Thursday, July 29, 2010

Hot spot

Aaaaand no, I don't mean a wireless hot spot. I wish! I'm talking about Oscar's hot spot. Seriously ... why is he having all of his veterinary emergencies while Matt is gone? Sad face. While Oscar was out frolicking about in Canada, having a blast being an outside dog, he must have gotten a bug bite or something. He started licking this spot on his tail overnight on Sunday ... and I guess it continued on quite a bit. I guess I wasn't realizing that he kept licking the same spot. Tuesday night when I got back to Bloomington, I took him out and realized that there was a huge chunk of his tail fur gone!!!!

Aaaagh. I totally freaked out. He had licked down to the skin on a good 2-3 inch section of his tail. I was horrified!!! It looked soooo sad. And every time I tried to look at it, he got growly. Clearly, the tail was hurting. Yesterday, I took him to the pet store and they gave me a spray - it has hydrocortisone and lidocaine and stuff. I sprayed it on his tail at the store, and I think it hurt him! I felt so bad. We got in the car to drive home from the store, and he crawled into my lap in the car. He is NOT a lap dog! He just curled up and rested his head on my arm and it was sooo sad. :(

So I made a vet appointment and took him there this morning - the vet made a scary face when she saw his tail and said it was a good thing I brought him in. He got a shot in his tail (sad face again!!!), and a prescription for benadryl, cephalexen (sp?), and an antibiotic ointment. Oy.

Apparently he will be loopy while he's on the benadryl (for the next 10 days!), so that should be interesting. In the meantime ... say a happy little thought that his tail fur grows back in okay!!! Because I really like it. It's cute and fluffy.

11 comments:

Kyle said...

Maybe Oscar's bald spot will grow in gray like when humans have a traumatic experience and grow a gray spot on their head ... he'd definitely be toughest dog in the dog park then (and get all the dog babes).hehe

Anonymous said...

aww poor baby!! I hope he's okay!

kd said...

Oh no! One of my puppies got one a few years ago...it was awful! But with the right meds they clear up right away!

Becky said...

Aw, poor thing! Here's to it healing quickly!

Lucky in Love said...

Oh no! Poor little Oscar!! I feel so bad for him! Stupid Canada.

d.a.r. said...

Poor lil' guy. Something about the words "tail fur" sends me into fits of giggles. I am ridiculous.

AEOT said...

Oh, poor little pup!! Hope the medicine works for him. Junie is licking a spot like crazy right now and it's sooo tough to keep her away from it. Are you putting a cone on Oscar's head to keep him from continuing to lick it?

Anonymous said...

Poor little thing. I hope everything gets better soon. I know what it is like to have sick puppies.

Perfectly Imperfect said...

Duke's battling a pretty ferocious hot spot under his neck right now. I clipped and cleaned it though and it's getting better. The benadryl never makes my dogs loopy though. I've tried to knock them out with it before (pet owner of the year) and it didn't work. Hope it gets better soon!

Lucy Marie said...

Please do not blame this on Canada. I do not want you to give my country a bad name.

Pretty Personal Gifts said...

This is the first summer that my pooches haven't had a hot spot. I had to have my dog's entire neck shaved 2 years ago. It took weeks to heal. No one seems to know exactly what cause them.
I guess the key is to keep that area dry. Good luck Oscar! :(