have the opportunity to infect anyone else. When I adopted Wolfey, he had whipworm, an intestinal parasite that causes diarrhea. I worked with the vet, gave him the appropriate medication and we got it cleared up fairly easily. I know scabies is more serious and is going to be more difficult to deal with, but it's all part of saving my babies and I'm so lucky to be able to take care of them.
Okay, I really got off on a tangent here once I started researching, so I'll save the rest of this post for another day, but I'll end it with this tidbit:
Rescue dogs are just that - dogs who are rescued from abuse, poor care and generally bad living conditions. When you take in a rescue dog, you take them with all their dirt, bad habits and poor health. Wolfey came to me with a parasite as well, although thankfully he didn't have the opportunity to infect anyone else. When I adopted Wolfey, he had whipworm, an intestinal parasite that causes diarrhea. I worked with the vet, gave him the appropriate medication and we got it cleared up fairly easily. I know scabies is more serious and is going to be more difficult to deal with, but it's all part of saving my babies and I'm so lucky to be able to take care of them.
Potty training
I thought potty training the boy was rough. At 3 1/2 years old, he came to me wearing a pull up. Not having raised a child before, I knew he was behind, but didn't realize just how difficult it was going to be until a few months in, when he was regressing instead of moving forward and I was at my wit's end. The plus side here? A child can wear a diaper.
Lolly, on the other hand, just pees where she wants, when she wants. I have to say, last night was an improvement over the night before; I actually got to sleep all night - amazing! So why am I complaining? I have one and a half baths in my house, with the half bath being in the master bedroom, so I have to shower in the hall bath. Because I do have a half bath in my room, the only time I go in the hall bath is to clean it periodically and to shower. So, in my still sleepy state this morning, I wandered into the hall bath to shower...and stepped in a puddle. It seems that Lolly has decided to potty train herself. Don't get me wrong, it's easier to clean pee off of tile than hardwood, but if she's going to make it all the way to the bathroom anyway, why can't she just lift the lid and flush when she's done?!
Lolly, on the other hand, just pees where she wants, when she wants. I have to say, last night was an improvement over the night before; I actually got to sleep all night - amazing! So why am I complaining? I have one and a half baths in my house, with the half bath being in the master bedroom, so I have to shower in the hall bath. Because I do have a half bath in my room, the only time I go in the hall bath is to clean it periodically and to shower. So, in my still sleepy state this morning, I wandered into the hall bath to shower...and stepped in a puddle. It seems that Lolly has decided to potty train herself. Don't get me wrong, it's easier to clean pee off of tile than hardwood, but if she's going to make it all the way to the bathroom anyway, why can't she just lift the lid and flush when she's done?!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Pissed
I had yesterday's post all written in my head but never had a chance to sit down and write it. Life just kept coming and there never was time to take a little "me" time. I was going to talk about how difficult my dogs' lives were before I adopted them and how lucky we all are to have found each other. I was going to write about our visit to the vet, what I learned and we'll be doing to clear up the latest bout of health issues my dogs are dealing with. That will all have to wait for another day, because after the night we had last night, I'm not sure I have the focus to get it all down coherently. That, and I'm not feeling super sympathetic toward Lolly right now. Let's just say, after cleaning up accidents at 2:00am (when I got up to use the restroom and she peed right in front of me, but I was too asleep to realize what she was doing - until I stepped in it and woke up enough to clean it up) and again at 5:00am (when I awoke to the sound of water [pee] hitting the hardwood floor) and then having to go out with her this morning to collect a urine sample to drop at the vet's office on my way to work, I'm a little pissed off at the whole situation. Of course, I guess that's better than being pissed on. Let's just say they better find something out with this sample, because if she doesn't have a good reason for her incontinence, she may just become an outside dog!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
And tonight's menu is...
It never fails to amaze me how easy it is to combine training time and dinner time now that we're doing a raw food diet. We worked on "sit" and "okay" (I don't let the dogs take food from someone without the "okay" from me) tonight and Lolly was rewarded with chunks of pork, which also happened to be dinner. Of course Wolfey wanted to brush up on his skills, too, so he "trained" right along side Lolly. And the really cool part? After dinner they shared the cutting board! This is a first, as Wolfey usually growls at Lolly when she tries to share. Amazing progress!
Food non-aggression
Oh, thank heavens my little girl doesn't have food issues! I'm not quite as happy about the fact that she doesn't have any qualms about stealing food off the kitchen counter, but that's something we can work on. I came into the kitchen to find that she had taken the bone I set out on the counter to thaw and without thinking I reached down and grabbed it from her. I can do this with Wolfey, so it didn't even register to me that she may growl or snap at me. Thankfully she didn't, and just gave me a look like, "What? They were right there!" I'll have to work on her nasty little habit of counter surfing but until we get that worked out, I'm just going to have to be better about putting food up higher!
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