Shelby's Life and Whatnot

General chatter

So about 2 weeks ago Scout had some minor surgery. She'd been having problem with one of her eyes--it was constantly red and irritated. We got it cleared up with antibiotics and eyedrops, but the vet noticed a mole on her eyelid and thought that was probably causing constant irritation. Well, Scout's at that age where doggies start getting weird moles and growths (she's 12) so we decided to have the vet remove the mole on her cheek under her eye as well as the fatty growth (under the skin) on her tummy. Oh, and while she's out, let's get her teeth cleaned too. So we took our doggie to the vet and picked her up later that day.

Oh my god, the poor thing! She looked like she was on the losing end of a boxing match.

Of course they had to shave each area where they removed something, so she was shaved around her eye including her eyebrow, then shaved on the cheek, then of course the leg that had the iv was shaved, as was most of her tummy for the fatty growth that turned out to be golf-ball sized (yikes!) and then the vet also found another fatty growth on her side behind her arm, so she was shaved there. She had some stitches in her eye, 4 stitches on her cheek, and 5 or 6 on each of the tummy areas. Of course since it was right after surgery, she still had Betadine on the areas, which made it look even worse. Her poor eye looked terrible. Just looking at her I felt horrible.

Kevin went out and bought a Comfy Cone, which is like the best invention ever for a dog who needs to wear a cone post-surgery. The Comfy Cone is an elizabethan collar but it's made of vinyl over foam padding so that it's flexible instead of rigid like the plastic ones. It bends and is much easier for her to sleep in. It also velcroes on the side so you just have to wrap it around her neck instead of trying to force her head through it.

We've been calling her "The World Famous Conehound"

Our other problem was medication delivery. Scout will spit out ANY pill and her snout is too long to just shove it in, plus she had stitches on her cheek so we couldn't hold her snout shut. It doesn't matter what you wrap the pill in, she will eat off the food around it and spit out the pill. We finally figured out to crush the pill (or open the capsule) and get a small amount (like a spoonful) of regular wet dog food (the kind without chunks). We mixed the food plus crushed pill together, and then took a fingerful and smear it on the roof of her mouth. This was Mommy's method, but after a couple of days Kevin figured out that Scout was playing Mommy like a fiddle (surprise, surprise) and she would just eat the laced soft food directly without having to smear it on the roof of her mouth. Anyway, it's been wonderful to have such an effective and struggle-free solution.

Tomorrow she goes back for her second checkup and will probably not be a Conehound anymore. She looks much better, but is still shaved, which is kind of pathetic. Hopefully her fur will grow back quickly!