Early last week, I noticed a raw area on the lower back part of Elise’s back left leg. A little later in the week, I realized that she was itching excessively, and her belly was pink and inflamed. One of my dog beds had some cedar in it to make it smell nice, and that can cause allergic reactions in some dogs. I’ve had this one for quite some time, and it has been fine, but it recently got a tear in the top, so I think Elise was just getting more direct exposure. I got rid of the bed on Friday and tried to reduce the amount that she scratched. On Monday, I called my vet, but she’s booked out for months, so I just got on a cancellation waiting list.
This morning, Elise woke me up early, I think because she needed to go outside and pee. About an hour after we got to work, she started groaning again, which I took to mean that she needed to pee again. It had been less than an hour and a half since the last time, but I figured maybe she needed to drop a deuce. She just peed, though. She was clearly suffering, what with all the groaning, and the frequent urination indicated to me that she probably had a urinary tract infection. The UTI made me doubt my cedar theory for explaining the itching. I figured it must have been some kind of infection on her belly that eventually spread up her urethra.
At the clinic, they actually seemed most concerned about the raw area on her leg. They took her back and trimmed it so we could see what was going on and treat it. They were also going to extract urine directly from her bladder with a syringe, assuming that an ultrasound indicated it was big enough. I heard a yelp while she was back there and guessed that it must have been the urine draw. It turns out that her bladder was too small, so they didn’t do it, but the yelp was from the trim, and they couldn’t get all the fur, because there was an area where it was matted in with scabby tissue. With a clear view, it certainly did look unpleasant.
We ended getting a bunch of stuff to take home:
- a cone of shame
- an antibiotic that will address both the infected leg wound and the UTI
- antibiotic/steroid ointment for the leg wound
- opiates for the pain (she was breaking my heart with how uncomfortable she looked)
She’s on drugs now, and I took the cone off since I can monitor her and prevent her from licking her wound. I’m about to put it back on to sleep, though. I’ll work from home for the rest of the week, so I can take care of her, and so we can quickly get her outside when she needs to pee.
It’s been a bummer, for sure, but the good news is that she’s relatively comfortable now, and I’m able to care for her while she recovers, which should take less than two weeks. She’s a trooper. I’m going to have to institute daily doggy exams to make sure I see the signs earlier. That will just be slightly more thorough and systematic petting, so I think the dogs and I can handle that.
I wish her a speedy recovery so she can get back to being excited about pretty much everything.