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Sam is chewing her belly


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I caught it around the beginning of November, she'd chewed herself raw. Tried a few different things, Wonder Dust helped for a couple days, then stopped working, Chlorhexiderm same thing. What seemed to help the most was washing her belly, right back to and around her vulva, with a mild tea tree oil soap.

 

So, now it seems to be recurring. The skin is much better than it was, but she's still attacking herself from time to time, and I don't want to let it get bad again.

 

Is there something soothing and topical I can try? I've seen one flea on her, weeks ago, and I looked again today very carefully and saw nothing this time.

 

Ruth

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I caught it around the beginning of November, she'd chewed herself raw. Tried a few different things, Wonder Dust helped for a couple days, then stopped working, Chlorhexiderm same thing. What seemed to help the most was washing her belly, right back to and around her vulva, with a mild tea tree oil soap.

 

So, now it seems to be recurring. The skin is much better than it was, but she's still attacking herself from time to time, and I don't want to let it get bad again.

 

Is there something soothing and topical I can try? I've seen one flea on her, weeks ago, and I looked again today very carefully and saw nothing this time.

 

Ruth

 

I would try giving her a benedryl . You can use a little hydrogen peroxide to cleanse her vulva area . It wont burn her , dont worry . She probably is allergic to the fleas. All it takes is one stinking flea to do so much harm. :rolleyes:

I think the benedryl will help her. But it might make her a little sleepy , so dont be alarmed.

Hopefully this will help.

Good luck...

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I think this is worth mentioning. One of my shepherds had a huge tail issue a couple of weeks ago.

She wasnt holding it properly and was 'going at it'. I took a look at it and to my horror the whole tail was very swollen all the way up to the dock. Once we shaved the hair off , we noticed just how severe it was. A good part of her tail was turing black and the rest was a open red sore. We would have never noticed this if it wasnt for her holding it in a odd way.

Well, after cleaning it and wrapping it everyday , and lots of antibiotics and did I mention prayers , she is doing fine and is back to her goofy self :D and wont loose her tail !!

But I forgot to mention , thru all this mess , she gave birth to 4 healthy pups 4 weeks berfore the tail episode. She had to be separated from them because of the antibiotics and it would have been a nightmare to bottle feed them . Thank God they were feeding on their own.. :rolleyes:

We can only think she was bitten by a Recluse spider . This is a big possibility because we had seen one a week before we noticed her tail and we did kill it , but obviously there are more. It gives me the creeps to know these little **#$%&(

are around here. :D

I know , I know , Gods creatures , but between you and me , I will kill all spiders that come near or in my home.

 

What a really weird and scary time , but after it all , you just hug and hold your dogs closer that night. :D

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Thanks, Ipsy, I'll try the hydrogen peroxide. I've given her benedryl before, no problems there. She hates going to the vet, and I've spent enough in his office last year and this to get several bricks with my name on them if he ever re paves the front path!

 

I like spiders, but would nuke the ticks if I could.

 

Ruth

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Ruth - Sounds like I need to send your collars back! I used the larger one quite a bit with Megan and am replacing it with a new one I ordered since we put a bit of wear on it. I'll try to get them out tomorrow!

 

Sue

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Thanks, Ipsy, I'll try the hydrogen peroxide. I've given her benedryl before, no problems there. She hates going to the vet, and I've spent enough in his office last year and this to get several bricks with my name on them if he ever re paves the front path!

 

I like spiders, but would nuke the ticks if I could.

 

Ruth

 

I agree about the ticks , but I can send you a Recluse if you like...LOL.. :D

And as for the bricks , your no alone my dear... :rolleyes:

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Sue, I'm pretty sure she'd still be able to at least nibble the insides of her back legs with the BiteNot, that's why I didn't email you! I think with my next few spare pennies I'm going to get one of those ComfyCones, I posted a link for Flyer, about Colt and his incision.

 

No hurry with the bitenot, send it regular mail. How is Meggy's poor tail, they had to amputate some of it?

 

Ruth

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Sue, I'm pretty sure she'd still be able to at least nibble the insides of her back legs with the BiteNot, that's why I didn't email you! I think with my next few spare pennies I'm going to get one of those ComfyCones, I posted a link for Flyer, about Colt and his incision.

 

No hurry with the bitenot, send it regular mail. How is Meggy's poor tail, they had to amputate some of it?

 

Ruth

It's been a long road but I think she's on the mend. She figured out how to get at it with either of the two BiteNots or a cone. We had her to our vet a couple of times but it was not improving and, when we were in NC, she managed to get it uncovered (no chew wrappings and all) and chew off the tip herself - it was stinky and must have been infected and painful. So we got her to the vet down there, and he was lovely and amputated about an inch and a half or so. Overnight, at the vet's and with the standard-sized cone on, she managed to remove the wrappings so they fitted her with a 30" cone. They put her on antibiotics and pain meds, which helped.

 

Well, neither the BiteNots of either size nor the 30" cone alone could keep her from it (she would sit, tail coming to the front between her legs, and manage to get her head down to the tail tip as she picked it up off the floor) so we had to resort to the larger (6") BiteNot along with the 30" cone - which combination required real precise adjustments to get both on this 37# dog's neck. That worked but sure left her miserable.

 

Anyway, we went on to Lisa's and, with just a couple of minutes in her crate to eat and with the cone off (but the bigger BiteNot on) she managed to chew the stitched up tip off again but this time it was a pretty neat job. With care, vigilance, both collars, wrapping, and a great deal of anxiety, we got home with the stub healing pretty well. Until Dan made a fly-by in the field and sliced it again, about 1/4" from the end. But not quite sliced off, just 3/4 of the way through, and just attached by a bit of skin.

 

So, I cut off the dangling bit, wrapped it up, and left for the clinic - with her collared and coned again. But, while I was gone, she got the cone and wrappings off but, thankfully, did not do any more than lick the tail and, so far, without cone or collar, it appears to be healing nicely - maybe it's not going to be quite as nice as if it were surgically treated to bring the skin to cover the end completely, but it's healing and has been doing so for almost a week - which is something that no other effort brought about.

 

Our vet sold us another bottle of the Metacam for the pain, and enough antibiotics to give her another week's worth of those. This whole issue made the trips we made nerve-wracking but I think we are all seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with her. Thank you ever so much for caring, and I will send those collars off the first day this week that I get into town with time to do it before work.

 

PS - With the larger BiteNot put on real snug, I don't think Megan could have reached anything other than lower legs and feet, and the end of her tail. I can't see that she'd have been able to reach the insides of her hind feet. I hope you can get your poor dog some relief soon.

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