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Saturday, August 21, 2004

Raven got religion?

Raven is now a collar-wearing dog. No, he didn't become a member of the faithful or join a mainline church, or decide to go to seminary. This collar is to protect him from scratching and licking. Scratching his face and licking his toes.

Poor Raven. I took him to the vet yesterday, as I mentioned in my last post. He has allergies, as I suspected. His stomach problems are getting better and aren't serious, but the allergy thing will probably be a lifelong event--hopefully only seasonal--at least for the next couple of years.

Raven's feet are infected. He's been licking them for several days now, and they are a breeding ground for bacteria. So, the vet gave me two things to put on in between his toes. First, a clear solution, applied with kleenex or a cotton ball. Then, when that dries, a rub a creamy solution between each toe. Raven loves this. (NOT!)

Besides this routine, I need to give him something that looks like a vitamin E capsule, one a day for the rest of his life. This is supposed to help his skin and coat. I'm also giving him benedryl to help him with this allergies (he's got conjunctivitis on top of that). Plus an antibiotic for his sore feet (and maybe to help his eyes too.)

He can be without his collar if he is under supervision (meaning, he can't lick his feet). This is difficult if not impossible, for every time I turn around he's licking his feet. So, he's wearing the collar for now. I did save him the humiliation of facing the world with the collar on this morning--I figured I could keep a pretty good eye on him as we were walking and using a leash.

Hopefully in a day or two his feet will begin to heal and we can wean him off the collar. In the meantime, it's two applications of foot stuff and a bunch of pills rolled together with peanut butter. Twice a day.

Till next time,


Suzi



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