Our Cone-Headed Dog - and his trip to the vet.

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UPDATE BELOW.

Poor Seth - affectionately known as Seffers. He has had it really rough lately. After his abduction and trip to the pound, we've had to keep him on a short leash. Literally.





At first we left him tied up all day, as he likes to make his rounds. The mean neighbor keeps a shed and pen full of hound dogs. He's got a puppy mill, and he didn't put it up by his house, it's built against our fence line in the back where Seth patrols. This is very efficient. He doesn't have to hear the dogs bark, or smell them, or even go back to feed them anymore, as they are all now automated in their cages. It's only we who get to hear them and smell them, and chase them off when he lets them go for a practice hunting run. Ah, but I digress. It was on one of Seth's rounds at the back of the property that the mean neighbor Shang-Hai-ed him.

These are the events that add interest to life. What else would we talk about if it were not for the challenges? I mean besides vacations to the seaside, nightly feasts, and how unusual and utterly delightful it is that we never have any problems...

After a few weeks, we found that we could let him go, but leave his rope trailing behind him, and it seems to be enough to keep him close to the house and out of danger's way. But we do tie him back up whenever we leave the house, and we are gone a lot.

His range has been reduced, and because of longer times tied up, he's developed spots where his skin is getting rough and irritated. On top of that, he's begun to worry them.

Right on top of his head, just above his ears are the worst two places. I don't think they are mites, as he does not seem to be trying to scratch IN his ears, just on top of them. So we are treating the spots with ointment, and we fashioned a cone for his head.





So far it's lasted 24 hours, and it's made out of poster board we pulled out of our home schooling material pile. Even if we have to make a new one every day, it will still be cheaper than having to purchase a cone, I'm sure.





But oh, the indignity!

UPDATE - After rising this morning and seeing the cone still on, AND in good shape, I began patting myself on the back for being so ingenious. We changed the cone and saw his ear wounds were improved, and continued patting ourselves on the back for being ingenious.

Then the new cone was torn off in a frenzy of unbridled passionate digging about the head with natural paw daggers, and I realized we cannot beat this thing. So we took a trip to the vet.

Mind you, there is no money for this. But the thought of dying from long-term scratching, and slowly bleeding to death brought many memories of my own health troubles to the forefront, and off we went packing.

Poor dog has a yeast infection in his ears, and what I thought was mere fleas all this time, is really very itchy skin. Nary a flea on this dog, amazingly enough. I can no longer affectionately call him a flea-bitten mutt. He's as flea-free as they come.

So we left the office well over a hundred dollars in the hole, and armed with sprays, drops, a steroid-injected dog, and instructions to improve his diet and try to find what is not agreeing with him. Ouch!

Despite it all, he's still out there scratching, but we have already lost so much time just standing there attempting to prevent him from scratching, that we've got to let it go and hope the drugs do the trick here very soon.

If you think about it, send a little prayer for Seth's skin to settle down. I know it's a small thing, but having suffered at the cruel hands of yeast before.... well, I'm sure you know how much he'd appreciate being well.

So yeast is not 'in your head'. Let's hope it's only in your bread.

~Faith

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