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: 2007-11-24 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.