As my dogs sit at my feet, staring each other down over a bone--I bought two, but they don't seem to care--I have started to think about what another three or more weeks with a cast actually means. The answer that I came up with is, "Pughy!" I have already had to shave the hair from several of Bella's hot spots. Consequently, the dog has so many bald spots that she looks like the before shot for hair loss treatments. Every time I apply a hot spot spray or treatment to those areas, the treatment drips down to where the hair is, stops, and then dries into this nasty looking clump. I have found that the best way to remove those clumps is to bathe her, but I can't do that until the cast comes off so I have to try a warm, wet rag instead. The rag gets some of the gook up, but not all of it.
The hot spots, of course, have a noticeable odor when they're at their worst. Add that odor to the odor of urine and anal glands--Bella either pees, expresses her anal glands, or both during our weekly vet visits--and then multiply the combined odor by six weeks. You'll soon realize why it is that I'm scared my nasal passages will start rotting out before all is said and done.
I know that Petsmart carries doggy perfume and cologne, but Bella can't even tolerate a shampoo scented with anything other than oatmeal; the scents in shampoo make her break out in whelps. A doggy perfume might very well make her throat swell shut. I know it would make mine.
That leaves, what? Baby wipes? Wiping all of her body but her bum leg with a wet rag? Dry shampoo for dogs? Do they even make such a thing as dry shampoo for dogs? If the odor gets too bad, I may have to find out.
