A few weeks ago, I noticed that my white female husky-collie cross, who is already very pink in her nether regions, was decidedly pinker. I asked her to come over, rolled her on her back and examined her belly. To my surprise, her entire abdomen was covered in scabs. Upon closer examination, I noticed that the scabs were also in her armpits, around the base of her tail, and also on her back. I called the other dogs over, and took a look at them as well. While it wasn’t as extensive, it was clear that they had the same problem. It clearly was some kind of infestation, but I wasn’t quite sure which. It sort of looked like a bacterial infection, with the immature sores exuding a kind of yellow-green pus, soon followed by a blackish-colored scab. Many of these lesions had coalesced into larger patches. While it didn’t look like a demodex infestation, something akin to the pathogen I reviewed in my post on rosacea, it could be sarcoptic mange. Sarcoptic mange. What a bad-ass sounding … [Read more...]
On what to feed your puppy
Some of you who follow my Facebook page may have seen updates about the birth of five puppies to my female dog, Sophie, in late April. For those who haven’t, I’ve compiled an online photo album that documents their growth and development over the past few months. If I had to choose one word to describe the whole process of being surrogate grandparents to these pups, it would be epic. Every day since their birth has been filled with interest, excitement, and wonder. From a neurochemical perspective, snuggling with puppies has done a lot to raise the collective oxytocin levels in our home. Over the summer, our front garden—with its jumble of humans and puppies lying together in the grass—often resembled something like an opium den, attracting a steady stream of “customers” from far and wide. Of course, this bliss was sometimes interrupted. I underestimated their collective destructive power. Up until about six weeks old, the fencing I had around my backyard pots, garden boxes, … [Read more...]
