Wasn’t sure where, if at all, to put this but here it is anyway!
I am up at 4am with my “special needs” pitbull of 11 years, my doggy husband and third parent to my two children, Abby (7) and Daniel (11).
This poor pup has been through it all. We got him when my son was a baby from two women who found him running down a local highway in a known scummy area and traced him back to a makeshift puppymill in some a-holes backyard. He came in my house, cleaned the cats ear and rolled over at my son’s feet and that was it. That was 11 years ago this spring.
He has hip problems, skin problems, yeast/ear problems and anxiety (pitbulls, real killers, right lol? Jeez…) And then he was mauled over the summer. The dog on top of him was only two, bigger and would NOT LET GO of his head/ear/neck. His owner ended up shooting him to get him off my dog. Nemo almost bled to death, didn’t fight back and had lacerations everywhere. He couldn’t use his rear left leg for two months and his face looked like it had a garbage sack hanging off one side where the skin had been ripped from the bone and muscle.
Well, weeks of reopening wounds to keep him draining, antibiotics, tramadol and sedatives plus me sleeping on the floor with him later, and he was back to being my big baby. Sadly, since then his skin issues are just unbearable. It’s like he never fully recovered from all those (necessary) antibiotics.
So, here we are, tonight, and he sleeps in my room so there’s no putting it off till morning, looking for solutions we haven’t tried. Now, admittedly the last two weeks I’ve been an awful doggy mom. We’ve all been ill, and now his skin is the worst I’ve ever seen. All night he’s been frantically shaking his head and scratching. Upon close inspection (hey, we’re UP now!) I see that was is normally dry, flaking is thick, pasty, wax like scales coming off in piles and his ears are full of the same. Plus, he has “that smell”, you know, a side of wet dog with extra cheese? I think we could bake bread in his ears!
I have found some wonderful info on here already and look forward to reading more in the light of day and getting to know everyone!
Thank you for taking the time to read my long winded intro!
Heather
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