On the fifth day of vacation
Nov. 23rd, 2007 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithI should just buy a house next door to the vet clinic.
Around 130am Thanksgiving morning, I was awakened by a couple of pups who Had To Go Outside Now. Let 'em out. Let 'em back in. Went back to bed. A few minutes later, was jarred out of of a doze by a furious scratching/thumping sound from the direction of Mickey's area of repose.
Got up. Turned on light. Checked Mickey, who was lying on his bed, awake. Figured that maybe he had just been scratching or something, and went back to bed.
A few minutes later. The same sound. Get up to check Mickey, who stands as I approach and starts walking, leaving little bloody footprints in his wake. The sound had been him thumping against his pillow as he contorted himself so he could reach his rear left foot and chew on it.
Background: for the past two summers, Mickey has suffered allergies and like many dogs who suffer so, he gets itchy feet. The rear feet, in his case, which he licks raw. I spent several hours total over the summer washing sore pads in Nolva-Cleanse and changing bandages. Then I stumbled upon some supplements from Drs Foster & Smith, which really seemed to help. Seemed to help so much with his joints as well as his feet, in fact, that I'm still giving them to him. So imagine my concern to find him, after a hard freeze that should have killed off the outdoor things that bother him and while still on treatment, still licking his feet.
So, I dug out the puppy first aid kit--if I ever do damage to myself, I will go for this kit because it's better equipped than my own--and washed and bandaged Mickey's foot. Examined it as best I could while half-asleep and dealing with a squirmy 85-lb dog who didn't want his feet Touched, thank you, and found a raw spot. Wondered if maybe he'd stepped on something that I couldn't see, and decided that caution was the word of the day and left a message for the vet. They were closed yesterday, but I got an appointment for 9am this morning.
First order of business, get Mickey in the truck without King realizing what was going on, because if King realizes that Mickey is going for a ride and he isn't, there will be protests of the whiny, barky, "How can you leave me in this hellhole--you never take me anywhere" variety. So I let King out in the backyard. Pulled out the truck, which he saw me do because the garage is readily visible from the backyard. He then proceeded to get very excited because Oh Boy Oh Boy, he's ridden in the truck enough to associate it with Going For a Ride. I proceeded to slip back inside the house, leash Mickey, take him out the front door and load him into the truck. Unfortunately, all this wasn't hidden well enough. King proceeded to whine and bark, and I decided hell with it. I'd take him along, then simply leave him in the truck when I took Mickey into the clinic.
This actually worked out.
Anyway, Mickey's diagnosis--pad overgrowth. His pads were in really poor shape after the summer bout, and they have over the months been regrowing. A section of regrowth was extending past the end of the pad, and that may have been bothering Mickey enough that he tried to trim it back with his teeth. There's old injury beneath the new growth, and some of it is still a little raw. That could've been what bled.
ANYway. Vet trimmed back overgrowth. I should clean/bandage the area for two weeks, then bring the Mickster back in to check progress.
I also decided that since King was already there, I'd go ahead and get him microchipped. That'll teach him to hitch along for the ride.
Funniest moment--as we sat in the waiting area, a mother and son came out with a little Shih-Tzu (sp?), which turned out to be a female named Chloe. Cute, wriggly little thing. Very playful.
Mickey hid under my legs. He wagged his tail, but still. 85 pound himself hid from a 5-pound moppet. I thought the tech behind the reception desk would die laughing.
Around 130am Thanksgiving morning, I was awakened by a couple of pups who Had To Go Outside Now. Let 'em out. Let 'em back in. Went back to bed. A few minutes later, was jarred out of of a doze by a furious scratching/thumping sound from the direction of Mickey's area of repose.
Got up. Turned on light. Checked Mickey, who was lying on his bed, awake. Figured that maybe he had just been scratching or something, and went back to bed.
A few minutes later. The same sound. Get up to check Mickey, who stands as I approach and starts walking, leaving little bloody footprints in his wake. The sound had been him thumping against his pillow as he contorted himself so he could reach his rear left foot and chew on it.
Background: for the past two summers, Mickey has suffered allergies and like many dogs who suffer so, he gets itchy feet. The rear feet, in his case, which he licks raw. I spent several hours total over the summer washing sore pads in Nolva-Cleanse and changing bandages. Then I stumbled upon some supplements from Drs Foster & Smith, which really seemed to help. Seemed to help so much with his joints as well as his feet, in fact, that I'm still giving them to him. So imagine my concern to find him, after a hard freeze that should have killed off the outdoor things that bother him and while still on treatment, still licking his feet.
So, I dug out the puppy first aid kit--if I ever do damage to myself, I will go for this kit because it's better equipped than my own--and washed and bandaged Mickey's foot. Examined it as best I could while half-asleep and dealing with a squirmy 85-lb dog who didn't want his feet Touched, thank you, and found a raw spot. Wondered if maybe he'd stepped on something that I couldn't see, and decided that caution was the word of the day and left a message for the vet. They were closed yesterday, but I got an appointment for 9am this morning.
First order of business, get Mickey in the truck without King realizing what was going on, because if King realizes that Mickey is going for a ride and he isn't, there will be protests of the whiny, barky, "How can you leave me in this hellhole--you never take me anywhere" variety. So I let King out in the backyard. Pulled out the truck, which he saw me do because the garage is readily visible from the backyard. He then proceeded to get very excited because Oh Boy Oh Boy, he's ridden in the truck enough to associate it with Going For a Ride. I proceeded to slip back inside the house, leash Mickey, take him out the front door and load him into the truck. Unfortunately, all this wasn't hidden well enough. King proceeded to whine and bark, and I decided hell with it. I'd take him along, then simply leave him in the truck when I took Mickey into the clinic.
This actually worked out.
Anyway, Mickey's diagnosis--pad overgrowth. His pads were in really poor shape after the summer bout, and they have over the months been regrowing. A section of regrowth was extending past the end of the pad, and that may have been bothering Mickey enough that he tried to trim it back with his teeth. There's old injury beneath the new growth, and some of it is still a little raw. That could've been what bled.
ANYway. Vet trimmed back overgrowth. I should clean/bandage the area for two weeks, then bring the Mickster back in to check progress.
I also decided that since King was already there, I'd go ahead and get him microchipped. That'll teach him to hitch along for the ride.
Funniest moment--as we sat in the waiting area, a mother and son came out with a little Shih-Tzu (sp?), which turned out to be a female named Chloe. Cute, wriggly little thing. Very playful.
Mickey hid under my legs. He wagged his tail, but still. 85 pound himself hid from a 5-pound moppet. I thought the tech behind the reception desk would die laughing.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-23 10:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 03:09 pm (UTC)Then it'll be King's turn again...
no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 02:20 am (UTC)And for Kristine, Tink will bark at other dogs in an attempt to get them to play with her. Unless they are small white fluffy dogs, in which case, my 75lb Doberman hides behind my legs (as well as she can) and peeks around me with an air of great caution and trepidation.
Clearly, small fluffy dogs are the psycho terrorists of the dog world, we humans just can't sense it.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 02:57 am (UTC)Along with the two orientals (see above for Mariska), Jasmine shares her world with a Giant Schnauzer. Unlike your Aida, Jasmine loves dogs. She thinks they were put on this world for her comfort, and she loves to upset poor Hannah the schnauzer by falling asleep curled up between her front legs. Hannah is then afraid to move until Jasmine feels like getting up.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 10:55 pm (UTC)And yeah, Aida has finally admitted after 3 years that maybe the dogs have the right to exist and breathe air. I'm proud of her broad-mindedness, for a while there I was pretty certain that she would murder the dogs in their sleep.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 01:23 pm (UTC)Makes sense to me that a large dog who is trying to be good would be scared of a small dog.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 01:04 am (UTC)Friends had a pair of boy Weimaraners who would chase motocross-urchins off their owners' north 40 (80lb dog vs 200 lb of bike and rider) and scare off mountain lions without fear, but when confronted with a 20 lb beagle bitch who seemed to *always* be in heat, they'd run and hide behind daddy... or mommy... or *anyone* who'd protect them from that gurl who wuz always chasing them for the wrong reasons. They *were* fixed, but...
no subject
Date: 2007-11-24 02:20 am (UTC)You know, I wondered. He puffs out when he confronts the neighbor dogs along the fence, and he barks at other dogs when I take him for walks.
When King would encounter the Setter Twins--Abigail and Theresa--he'd lie on the ground, flattening himself as low as he could. As non-threatening a pose as he could manage. Mickey might have been doing the same thing.