Tags
allergies, aloe vera, anxiety, cone of pride and triumph, cone of shame, cortisones, drugs, fish oil, flaxseed oil, foot licking, furminator, lidocaine, neosporin, skin, sulfodene, yucca, zoom groom
The fur on Bowdu’s body is looking great. Black skin on pits slowly fading and receding.
However, there has been a renewed bout of foot-licking and chewing, in spite of the cone.
I swear, it’s not from lack of effort.
Here’s another tally of everything we’ve tried:
- Baby wipes (after dusty dog park excursions)
- Fish oil
- Flaxseed oil
- Yucca extract (just received this in the mail, started using it yesterday)
- Sulfodene (not used often, because he reacts strongly to the smell, though he might be more tolerant with counterconditioning)
- Septiderm Skin Care Bath (haven’t used this in a while; see my review)
- Allercaine lidocaine spray
- Biocaine lidocaine topical
- Excel hydrocortisone lotion (not using this very much lately, trying to stay away from cortisone products)
- A spray bottle of hydrocortisone liquid, forgot what brand (put it in another bottle because the original pump broke; also not using this very much, mainly because it feels greasy)
- Spray bottle of lavendar oil diluted in water (as a natural flea repellent)
- Neosporin wound cleaner for kids (foams instantly, supposedly doesn’t sting)
- Benadryl allergy tablets
- Zoom Groom (to promote circulation of natural skin oils and help him remove the loose fur that he can’t groom himself
- Furminator (used less often than the Zoom Groom these days)
- Aloe vera spray (applied mainly to his tummy and his pits)
- Lots of drugs (five pharmacy vials are in this photo, though not all are visible)
- Nolvasan Otic ear cleanser (to help maintain gunk-free ears since he’s not able to clean or aerate them in the cone)
- HomeoPet anxiety relief drops (administered in an attempt to keep him calm while topicals are applied and at night, so he’s perhaps less inclined to gnaw on his feet while the humans are trying to fall asleep)
- Not pictured: giant bag of Epsom salt for foot soaks
- Not pictured: bags and bags of highest quality raw food and fish-based kibble
- Not pictured, but always on: Kong XL cone
- Not pictured: Advantage flea killer, to drive away any remaining itch factors
- Not pictured: can filled with pennies which I rattle mainly when he goes for his feet before and after meals, during which we remove his cone (the Doggy Daddy refuses to participate in this activity and has pleaded with me not to do it in the early morning or late evenings, which is when he gets most obsessed with licking)
- Not pictured: more stuff which is yet to come…
I think we have the largest size cone on him already. If we were to make the cone any bigger, he’d be unable to drink. No need to suggest a donut collar — it’s already on the list of things to try, though I am doubtful.
I’m losing sleep over this, especially as he gets into these awful, lip-smacking licking sessions early in the morning, before breakfast. I snap awake when I hear him grunting with effort as he forces access to those back paws, or nyup-nyup-nyupping against the plastic cone, obsessively licking that screen in place of the front paws he can’t quite reach.
Some days I get more upset about the seemingly incurable nature of this condition. This is one of those days.
I been reading your posts about Bowdu”s constant licking of hind feet. I don’t remember if you had said anything about having him checked for allergies?
I was going through my new catalog from DrsFosterandSmith. There is a product called No-Chew trainer that helps dogs from licking and chewing and biting themselves. Its an all natural bittering agent. It uses a water-based, alcohol-free formula. Also, there is an Anti-lick Strip, also all naturla ingredients to help control excessive licking and chewing. It has Cayenne pepper, oregano, lemon powder and oil of clove to discourage the problem through taste and smell, it includes alcohol padreparing and cleaning the area.
Just a thought. I saw all the “things” that you have tried so far. I just couldn’t help but wonder if Bowdu”s licking of his feet, just might be allergy related?
Thanks for sticking around, even though I seem to be on repeat like a broken record. Are you tired of me kvetching about his feet yet?! =)
The No-Chew trainer might be worth a shot. As it is, both the Allercaine and Biocaine spray/topical are supposed to contain bitter-tasting deterrents, but that hasn’t stopped him. I’ve also seen the anti-lick strips being sold in stores. They’re expensive, don’t cover large areas, and I suspect Bowdu would rip them off within seconds. I’ve even seen a battery-operated anti-lick strip that’s supposed to SHOCK the dog if they lick! Definitely not going there.
I think what’s going on with his feet is partly allergies, partly a systematic, “generalized pruritis” (as they call it in the scientific articles) associated with hypothyroidism, and also psychological. And his feet probably DO hurt because they get swollen when he licks, and he licks because they’re swollen. The steroids he was on before were supposed to keep inflammation down, and his antibiotics kept infections at bay, but I’m afraid of him building up some kind of bacterial resistance if we dose him with too many rounds of antibiotics. Something to discuss with the next vet.
Another reason I think it’s also psychological is because he just calmly, but methodically, licks the cone for 20 minutes straight if he can’t get to his feet. He’s not really freaking out about NOT being able to lick himself most of the time. When the cone is off and he has other things to focus on — like his dinner of tasty Primal Raw about to be set down in front of him, he shows absolutely no inclination to itch. It’s only after dinner, when he doesn’t have anything else to focus on…
As for allergies, I think it’s safe to assume that he’s allergic to SOMEthing. But we’re trying to get his immune system in order so that he’s hopefully better able to combat whatever that something is. We’ve spoken to our previous vet several times about allergy testing, and were discouraged every time from following through. The reason, they said, is that it’s generally pretty disappointing. Either they show false positives, or they show allergies to unavoidable environmental factors like dust mites, pollen, human dander. The only benefit they really offer is for the human to feel like they *know* what is afflicting their pet, but such knowledge is also limited if you can’t do anything about it.
I think they’re right about that, which is why I still haven’t pursued full-scale allergy testing. We’d most certainly have to sedate Bowdu and we’d probably go with something like the VARL liquid gold serum test, so the entire process would cost several hundred dollars to let us know that Bowdu should basically live in a bubble for the rest of his life. =P
Maybe I’ll eventually get a job in Northern Minnesota or something. Maybe in someplace where it’s freezing cold for 8 months out of the year, there’ll be fewer allergens in the air… *sigh*
Hang in there…!!