Friday, October 24, 2008

Definitely bigger than a milk jug


For those of you that saw the post about Star being a bit bigger than a milk jug in September. well she's definitely bigger than a milk jug now. She's about 5 months old. Weighing in at 13 pounds. She's learned to sit, sort of stay & fetch (only if treats are involved). Very rarely does she potty on the kitchen floor. If she gets in the rest of the house, well it's hard to tell. So needless to say, she doesn't leave the kitchen much at all. Not til she can prove nor more accidents & she can find her way out.

Poor thing. A few weeks ago, she had gotten a terrible rash/skin infection all over her belly & legs. She was one itchy puppy. She had itched so much she made herself bleed. I would give her Benadryl at night so she could sleep.

It has the vet puzzled as to what it is. In fact, he had to take a scraping of her skin on her underbelly near her back legs. When he looked at it under a microscope, it didn't show any of the several things he was looking for. So we are treating her for what he really thinks it is. Mange. Makes us sound irresponsible & that we are horrible to our dog. But we aren't. Dogs can come in contact w/ mange (often breeder think it is fleas on the mom), & not have the effects until months later.

She got a great big shot & has to have another. She's taking 10 days of antibiotics (two times a day), steroids over the course of about 20 days, & chlorhexadine shampoos every 3 days or when she starts to stink. HIGH MAINTENANCE pooch! And a little pricey too. She's a keeper & I couldn't let her be in misery & scratch herself to pieces.

Star's skin is really clearing up, so I'm praying this was the best course of treatment. She even seems happier.

You want to know how itchy she was....this is how itchy. The skin sampling was gathered while she lay on her back & the vet scraped, with a straight RAZOR BLADE (vigorously til it bled) essentially her inner thigh. She.....LOVED....it ! She lay (w/ a smile), with her eyes closed, & her leg shaking while he did it. He did this on her chest as well. Seems brutal, but it must have felt great. Now that's being itchy !

She became nuts & cried when he pulled out a few of her chest hairs. Go figure !

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