Dog Bless You: February 2014

Another one!!!!

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

There was this strange little mutt sitting on the side of our plot road - we saw her on and off for I don't know how long, a week or month, I cannot tell you. I ignored it with all my heart, reusing to look closer or stop. Then Pio called me; "Take that dog some food, it's starving to death." Oh joy. Here we go.

I took the little scrap some food, and blame it all on him. She was starving and very very scared; so I put food in all the cars and whenever we drove past, if she was there we would try feed her and get her into the car. We pottered about with it for two weeks; I managed to touch her but didn't feel like grabbing her and scaring the wits out of her, as well as maybe being bitten. On this went; then Pio grabbed her and got her into the car.

He got her up here, we locked the dogs inside, and let her out of the car. We had food and water ready, but the little mite freaked and hit the road, straight through the electric fence and charged the 4 kilometers all the way back down the road to her little roadside stop where she sat day in and day out. I chased her in the car with food and she almost came back to me and then decided not to and headed off like her tail was on fire again. So we gave up again and put the food back in the car for the next time we saw her.

Then, on Sunday the 26th of January, Joani phoned me and said she had the brat in her car and was on her way up the hill. I left the dogs to it this time, and instead closed up the house and got the food out. My dogs of course mobbed her and she wet herself in terror all over Joani's back seat, but I dragged her out and took her inside on her own. I gave her some food and she wolfed it. She was terrified and trying to hide and then to follow me as I fed her polony to get her to relax and realise that no one was going to hurt her.

When she eventually relaxed slightly, we let Bear in; well, we all know what the bully is like, and he huffed and puffed and made sure she knew he was the boss, like the typical arrogant male that he is. She was terrified. Kita just growled at her, and I think it was more jealousy than anything else. Coda was the direct opposite; he was so taken with her that he wouldn't leave her alone, but it was all happiness and excitement. The little mutt hid by the fireplace, and I sat in front of her whilst all the dogs sniffed and growled and snapped and huffed and puffed at each other.

When they all settled and we thought she wasn't going to run away anymore, I left her alone and sat on the couch watching TV - and this was when Coda stepped in like the little knight in shining armour that he is and lay in front of her, keeping Bear and Kita away. She lay behind him and they both slept; it was really too cute.

At first she chased the cats; horror of horrors. I didn't want to go through that again and so said I would take her to SPCA, but of course didn't have the heart. So we watched her carefully, and it turned out that she seemed to only chase Zazu when he shot past her going a million miles an hour - for whatever reason as he really is the laziest cat on the planet. Otherwise, she looked and sniffed and did nothing.

She then seemed to develop a fierce attachment to me and still to now, she is very rarely away from me. Then, I had to go to work with Frankie and drove off down the road. As I stopped for a bright green boomslang that slithered across the road in front of me, the little rat caught up with me. She had obviously discarded the bone I had given her and darted through the electric fence to be with me; she got in the car and came with me to Frankie.

When I had to leave her alone with Pio, he said that she chunked the entire time I was gone, and only yesterday after she got hit by the electric fence in front of him, did she not chase me and stayed inside with him, not crying either for a change. Whether that will be a permanent thing or whether tomorrow when I leave her she will cry again, I do not know.

This very odd attachment stretches to not being in the same room with me; she will follow me wherever I go even if it is just from the lounge to kitchen. At night she cries because I am trying to break her attachment and having her sleep in the lounge whilst I am in the bedroom. This is hardly a big gap, but she cries. When she does sleep in the room, she gets up throughout the night and will jump up on the bed next to me, make sure I am still there and then go back to her bed.

On our first walk, Pio said that she would run away and I shouldn't take her. I said OK, and off I went. She fought him off and charged after me; so she came with. She didn't leave my side. Running away was clearly not even a thought in her little mind - she was so thrilled, it was actually very sweet. She was so happy and kept dashing back to me to make sure I was still there and hadn't disappeared. When walking her with Pio the next day, I went and hid in the bush (yes, I know, small things and small minds) and watched to see what she did. When she realised I wasn't there she looked for me, ignored Pio and wouldn't walk on with him, searched for me and chunked. When I came out from behind the bush, she went hysterical.

So yes, we are working on breaking her crazy attachment to me. She still goes nuts when I leave, and climbs out the house window to look for me in the garden, but at least doesn't go through the fence after it shocked her lol. She sniffs and hunts, but is settling down. She walks with us every evening and doesn't run away - of course not pfffft! Who would after half starving to death and then getting fed Hills every day! And at night when she is in the lounge she still cries to get to me, but it is hopefully slowing down. She plays with the other dogs and Bear of course bullies the hell out of her, but she must fight her own battles there. When it gets too much she hides behind me - total pissy!

So this our 4th brat, and the second Dog Bless You rescue. Unless I get funding, I can't afford any more!! She is a sweetie though - just really not at all good-looking poor mutt!

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Coda - The never ending saga ...

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

I am heart broken. Whilst I was away in December, Coda started eating his tail. I got back, and found a big angry welt on his tail. Well, at that point it was small. So off we went to the vet after trying to treat it with salt water and it now working. A hot spot, Dr Beggs said, which could have been caused by the stress of me not being there or any million other things - who knows what goes on in his quirky little head. So we were back on the antibiotics and cortisone.

Left - his face that hasn't quite healed properly.

Cortisone relieves the crazy itching; so whilst he was on that he left his tail alone and it started to heal. The moment that it stopped he started again. I thought I should leave it until the antibiotics were finished to see how it developed, and also that the vets bills are getting insane. Well - then it just went crazy and he has lost a lot of fur on his tail and eaten the little welt into a rather large one.

Right - his paws that have never cleared up 100% either. We thought that it was because his skin was so badly damaged that it was just taking longer to come tight.

Off we went to the vet yesterday afternoon. The demodex is back - it is alive on his front paw and his tail and most likely his face, as that has never healed as well as the rest of his body. I am confused by everything that I have been told and what I have read up about demodex, but what I can figure out is that it is an immune system problem. So either the animals are born with it, or it gets transferred from the mother, and if their immune system isn't strong enough they can't fight it off and it starts eating them - literally. The eating of their flesh drives them so crazy that they chew and pull their fur out, lick and go crazy and this will continue until for example, he eats his tail to the bone.

I almost cried as Dr Beggs and I sat on the floor in his consult room. After five months, his system is caving in and he gets sick each time we dip. He gets miserable and hides or runs away when he sees the bucket and gloves come out. It is so taxing for him, and then the incontinence also can't carry on. My poor baby has had such a tough time and now there's no end in sight.

Left - his tail that he has started stripping raw.

I don't know if it's been caused by me being more lax with the dipping than I was; maybe I didn't soak his tail to the skin properly - but then I definitely would have soaked his front legs. I feel like I have let him down and am just so depressed about it, and I feel so desperately sorry for my boy, who has turned into such an angel.

Saskia says it is a catch 22 situation; he needs his immune system to fight these bugs and the cortisone wears that down, although it stops the itching which in turn stops the chewing and biting. So now that his immune system is struggling to cope with the continued dipping and meds, the bugs are fighting their way back. He just isn't strong enough to get through it.

Right - His tail that he has eaten into a sore. He cries if you touch it and it gets infected at the drop of a hat. It is now crusting and going black.

Our plan of action to continue forward is a prolonged period of cortisone and antibiotics again, and then I also bought an immune booster - eco-immune or something, which he has to have three times a day. Then we will continue dipping IF his tail has dried up and isn't so raw and bleeding as it is now by Sunday, which is our dipping day. We are back to see Dr Beggs on Tuesday next week, and in the meantime he is going to research some spot-on thing that apparently works for demodex, or is noted in some countries as working, but not in others. If he thinks it looks hopeful, we will use that in addition to the dipping with Ectodex to see if we can get a stronger combination together to help him through this somehow.

It is just so sad - he is so happy and full of life, and comes to have cuddles each morning, and listens so well - he doesn't deserve to have such a difficult life and to be in pain all the time. I am very down about it all, and we can just pray and hope that something works and we can cure him eventually, otherwise we will be forced to dip his entire life. Here's hoping that we can make his life normal again!

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Coda - Part Two

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

The little monster - every time I think he has improved and he has decided to finally pay attention to me he takes off like a bat out of hell and I don't see him for an hour! Aaarrgghhh! So to continue Coda's story - I let him go every day, with Kita and Bear who walk with me, so obediently, whilst Coda tore off through the bush like a psycho. They always looked at me with a face that said; "Why can't we go with ..." and they actually still do, to this day.

So we went, and there was minor improvement every few weeks when he would decide to walk with me for a whole five minutes, instead of tearing off like he had a rocket up his butt. Then he would decide to come when I called one day, and ignore me flatly for another two weeks. I remember that we had to go to Von Bach on the 14th of September to see friends, and as I didn't trust leaving him alone, I asked his Mum to take him for the day. She did so, and when we got back that night he was so upset that he cried all night again - he loved her so much!

I said to our lovely vet, Dr Beggs, one day, that I just couldn't do it any more - I had had Coda for three months and was still getting no recognition from him - no love, no affection, no interest at all. It was like he just wanted away from us and to run until he dropped dead. It was so upsetting - we probably all have a secret wish to do something well and have that wonderful recognition and love in return for what you have done, and when it doesn't happen it hurts a little.

And so the struggle continued - there was on day that he greeted me like he loved me - the 17th of September - and never again. I broke out in horrendous rashes with every dip, that sometimes lasted for a week; they would fade the day before I had to dip him again! The stealing, ignoring, and running away continued. We couldn't leave him alone in case he killed a cat, as with the renovations going on we had nowhere to lock him. We also couldn't drive in and out of our house without calling the other and asking for him to be held so he didn't run away - that one day that we forgot he would gap it like he had hell hounds after him.

In a month of getting him, on the 27th of September, Dr Beggs told me that 80% of the bugs were dead - what a huge relief. I could see the improvement, his fur was growing back a little, and he greeted me like he liked me sometimes. I also thought that if 80% of them had died so quickly we were on our way to a fast recovery and by Christmas we would be done and could move on.

By the 25th of October, all the mites were dead but still on his skin - so although they are not living, they're THERE and you have to continue dipping until there are NONE on him at all, not even a dried up dead skeleton of a vile mite that eats animals alive. Then you dip for another month.

We went back in November - still dead bugs. We also moved out to the plot in November, thinking that we were doing a wonderful thing by moving to a lovely twenty-five hectares where they could roam free and have fun and not have to worry about cars, people, or anything. Well, of course Bear and his hunting threw that into a bit of a spin, and he even dragged Coda along with him once, but luckily Coda is a more gentle soul and on his mad roaming runs that he takes he doesn't kill things.

Settling in was difficult for me, and heaven for the dogs. There is a million smells and things to follow and look at and chase - Coda was in his element. Still, every time we opened the gate he would belt out and disappear. The first three times when he escaped me and disappeared, I was worried enough to belt after him through the bush frantically in shorts and plakkies and in the dusk as the sun set, panicking that he was going to get eaten by the resident leopard or gored by a gemsbok or tackled by a pig. At that point porcupines hadn't even registered in my brain! Then I said to hell with that and let him go - and the little s.h.1.t always came back! In an hour he would be lying in front of the gate, panting and happy. He would charge inside and run for the water bowl, avoiding me as he got scolded.

Eventually, I gave up scolding and smacking. My theory behind that is that we had dogs when I was younger that roamed, and on getting hidings they became nervous wrecks but it didn't stop the hunting and roaming. So Pio said that he would scold, as it annoyed him and he worried about the mutt, and I said it was pointless and I would instead love and cuddle him. Hmmm ....

In the middle of all of this, I had dipped him and a few hours later noticed that he was incontinent and leaking all over wherever he was lying or standing - it just dripped out of him. I spoke to Saskia again, and she said there is no way at all that the dip could have caused it - Ectodex doesn't have that effect and it must be something else causing it. I thought OK, no problem, and when it didn't happen again I forgot about it.

We went back to the vet in December - still dead bugs. Then I wen away to Swakop for a week and a half, and his dipping say fell on a day I wasn't there. Pio said he had dipped for me when I asked, and on we went. When I got back on the 2nd of January, I found Coda had started eating his tail - a lovely big hole in it with no fur on. I felt like banging mine and his head against a wall.

I spoke to Sas, who said yes it's a hot spot, salt water it and see how it goes. It got worse, so off we went to Dr Beggs, who put him on another three weeks of antibiotics and cortisone - a smaller dose than he originally given in the beginning. He said to put a sock over his tail so that he stopped chewing it and that it didn't aggravate the wound. The cortisone and antibiotics helped dry it up nicely, and he ALMOST stopped chewing it. The moment that he came off of them, he started chewing again and has now stripped off the hair on the other side - time to go back to the vet. Either it's the demodex that has somehow flared up on his tail randomly, as Dr Beggs said that it's an unlikely place to have them, or he just can't see to get over the itch. We are due back at the vet this week for another skin scraping and check up.

BUT, on the bright side and with only occasionally a little lapse, Coda has finally turned into the angel that we wanted him to become. He loves us and will come for cuddles on his own; he races into the house in the mornings and will dash through the house like a lunatic - on and off the beds and couches, and if I'm lucky he wills tay in bed with me for half an hour and cuddle. He comes when I call - well OK, sometimes - but the best of it all, is that every evening he walks WITH us. He goes a little way on ahead and is out of sight, but by the time we turn to head home, he comes racing up behind us and stays with us all the way home. At the fate he charges off down the hill on the other side to have a sniff, and then comes back before we close the gate. This has now been happening for a month; although, just as I am sure we have won the war he takes off this morning and had a half hour wander. He was back quickly though.

Even in spite of that there is such wonderful improvement in him; his coat is shining and there are still only a few marks on his face and front legs - and of course his tail. He shows love and happiness when he sees us, he dances for his dinner every evening, and he walks with me and off the lead.

So although we are still fighting the demodex five months later, I have finally realized that the rewards I wanted so badly are there in front of me and have finally happened. I love the little monster - although I must say Nala doesn't, she hates his guts and still walks on eggs around him. I don't think she will ever recover, but there was no way I was dropping him at the SPCA or putting him down. Maybe that is the wrong decision for my cats, but we are working to give them their space and time apart and hoping that it will work eventually.

For now Coda is part of the pack and our family, and we love him to bits.

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Another one!!!!

Coda - The never ending saga ...

Coda - Part Two