Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

A Wet Towel for Delilah, Some More Xanax for Me

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Yesterday morning I noticed a hive over Delilah’s right eye.  She has a tendency to get a large welt when she’s bit by a bug, so naturally, I assumed something had bit her.  Since we were forecast for a blizzard I had to run out to the store, and when I got home I checked her eye and the hive seemed like it might have moved slightly and her eye was a bit more swollen.  

I called the vet.

By the time we arrived at our 4:20 appointment, the bulk of the swelling around her eye was gone.  The vet could see a little swollen area and said to keep an eye on her and if it got worse to give her some Benadryl.  She said the Benadryl might make her tired.

I laughed.

Just before dinner I noticed she had a hive over her left eye.

Dog with hive

Does this arrow make my eye look puffy?

I gave her some Benadryl with her dinner, then Hubby and I ate ours and watched a show.  While we were watching the show Delilah climbed up on my lap looking for some attention.  I had noticed she was a tad bit clingy so I held her and rubbed her until she got down.

After the show was over I got up to do dishes and of course Delilah came with me.  When I looked at her under the kitchen light, this is what I saw.

Hives on dogs

It’s not a fancy new ‘doo, it’s an itchy, ugly mess.

 

It’s like she just went POOF.  The poor little thing was covered with hives.  On her nose, around her eyes and all over the top of her head.  She looked like her hair was standing up all over her head.

The vet gave us enough Benadryl for three to four days and said if I noticed the hive getting worse to start her on the Benadryl and keep her on it, to make sure we get whatever is in her system out.

I placed another call to the vet, but because we are in the middle of a blizzard, I didn’t hear back last night.   So of course I did the one thing you aren’t supposed to do.  

I consulted Dr. Google.  I know, I know.  BUT this time I found the Pet360 site, which basically said it’s an allergic reaction.  Not the best news in the world, because how the hell do you determine what the allergen is?  BUT it was enough to help me feel a wee bit better. 

Meanwhile I message Jodi Chick who suggested I wipe her down with a wet towel, in case it was a contact allergy.

Delilah was curled up sleeping on her bed, but I woke her up to wipe her down.  I wiped her all over with a wet towel and the hives seemed to have gone down quite a bit.

Funny, but the Benadryl worked with her, she went right back to sleep.  Me on the other hand…

Someone remind me to get a refill on my Xanax today.

Special thanks to my friend, One Person’s View for giving me the title for this post.

Stud Tail

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Samspon’s had a bald spot on his tail for quite a while now.  At first I thought it might be a lick granuloma, but I’ve never seem him pick at it.  Last week I noticed it was bleeding a little and then it scabbed over.  Sampson had an appointment with the vet yesterday to get his Leptospirosis vaccine and I planned on discussing it with Dr. Soutter.

Here’s how it went down.

This dog cracks me up.  As soon as we walk into the vet’s office, he “Roo, Roo, Roos” so loud the entire office knows he’s there.  Cecelia gets on the phone and alerts the back, “Sampson has just announced his arrival.”

Within a minute, Shannon comes out to weigh Sampson and bring him into the exam room. Sampson weights in at 84 pounds.  This means he has lost a pound in two weeks.  A bit concerning to me, but no-one else seems bothered by it.

When Dr. Soutter enters the room Sampson smiles from ear to ear as she scratches his tummy.  I tell her I’m concerned about that spot on his tail.  She takes one look at it and says, “Oh, that’s stud tail  I don’t know why they call it that.”  Basically it’s a gland in the tail that somehow becomes blocked.  It causes changes to the tail, hardening of the skin and loss of fur.  

Typically it’s not treated unless it becomes infected.  (However I did consult with Dr. Google and discovered there is a particular shampoo you can use that they say will clear it up.   I’ll keep you posted on that one.)

Dr. Soutter gave him his vaccine and we left to check out.  I hooked Sampson up at the hitch while I settled the bill when suddenly I heard, “Roo, Roo, Roo” again.  Sampson had seen his favorite vet tech, Emily.

After their little love fest, we are on our way back home.

I love you Emily. I love you too Sampson.

I love you Emily. I love you too Sampson. You aren’t bothered by my Stud Tail are you?  Definitely not, it’s very cute on you.

Have you ever heard of Stud Tail?  From what I’ve googled, it seems there’s a ton of websites regarding cats and stud tail but very few sites dedicated to dogs with stud tail.

Reminder, the Dumb Ass Dog Owners blog hop is open until next Sunday.  Mary and I hope you will share your stories of dumb assery and link up to the hop.

Did you thank a vet? No, I thought you did it.

Did you thank a vet? No, I thought you did it.

Don’t worry Sampson and Delilah, I’ve got that covered.

I’d like to thank all our service men and women who sacrifice so much to protect our rights and freedoms.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!

Happy Veteran’s Day!!

If It’s Not One Thing…..

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Some days I swear Delilah is either out to kill me, or out to kill herself.

Saturday she ate raisins!  One would think I don’t watch my dogs, but in fact I do, which is how I caught her before she’d ingested too many.  

All told, I think she only got about 10.

All told, I think she only got about 10.

I was downstairs helping my mom figure something out and didn’t realize there was a box of raisins within her reach.  Delilah is not a sneaky dog, and her enthusiastic slurping sounds alerted me.

The emergency vet advised I should induce vomiting and I did.  Within 10 minutes of eating them, I had them out.  I was fairly certain she’d gotten them all up.  

The emergency vet said I could bring her in to hook her up to an IV but after talking to my vet, I decided to keep her at home with me.   Since Sampson was scheduled for his annual exam yesterday, my vet requested I bring Delilah along so she could check her kidney levels.

Typically I schedule the dog’s appointments for the evening so Hubby can go with, but for some reason I scheduled Sampson’s for early morning.  Which meant I was on my own with the two nuts.

Why must you always call us names? You're a mean one Mama. You give the Grinch a run for his money.

Why must you always call us names? You’re a mean one Mama. You give the Grinch a run for his money.

First things first, the weigh in.  Sampson weighed in at just under 86 pounds, which is perfect!  The vet does not want him to lose anymore weight!  All told he’s lost 25 pounds since we started his weight loss journey.

Then came the examination.  My poor Bubby has a dead tooth.  Dr. Soutter said the blood vessel in his tooth exploded and the tooth is done.   It will need to be removed.  Right now she doesn’t think it’s bothering him, but eventually it will.  I feel badly because I hadn’t noticed the tooth until she pointed it out.

 

Mama....pwease stwop puwing my wip.

Mama….pwease stwop puwing my wip.

I’m not sure if you can tell from the photo, but it’s an upper tooth and it’s gray. 🙁

Sampson’s definitely got some arthritis in his inured leg, and his Ilio Psoas muscle is still tight.  Otherwise he is in good shape.  It was also the year for his rabies vaccine, which he had.  I held off on his Leptosporosis vaccine and will schedule that in a couple of weeks.

Then it was Delilah’s turn.  The blood draw went very well and Dr. Soutter should call me with the results later today.  She’s also checking her liver levels so we can get an idea if we are on the right track or not.

I asked Dr Soutter to check their nails and while she was trimming Delilah’s, Delilah yipped.  We were all surprised because the clipper wasn’t close to the quick.  Dr. Soutter waited a few seconds and went back to trim that nail again and Delilah snapped at her.  That has never, ever happened before.  

I requested the nail clipping be stopped and Dr. Soutter released Delilah AFTER she had relaxed.  She explained that you can train a dog to react to the nail clipping.  Ah, I snapped and it stopped, so the next time I’ll snap again.  By giving her time to relax, with Dr. Soutter holding her foot, she is learning when she is calm, it will stop.  Poor thing, she practically flew to me once she was released. I’m not sure what to make of this, I trim her nails at home all the time with no issues.  She does have some scarring on her feet from her previous life and she is kitchy if you move your foot fast near her feet or while she’s sleeping and I’m wondering if it had anything to do with the fact that a vet tech was holding her and she couldn’t see what was going on. 

So after the nail trimming was stopped we headed to check out.  Our vet’s office has a container with treats on the counter, right next to the business cards.  I made the mistake of hitching Delilah up on the side of the counter with the treats.  She stood up to try and open the treat container and knocked the business cards onto the floor.  After I’d picked them up, I asked if it would be okay if I put the dogs in the car before settling the bill.

I opened the door and as luck would have it, there was a couple coming in with a small dog.  Both my dogs darted for the dog, Sampson to greet the dog and people and Delilah, well I’m thinking at the way she was barking she wanted to eat that dog!  It dawned on me right then and there that she’s not fond of small dogs.

Thankfully I kept my wits and got the dogs back inside and as soon as it was safe, I brought them out to the car. Sadly by the time I got back inside the couple with the small dog had already been shown into an exam room so I didn’t get a chance to apologize.

 I will keep you posted on the liver/kidney values but the one good thing I learned from the raisin incident is not all dogs have toxicity reactions to raisins/grapes.

 Has your dog ever ingested a potentially toxic ingredient?  What did you do?

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