I took Gracie to the vet today. She has a hot spot from hell. In just the past few days, the top of her tail became an open wound. I tried treating it with various concoctions for hot spots and benadryl, but it was not helping. So, I took her to see the doc. I wanted to go anyway because I was curious about her other conditions.
At the vet's, we got Gracie's weight: 30 pounds. Progress. One pound less than three weeks ago. The vet looked her over and we talked about her eye, her heart, and her tail. Her eye has improved. The right one has a condition called cherry eye. It is not the eye itself, but the gland in the corner. There is a piece of cartilage that normally keeps it in place, tucked away, but in some breeds this cartilage weakens and the gland peaks out more than it should. Being exposed to air and germs, it can get infected. Gracie's case is not a bad one. And I have been using steroid eye drops twice a day on it since the last vet visit. It has improved. Nothing to worry about. It will not completely go away, but it should be fine if I make sure it stays like it is. That means using eye drops from time to time, both the steroids and lubricating drops.
The heart condition has been really concerning me. She has a murmur, and we did not know whether this is a just a leaky valve or possibly congestive heart failure. There are things to do to find out how well her heart is functioning, but it is expensive. We decided the first thing to do was an xray. From this we could see if her heart is enlarged, if there is fluid in her lungs, and if the liver looks enlarged. Two radiographs were taken, revealing that her heart is a bit enlarged on the right side. But her lungs look clear and the liver is not enlarged. Good signs. There are some distinct lymph nodes around the top of her heart that we need to keep an eye on. Dr. Seto said they could become cancerous later. Basically, the xray told us that Gracie is okay right now. She does not need medication or any further treatment now, but in a few months (to space out the expense) or if her condition worsens, the next step will be an EKG, and then an ultrsound based on that.
As for her tail, she got a steroid shot, antibiotics and an antihistimine.
I got news a while back that the biopsy on Cookie's little lumps were benign. Whew!
Today I also bought a sonic collar for Chloe to work on the barking. Not something you can just pop out of the box and throw on her, washing your hands of the problem. First I must establish that the clunky collar with the attached apparatus is a good thing. Then gradually work up to her wearing it a few hours at a time, with me around to give her praise. Then, eventually, putting the battery in and letting it make an uncomfortable high pitched sound when she barks. This will take some time. I am doing this because of a request/demand from my landlord/housemate. So, I hope it gets implemented correctly and that this will be to her satisfaction.
2 comments:
My goodness, you are busy with those little doggies of yours! Good luck with the sonic collar. I've never known anyone, human or canine, that used this device. Maybe after she gets used to it and has been wearing it for a while, Chloe will change her behaviour enough so that she doesn't need to wear it anymore...In the meantime, Alexi, you sound like you are being an exceptional mom. YEAH, ALEXI!
I hope the collar works & I'm glad that the landlord/housemate isn't requiring you to get rid of her and is at least kinda compromising, right? Also glad to hear that Cookie & Gracie are doing ok. It's so hard when our babies get older and need so much more medical attention, much of which we can't afford.
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