Update on Daisy

Daisy still has the infected tooth and it will have to come out.  Over the last week, I have been giving her an antibiotic twice a day and doing warm compresses.  The swelling is going down.  My goal is to get rid of as much of the infection as possible before the vet removes the tooth.  With all that infection and with the removal of the tooth, there will be an entry wound for that bacteria to enter the rest of her body.  If I can eradicate most of that infection before the surgery, she will have a much better chance of a quick recovery. 

More on Daisy

I was sitting at the vet's office on Saturday morning waiting to see someone.  I was fuming!  I had even tried to call my vet at home and he did not answer his phone.  So I see a vet.  Yep.  Daisy has an infected tooth and surprise! she needs an antibiotic.  I told the ladies at the front to tell my vet I was really ticked off. I left him a note to the effect of "You are on my list."  Well on Tuesday, yesterday, he calls, very apologetic.  I unloaded on him and told him how unprofessional this was.  I told him how miserable Daisy was and asked if I has at any time called his office without knowing what was wrong with my animals and if I did not know, I showed up at the office.  Oh, I know.  I am so sorry.  I also told him that under no circumstanced would I ever see Dr. Hogwarts and if he kept him, he would not ever be treating my animals.  Don't mess with my animals.

Daisy

I haven't been posting because my internet service is intermittent.  Seems Verizon can't or won't send a tech to fix the problem and it is in their equipment.  Anyway, last Friday morning I noticed a swelling under Daisy's left eye.  So I thought infected sinus.  However, when I checked her mouth, I discovered she had a severely infected tooth.  Ok, I call my vet at 8am.  Yes, he will return my call.  I knew Daisy needed an antibiotic and assumed the vet would want to remove the tooth as soon as the infection was taken care of.  I also knew I would not allow him to remove the tooth before the infection was under control.  Doing so without taking care of the infection first would open an avenue for the infection to easily spread to the rest of her body.  I waited.  At 1PM, I called back.  Well, my vet had left for the weekend.  They would have another vet call me back.  At 4:55pm, I called back.  No one had bothered to return my call.  Ok, Dr. Hoffmann was on call and would return my call.  Nope.  I wanted to talk to him now.  So the receptionist called this vet.  His reply:  I have never seen this dog so I can't help you.  Hello!  He is on call and is on call all night.  He never returned my call.  Daisy had to endure the pain for 24 hours before I got her on a medication. 

Haircuts!!!!

Summertime is here in Texas so time for haircuts on Duncan, Abby, and Jock.  I started with Abby today.  Weighs 6 pounds and takes around 8 hours to clip.  Snap, snarl, bite, tuck in the feet, tuck the chin, bite the scissors, scream like she is being killed.  That was all in the first 10 minutes.  So I got about halfway finished in 3 hours.  I'll finish her tomorrow.  Then I went for Duncan.  He lays flat down on his stomach and puts his chin on the counter and nothing I can do will get him to stand up.  So about an hour and a half and I was done for.  Jock skated today, but tomorrow he gets clipped.  He is pretty good but he is by far the hardest to clip.  He is a Bichon Frise and is hair is really curly and those are thick, tight curls. I cannot use the clippers on him so it is scissors all the way.  Of course he is not groomed and fluffy.  None of my dogs are.  I just cut the hair and make them comfortable.  Weekly baths, clean the ears and cut the toenails.  They're happy.  Missy and Daisy get bathed outside.  There is something about putting a 50 pound dog in the bathtub to bathe then trying to get them dried off before they flood the bathroom.  Then there is the cleanup of the bathroom.  Not a pretty sight.

Pet food recalls

I noticed that some of the Wellness brand was involved in the recall.  I'm telling you, check out your company before you buy the food.  Make sure that the company makes their own food and does not outsource.  Most of these pet food companies are only marketing companies and have nothing to do with making the actual food.  So if one company makes the food and it is sent to another company for the preservative, then you really don't know what has been put in the food. I use Nutro Natural Choice.  They make their own food.  They have strict quality controls.  They have never been involved in a recall.  So check out the company.  Do not just read the label.  Know who makes it.  Don't lose your pet because a company cut corners to save a buck.

Duncan is afraid of storms

I discovered tonight that Duncan is scared of storms.  A thunderstorm blew in and we had already gone to bed.  When the lightening started, Duncan started shaking.  I had to sit and hold him for about an hour until the storm blew over.  Sometimes I really wonder what that little guy lived through in his former life, but then I am not sure I really want to know.  Whatever, it must have been horrible.  He is safe now and has a forever home. 

Dog food

Just reading the news on Google and saw where there is a recall on Diamond dog food because of Salmonella.  People were infected this time.  Means the bacteria was either in the food or on the sacks.  And this is a rare form of the bacteria.  I don't know if any other pet foods are involved or not.  I did see someone posting that Taste of the Wild and Wellness were also involved.  I do not know if this is true or not.  This is why I push Nutro so much.  Diamond outsources the production of their food to a separate manufacturing firm.  Nutro manufactures their own food.  They have very strict quality control at both of their plants.  They have never been involved in a recall.  It is a little more expensive, but well worth it to me.  My neighbor lost her little dog last week.  She can't trace back to anything but the dog food.  She did not have it tested.  I would have.  He was the smaller of the two little Yorkies.  Both got sick, but the larger one lived and is ok.  She cooks for him now and will not feed commercial food.  So if you get a food and your dog just seems to not want to eat it, don't force them.  Maybe they know something you don't.  Listen to your dog.  

Duncan

Duncan continues to improve every day.  He struts through the house like he owns it.  He stands in the window and defends the cul-d-sac along with Jock.  Abby lays on the back of the couch and throws in an occasional bark.  Mind you it is really just an occasional bark.  She can't be bothered.  Duncan is still scared of other people.  Even my son who is the kindest person I know.  He picks Duncan up and carries him outside, waits for him, then carries him back inside.  Because Duncan still crawls around.  Not with me.  He charges outside along with Jock, Missy, and Daisy.  Notice I did not include Abby.  Abby's only intent is to get into the cat food when I am not watching, so I have to pick her up and carry her outside.  However, the return trip inside is another matter.  She is leading the pack.  And Duncan bounces back inside.  I did not need another dog when he came, but he will stay the rest of his life.  And he is so sweet.  He asks for attention now.  He will ask to be picked up and loved. He also asks to be put on the bed.  Yep.  The little guys sleep with me. 

Trouble never takes a holiday

It has been a rough month for my little friends.  Jock has had to go to the vet a couple of times.  He has had an eye infection.  I called Dr. Don on a Sunday night about two weeks ago.  Jock's eye was blood shot and swollen.  I wanted to know if I could use contact solution to flush his eye.  Yep.  I could.  Ok?  Can I bring him in in the morning and will you be there?  Oh, yeah, bring him in.  I want to make sure he does not have an ulcer.  Monday morning Jock and I made the trek to Dr. Don.  Dr. Don was not in the office.  He was out on call at one of the ranches.  Fuming,  Ok, yeah, I can see Dr.  Henninger.  I do like Dr. Henninger.  He is so gentle.  He checked the eye, gave me an antibiotic and two tubes of salve.  He also ran tests to confirm that there was no ulcer.  There wasn't.  So I treated Jock for 5 days and he is much better, but he still has gunk in his eye.  I called Dr. Don again at home.  He agreed with me that Jock is having trouble with allergies.  He told me to keep him in as much as possible.  Well, short of giving him a litter box, he is already in as much as possible.  So Dr. Don told me to keep up the salves and I could also give him Benadryl if needed.  Jock is pretty high maintenance.  Now Abby on the other hand, is not.  No food upsets her.  No allergies.  Just a grouchy old lady.  They are all sweeties.