They said that having a dog around will add so much joy to your life. Not mine lor. I am unbelievably stressed. Making sure she took her meds and healed well from being spayed wasn’t a problem. Balancing her gastrointestinal microbiota wasn't too bad. Choya’s a sweetie, but her presence can be oppressive to me. Even if I can get over that, there’re a zillion other issues that will crop up. Behavioral issues can be gently corrected with a ton of patience. But when you include health issues, it's tough. When every week presents new challenges with Choya, it wears me down.
This week is all about controlling her obsessive licking and biting of her paws. She's already fastidious about grooming. But it wasn't difficult spotting an unusual amount of time she spent on her paws. I could hear her bite them! Glad she doesn't do it behind my back. Soaking and wiping down paw pads with diluted iodine after walks and putting balm on the raw spots are all heartbreaking. (Putting that soft collar on her and seeing that bewildered expression...) Never mind the extra time taken to do all these. That's not tough. It's tougher on her to have to suffer the itch and pain. The human, a.k.a me, should have known better and taken precautions.
I think her paw-chomping has a lot to do with me throwing away her favorite chew toys without giving her suitably-sized replacements, at the same time when she has too many ant bites or accumulated cuts. She needs to chew and loves to chew, often carrying her chew toys around to gnaw on them whenever she feels like, several times a day. Without the petite-sized chews, she ignored the big ones. That meant she repressed all anxiety, stress and chewing instincts. And likely turned them into a compulsive chomping on her paws. It didn’t occur to me that she might prefer smaller toys or that she might miss her toys. I felt like an incompetent fur-parent.
Am thankful she isn't limping, not favoring any paw, and is still excited about her twice-a-day walks. I have been slack with cleaning her paws after walks. Wet wipes won’t do. I highly doubt it's demodectic mange. Of course I’m also investigating whether this is an allergy to grass/soil or pesticides or whatever 1001-allergens, or it’s indeed a simple matter of friction burn on her paw pads or minor cuts in between her nails.
Of course I didn't rush straight to the vet. There isn't a point when the vet doesn't know what's happening, and all the medicines won't help if it's a simple case of being more vigilant about cleaning her paws. After two days of a strict regime of disinfecting and applying balm, and getting her new petite-sized chew toys, there's already been visible improvement to the paw-chomping. I think I'd have to do this for the next three weeks. Then after walks, depending on where she has romped through, she'll be wiped down with this diluted iodine solution or a mixture of water + apple cider vinegar. She's due for a booster shot next week; if her paws don't get better, I can at least provide detailed observations to the vet regarding the circumstances of why and how.
Often, there're no bad dogs. It's always about horrible humans and neglectful owners. A tiny part of me regrets agreeing to having a dog, every day. The commitment to one is enormous. Make no mistake, the tremendous responsibility of being a dog-owner is a burden. This doesn’t mean that having a cat is better. The only pet that might be best is a pair of goldfish.
This week is all about controlling her obsessive licking and biting of her paws. She's already fastidious about grooming. But it wasn't difficult spotting an unusual amount of time she spent on her paws. I could hear her bite them! Glad she doesn't do it behind my back. Soaking and wiping down paw pads with diluted iodine after walks and putting balm on the raw spots are all heartbreaking. (Putting that soft collar on her and seeing that bewildered expression...) Never mind the extra time taken to do all these. That's not tough. It's tougher on her to have to suffer the itch and pain. The human, a.k.a me, should have known better and taken precautions.
I think her paw-chomping has a lot to do with me throwing away her favorite chew toys without giving her suitably-sized replacements, at the same time when she has too many ant bites or accumulated cuts. She needs to chew and loves to chew, often carrying her chew toys around to gnaw on them whenever she feels like, several times a day. Without the petite-sized chews, she ignored the big ones. That meant she repressed all anxiety, stress and chewing instincts. And likely turned them into a compulsive chomping on her paws. It didn’t occur to me that she might prefer smaller toys or that she might miss her toys. I felt like an incompetent fur-parent.
Am thankful she isn't limping, not favoring any paw, and is still excited about her twice-a-day walks. I have been slack with cleaning her paws after walks. Wet wipes won’t do. I highly doubt it's demodectic mange. Of course I’m also investigating whether this is an allergy to grass/soil or pesticides or whatever 1001-allergens, or it’s indeed a simple matter of friction burn on her paw pads or minor cuts in between her nails.
Of course I didn't rush straight to the vet. There isn't a point when the vet doesn't know what's happening, and all the medicines won't help if it's a simple case of being more vigilant about cleaning her paws. After two days of a strict regime of disinfecting and applying balm, and getting her new petite-sized chew toys, there's already been visible improvement to the paw-chomping. I think I'd have to do this for the next three weeks. Then after walks, depending on where she has romped through, she'll be wiped down with this diluted iodine solution or a mixture of water + apple cider vinegar. She's due for a booster shot next week; if her paws don't get better, I can at least provide detailed observations to the vet regarding the circumstances of why and how.
Often, there're no bad dogs. It's always about horrible humans and neglectful owners. A tiny part of me regrets agreeing to having a dog, every day. The commitment to one is enormous. Make no mistake, the tremendous responsibility of being a dog-owner is a burden. This doesn’t mean that having a cat is better. The only pet that might be best is a pair of goldfish.
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