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| Why I wear t-shirt? |
So, I haven't posted anything about Moses for awhile. Partially due to laziness and partially due to the huge embarrassment he has been for the last ten days. I mean really really not pretty.
So Moses got neutered twelve days ago and wore an obnoxious plastic 20 inch cone. A cone so fearsome that moving past Moses caused you to collide into cabinets, get bruises as he pushed you down the stairs, and make sure that you had to either jump out of the way, or brace yourself. Ideally it was best to wear long pants in the presence of the cone of peril, this thing was way beyond the cone of shame. He only wore the cone for six days but those six days came with an interesting plot twist.
A smell.
A terrifying smell.
A dark powerful essence wafting through the air.
Sweet sticky sickening.
And my mother being the good parent discovered a stiff unknown substance on his neck. Initially she thought it was pitch, a chemical, being dipped in the bog of eternal stench. So she set out to remove the wonderful goo from poor Moses' already en-coned neck.
My mother started out with just plain water, cold and hot. Neither worked
Dish soap? Nope.
Curry Comb? Nope, Moses snarled at her as she pulled some fur out.
Hoping it would go away she left it for twenty four hours.
The next day the quantity of the dried honey like substance had multiplied My mother pulled up her britches, put her serious face on, and went into the garage searching for the miracle worker goo-gone. (Thank god she didn't choose turpentine)
The substance of unknown origin was goo gone resistant As a child she recalled she could remove pitch from her hands and feet using butter or peanut butter. The small experimental section didn't seem to go away.
She rinsed washed and repeated.
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| Easier than drinking with cone. |
Being an emergency room nurse in a former life, she began to think there was probably was a explanation for it so she ran it by a pediatrician friend, who happens to own a chocolate lab.
"Hot spot!" Said the pediatrician.
Which activated my mother's maternal instinct and she called the vet clinic demanding to be seen that day or she was going to change her patronage. (She obviously felt guilty)
On initial examination, the vet couldn't see anything through Moses previously healthy coat. However when they shaved a 6 in by 12 in swatch they found a significant Hot Spot.
Now hot-spots are caused by moisture accumulating in the folds of skin, Moses being an adolescent Rottweiler who is never kenneled and seldom left alone, reacts to being in a kennel by drooling profusely. One neutering eight hours in the vet kennel, drooling, plastic cone, all of this equals a petri dish that is a force to be reckoned with.
So now Cone head Moses also has to wear a t-shirt, as well as is required to stay dry, not lick or scratch, take antibiotics orally, have the antibiotic ointment applied twice a day, steer clear of other dogs, while ideally not wearing the cone of shame and being supervised. That supervision is to prevent scratching his chest area, licking his iv site or his newly neutered scrotum.
Needless to say, Moses was not very happy with us. For the next week he would not come when my mother called. Actually he quiet often went the other way, or hid in a closet, anticipating that she was going to come to hurt him one more time. Or maybe it was a diabolical scheme to scratch without intervention. But either way he hid.
Now Moses' trust issues are mostly fixed and he can make appearance at the coffee shop again (without looking like he has leprosy).
We are pleased to report, hot-spot is 98% gone, scrotum has healed nicely, and he has some hair growth on the bare chest of his. We think he'll be no worse for the wear.
My mother on the other hand is traumatized.
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| My mom bought me a ball to say sorry. Not forgiven yet. |
