Hey, ya'll - sorry I'm late, being the host and all, but this has been one crazy, jam-packed week of stuff. Birthdays, anniversary, parties... And now it's time to get back on track.
I wanted to see your pets close up. I will actually only focus on my dogs this time, because Revan (pictured below) was the inadvertent inspiration for this topic.
We've had Revan for about a year and half. He has A LOT of hair. But this spring, he'd been more itchy than usual. No fleas were in evidence, but he did have some nasty hotspots and his hair was falling out from his back.
We tried a antimicrobial and bathing, thinking it was maybe ringworm or just some weird dermatitis... But the fact that it was everywhere, even his big 'ol paws made me wonder.
We took him to the vet, who diagnosed a staph infection and prescribed two very strong antibiotics and a special shampoo. Lucky Rev, he got to have two baths a week - his favorite (smirk). That did seem to do the trick though... his belly and feet got much better and he began regrowing his hair on his back.
He was feeling much more normal, resuming his greeting duties and lap-warming duties with lots of enthusiasm. But then he started with the scratching and licking again.. His skin was starting to go red again, and after reapplying the antimicrobial, I realized that his hair was definitely getting in the way of applying medication. So I decided to shave him.
He laid down for most of the shaving... I had to roll him over to get the other side and then roll him on his back to get his tummy.
This is just a small pile of his hair... The rest was in a bag.
I didn't shave-shave him. I left enough hair to cover his skin so he wouldn't be totally exposed to the sun or the bugs.
He feels so much better now! No more licking or scratching. I'm putting the antimicrobial on him every night, which appears to have stopped the re-infection. He'll be a lot easier to bathe now too.
And this is Kida...
One of the things I have always found so fascinating about her is that she look like she was sewed together with mis-matching pieces of material. This is her belly.
Notice how there seems to be a line going down the middle of it. One side is all blonde and the other side has black stripes!
These are Kida's claws. They grow amazingly fast. And she doesn't like us to trim them. I'm kind of scared to - her claws are really black and the last time I did it, I cut her. I've bought a nail grinder, which we're using a little at a time. It kind of freaks her out, so I only do a little bit at a time. Hopefully we'll eventually get them down to a normal length!
Thanks to everyone for playing along! Here's the list of participants - and don't forget to visit Joangee for next week's topic:
Debs (
1Crazy Stitcher)
Jan (
Jan n' Jer) if she can borrow an animal...
Jan (
The Prytz Family)
Joangee (
Musings n Waffle) OUR HOST FOR NEXT WEEK
Faye (
Summit Musings)
Gattina (
WritersCramps)
Church Lady (
Living Life in PA)
Pamela (
The Dust Will Wait)
Thom (
Thom's Place)
Sandy (
Myanderings)
Karmyn (
Dreaming What Ifs)
14 comments:
The poor baby!!! Having to be shaved.
And I have a close-up picture of one of my chickens on my blog today (just pure coincidence). You can add my name if you like.
Those infections can be tricky, how great you got it under control. These look like two great companions for the rest of your family.
I'm glad you got those infections controlled. Poor thing. Love all these pictures my friend. Excellent. Have a wonderful week ahead :)
Poor Rev! I know all about the hot spots. Cooper gets them regularly. The vet says his spots are caused by water laying underneath the fur and he develops an allergic reaction. We shave the fur from around the spot and apply a home made remedy. It works every time!
Rev. looks like he is happy with his hair shaved. Probably cooler too! Kida has beautiful color!
That's an interesting observation, Church Lady! My husband takes the dogs on bike rides and they jump into ponds and lakes to cool off. We suspect that Revan's staph infection occurred because there was something in the water at one of the places they go. Having that long hair, he doesn't dry out as quickly as Kida - so we've been very careful about him not getting into strange water since then. Maybe now that he's clipped so closely, he can enjoy that again.
ouch. I'm not sure I wanted to see that.
poor puppy dog. I sure hope whatever is being prescribed is doing the trick.
Yup. That dog definitely got mixed up with his twin brother inutero.
Mr. AP bought a special brush to comb Roscoe. It pulls all the shedding undercoat off. Since it looks like doggie hair tumbleweeds in the house, right now I was ALL about that. He did it yesterday and I swear he pulled enough hair to make a whole new dog.
I tried it on Squeaker (she wasn't real happy with that process) but there was only a handful from her.
Rev looks much cooler...which is a good thing since he lives in FL. Sorry I could not play..no pets available to me.
Your poor baby. Glad you got it under control now. I LOVE how you describe Kida. Sweet pics. :D
What unusual names your dogs have, Sayre. How did they get them? And I had forgotten how much long haired dogs can suffer from skin problems. Never seen such paws. Revan looks quite proud to be part lion for the summer.
Your dog seems to be such a good soul ! but the look he gives you when you started to shave him, says it all, lol ! He looks very cute with just a brush as tail ! Poor dog it's terrible when they have a skin infection. My Arthur had it once too, It was a flea allergy and it went away quickly. I treat all my cats with the Frontline, the famous flea killer but white cats have a special fur and it's not strong enough. Now he has something else and no more skin infections.
Love the hair cut! Our Bella gets bad rashes due to allergies and she is so naughty. She will rub her back till she rips out not only her hair but her skin too. I found paw paw ointment to be a great saver. Stops infection and she tends to leave it alone as its very soothing.
We have Bouviers. Lots of hair. Used to have the same skin problems and found, the hard way, that the saying 'ears and rears plus paws' (red, itchy rear ends, paws and ears that the dog chews and/or licks a lot) DOES indicate a tendency toward allergies. For ours it was corn in the kibble. Read your labels, if corn (wheat and soy are the other 2 big offenders for some dogs) is one of the first 4 ingredients, try changing their food to grainless or at least one without the corn. We've had no hotspots, no skin infections, no ear problems since we switched.
Yes, the food is more expensive. The reduction in vet bills and medications has more than offset the extra cost. You usually have to feed less because the food is more dense and one big upside is that there is a lot less poop scooping to be done. Change over slowly if you decide to try it, and don't expect results overnight. The dog usually has to eat it's own weight in the food before you realize that you haven't had a problem in a while.
Poor guy Hope he doesn't have any more skin problems.
And so patient letting you bath him twice in one week.
Our two are fed Arden Grange chicken and rice and seem to thrive on it.
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