Blog Entries

This year has not been kind to us, and as a result, entries have been very sporadic to say the least. Mom and dad went to Regina, Saskatchewan in early January. Shortly after returning home, dad came down with the worst cold he has ever had. No matter what he did, he just could not get rid of it. He felt absolutely terrible, and it lasted for over a month. He just got better as I got sick the first time. We aren't sure what my trouble was, but it seemed to be a doggy version of the flu.

I just got over that when it was time for my yearly check-up and my vaccinations. Fortunately that went well and things started returning to normal. Then about a month ago, I went to the groomer to get my hair cut. She found a big red area in my left groin and a bunch of infected hair follicles in my chin and on the right side of my nose. By the next morning the area in my groin had swollen to the size of half of a large egg. It was bright red with dark red stripe in the centre. Since this was a Sunday, the veterinarian was closed. Overnight, the swollen area ruptured and I had a hole about the size of a dime in my groin which oozed a mixture of blood, puss and plasma. Dad immediately contacted the veterinarian and made arrangements for me to be examined.

The veterinarian determined that I had an infection in my groin and also in the hair follicles on my chin. He prescribed a regimen of antibiotics. Dad took me home and started me on the antibiotics, but at the end of a week, nothing had improved. Back we went to the veterinarian. He checked me out and arranged for me to go to his hospital for a biopsy of the two areas. This was done the next morning. I came home with stitches in my chin and my groin and a head cone to prevent me from licking my groin or scrubbing my face on the carpet. When this was put on me, it made me feel so bad that I just laid like a blob on the floor. Dad felt sorry for me and took the cone off. I tried not to lick my groin, but at night when there was no one looking, I'd lick it. By the weekend, it looked quite good, but Saturday night it got itchy and I licked it a lot. Unfortunately, I licked a stitch out and opened up a big area again. In the morning dad saw the mess and phoned the veterinarian and asked if he could put a band-aid over the opening. The veterinarian advised that he could, but to bring me in to see him on Wednesday.

When I went to the veterinarian on Wednesday, the hole was nearly closed up, so the vet prescribed a more powerful antibiotic and told dad to bring me back in a week for a follow up. He also took a blood sample to see if there was an underlying problem that was preventing my immune system from responding to the antibiotics. The results of the biopsies showed no sign of malignancies, but also failed to determine what caused the infections.

That night my groin got itchy and sore, so I worked my tongue under the band-aid and licked the wound until it opened up again and drained more blood and plasma mixed with puss. In the morning, dad was not happy, so with help from his daughter, he removed the old band-aid and applied three new ones. Two across the incision and then one along the incision over top of the two that are across it. I don't think I'll be able to lick the incision any more. Hopefully, when we go to the vet on Wednesday, the incision will be healed enough that the remaining stitches can be removed. I hope so, as all the visits to the vet have cost dad over one thousand dollars.

I'm feeling a little better now and have started to eat again, which is good, because I have gone from 16 pounds 7 ounces to 14 pounds 9 ounces. The vet is still running more tests to try and determine what caused the infections and how best to treat them. I will try and keep you updated on how I'm doing and what sort of treatment is decided upon.

Until next time,

Teia


PS from Dad.

It is very distressing when your beloved pet is not well, and very hard to concentrate on daily activities when you cannot do something to ease their pain and discomfort. Hopefully, this episode will soon have a happy ending and Teia and I can get back to providing more regular postings on this blog.