Dog Days

Louise, the poor little pooch.

During the last week, Louise has been keeping us up at night with lots of scratching and chewing herself raw and matted. Yesterday, I looked at one of her little front paws, and one of the toes has blown up enormous behind the claw. Like a pink grape.

So, we went to the vet. La Brea Pets. (Don’t throw my doggy into the tar pit!)

Our amazing doctor, Kate Monroe Zapata, said two things:

1) Louise has allergies. That’s why her skin is so awful. This has been the worst allergy season for dogs since she has been a vet.

2) Her little toe is infected and needs treatment. Separate issue from the allergies.

She shaved Louise’s chewed up, nasty parts and her swollen paw and gave her a big shot of antibiotic. Right between the shoulders. And then she told me what I had to do.

So I left the vet’s office with a bag of medicine (Hexadene, Betadine and Lincocin) and instructions to buy Benadryl tablets.

I bathed Louise with the Hexadene medicated shampoo, rubbed it into her skin and let it soak for twenty minutes. Then I rinsed her off. I cut a tablet in half and gave her 12.5 grams of Benadryl.

Later tonight, after Adam walked her, we gave her another dosage of Benadryl and then soaked her paw in a Betadine solution for ten minutes.

Tomorrow, she gets three dosages of Benadryl, a morning and evening dose of Lincocin (an antibiotic) for her paw and at the end of the day, the Betadine paw soak. This must continue for fourteen days with one more medicated bath thrown in next week.

September is never a great month in Los Angeles. It’s hot. It’s dry. And dogs suffer.

I love my pooch.