Sedative, Please! A case of the non-flesh-eating non-bacteria.

So, in the middle of the week a few weeks ago, I was petting Trooper when I felt something very strange under my fingers.  I lifted his ear up, only to find a section the size of my palm with oozing, matted fur.  I brought him into the kitchen and wiped it with a wet paper towel in an effort to see what in the world was going on.  It rubbed away - sorry - a little blood and mucus.  I didn't know what was wrong because I couldn't see anything obvious - it was just oozing.  I applied some Neosporin (it works just as well on dog injuries) and waited a day.  A day later, it was still oozing and looking like something I shouldn't have been touching - seriously, it kind of looked like something I could catch.  I made sure to wash my hands thoroughly every time I got near it.  I called the vet and made an appointment.

Unfortunately, my vet (from a two-vet practice) had left the office permanently to work at a nearby animal shelter full-time (good for her!).  I really miss her!  So, this was the first time with the new vet.  And, I recognize that it was more of a familiarity thing than anything else, but I just didn't really groove on this vet.  She was young, didn't have much of a sense of humor, and didn't inspire confidence in me.  She couldn't tell what was going on, so she decided to shave Trooper.  She brought another technician in, and the three of us held him down as he struggled and yelped with every touch of her razorblade.  After a few minutes of struggling and not really getting anywhere, she straightened up and said, "Okay, we have two options.  We can keep struggling and I can try and see what's wrong, or we can sedate him and I can fully clean the wound and see what's going on."  I gave my permission to sedate him.  After all that drama, it turns out that he just had a "hot spot" that had become infected from his constant itching (unknown to me - he must have been doing it when I was away at work). 

But, the funniest and heart-wrenching thing that occurred after this $200 vet visit was Trooper's sedation recovery at home.  He couldn't quite get his legs to work, and it took about 4 hours for the sedative to really wear off.  So, I carried him to and from the front yard, supporting his back end so he could pee.  Otherwise, he laid on the living room floor and tried desparately to make his hind end work in tandem with his scratching needs.  He was so cute and I just wanted to snuggle with him (which is totally what I did).  Trust me, he never stays still this long!

Poor sleepy baby!

The infected awfulness of Trooper's shaven face.

Eww!