Dingle's recent dental, ear infection, potential new ear infection, etc.

Hm... so I'm at work... and decided to update Dingle's blog. Why is it that I only seem to do this while at work. Literally... 100% of posts were done while here.

I think Dingle may be getting another ear infection. I woke up to him with his foot stuffed in his ear. He dug around good and then stuck it in his mouth and licked/chewed it for a while.

Of course I made the dumb mistake of clipping Dingle's nails today. And by *I* I mean my boyfriend... I can't clip Dingle's nails. They are too dark and the vets told me his quick is quite high. So I generally have the vet clip his nails, but today my boyfriend did it. Clipped nails means sharp nails. Sharp nails and Dingle's obsessive itching makes me think I'll come home to a bloody, scabby ear.

If he's still scratching tomorrow on goes the e-collar... like last ear infection... 3-4 weeks ago:

Dingle had a dental 2 weeks ago. $450 and he has clean teeth. Dingle acted very unhappy for over 24 hours. He just moped around and I was worried... mainly because I was going out of town 2 days after his dental and worried about leaving him. The "what if he needs to go to the vet and I'm not here" was going through my head as was the "My boyfriend won't be able to reach me 24/7... what if..." He was fine, though. I let him eat wet food for the first day... cause I figured his teeth and gums would be sore.

Long haired dog + being groggy from anesthesia + wet food = this:

His breath is starting to smell again. $450 bought me 2 weeks of roadkill smell-free breath.

I brush his teeth, he has dental food, dental toys, yada, yada, yet it seems like every year I'm going to have to pay to have his teeth cleaned. Ugh... it's one of the few things Vet Insurance doesn't cover. Which I guess I should be happy about... not that they don't cover dentals, but because he has had so many health issues (again, not happy about that) and they have all been covered for the most part. I think everyone should get pet insurance... especially if you have a pet store dog... but you shouldn't have one from a store... don't make the mistake I did.

Speaking of which I was on Kijiji tonight and browsing ads when I decide to search the name of the store Dingle came from. Bad idea. What comes up but a little 4 month old cream sable pom that someone bought less than a week ago and is already trying to get rid of. Poor pom. Poor any-dog-from-a-pet-store.

I spoke to Dingle's eye vet about a week ago. We did a follow-up phone call (crap, that reminds me I was supposed to give another update this week and haven't yet). We have the go ahead to not come in until just before Christmas, provided there are no problems. It's been a few months since we've had to have a visit there... of course we've been to Dingle's regular vet frequently still.

And that's all I have to say...

Dingle's birthday vet visit, potential heart murmur, camping, etc.

Tuesday was Dingle's birthday. We officially made it to 4 years old. I hope we have at least another 4 more birthdays for him... hopefully the worst health problems are over...

Dingle had a vet visit on his birthday... he got to see his buddies at the Downtown Animal Hospital on his special day. That was probably the highlight of his day (I'm surprised I didn't do presents... but he's got so many treats and toys already it would have been unnecessary)... he loves the staff there.

Dingle had a grooming appointment on Saturday and Monday night he was scratching his ear like crazy. I couldn't keep him away from it. His nails were just cut at the grooming appointment and so they were very sharp. Dingle made his ear bleed... a lot. I figured his ear was probably itchy from an ear infection. We had Surolan at home but I didn't want to just use it without checking with the vet. I thought I'd just end up taking him to the vet for an overall check up because he was supposed to go in for a dental next week and I wanted to ensure he was healthy for the anesthesia.

So we were able to make an appointment for 9pm Tuesday. We went in and the vet looked at his ear, which was full of dried blood... full... it was black everywhere. The vet said that it looked like ear wax build-up and seemed hesitant to believe it was blood. He took multiple q-tips and was just scooping out the dried blood and scabs. Dingle was yelping the whole time and it took me and the vet to try and hold him still. After the vet determined that it was dried blood Dingle shook his head and a big scab came out and hit me in the face. Ew. Dingle, you're lucky I love you... because that was disgusting.

Dingle has an ear infection and I was given the go-ahead to use the Surolan we had. I also asked him to check his temperature and listen to his heart. Temp was normal and the heart was perhaps normal - there's always been some question as to whether Dingle has a heart murmur. Some instances the vets say no, others say maybe grade 1. This appointment he said there may be a murmur, but its only heard when Dingle was spazzing out trying to get back into my arms.

After the check-up the vet saw my pet insurance form and said there was actually no charge for the appointment - since we were just there Saturday for the grooming and it was likely the grooming caused the infection (maybe water/shampoo got inside). I was thrilled. It was so nice for them to say no charge. The receptionist said it was Dingle's birthday present but then corrected herself and said that's more of a present to me.

Dingle was supposed to have a dental this coming Monday, but we had to push it back a week and a half while we allow his ear to heal.

Dingle had his first 'camping' (in a backyard) experience this past weekend. On Saturday night we went up to a friend's place and stayed in a tent. Did we sleep well? No... and not just because it felt like we were sleeping on rocks, but because Dingle and my boyfriend's 1 dog (we left the other home with a neighbour) would yip, growl and/or bark at every little noise during the night. It was pretty cool at night and so Dingle slept on a folded towel (for padding) wrapped in a fleese blanket. Then we moved him into our sleeping bag (we had 2 zipped together). I wish I got to take a picture of Dingle in front of the tent, but my boyfriend took it down early in the morning before I could.

Not only did Dingle have his first tent experience, but he had his first experience with being an outdoor dog. I don't know how they got me agree to it, but Dingle and my boyfriend's dog stayed chained up in our friend's backyard while we went out for a few hours. Their parents were there checking on him, but I was still so nervous. When we came back Dingle was fast asleep by the deck, in the shade.

A pic from this weekend's camping adventure:

Thank-you Alcon / Dingle Will Be 4 Next Week!

So a while back I wrote to Alcon - a company who makes Tears Natural II eye drops. These are the drops that Dinglehopper is one, 2 times a day (along with prescription drops) to manage his KCS ("dry eye").

I was working my usual overnight shifts and had some spare time on my lunch (read: I was bored) and wanted to contact them to tell them how 1) a *dog* was using their eye drops and 2) we went through many eye drops, both store bought and prescriptions before we found this one which he tolerates well (he had allergies/sensitivies/reactions to many others).

The representative who wrote back was an animal lover and said she'd send some drops to us. I was certainly not expecting that.

We got 4 bottles - which saved me about $50 and should last us... I don't know, a year?

I took this picture to send to Alcon to express my thanks.

Even Dinglehopper looks happy!



Hm... what else is new - well my boyfriend went away to visit family for a few days leaving me with Dingle, his pug/beagle, his pug/bull dog, his iguana, his aquarium, etc. They've been keeping me busy... and boy oh boy does that pug/bulldog crap a lot.

Dingle's having a sleep over at the vet on Friday... he has a grooming appointment Saturday morning and its easiest for me to board him the night before with my work schedule/drop off times.

I need to speak to the vet about Dingle's teeth. I think he needs another dental. He had one a year ago... to the day. His back teeth look like hell... so much plaque, despite dental food, toys, treats, brushing his teeth. Last year they said at his next dental he might need 2 front teeth pulled... but when I asked why (this was almost a week later... he was being boarded while I was in Cuba) I never did get a response... it wasn't the vet who did the procedure though. I hope that's not necessary. I can't remember if last year after the dental his carcass mouth smell was gone or not. Ew, even I admit his breath is gross. But I still kiss him all the time. Mua ha ha. (Can we say Giardia?)

Oh, and Dingle's birthday is next Tuesday. Yay, he will be 4 years old.

Hm... Dinglehopper Ramblings.

Okay, so what to say about Dingle/his life.

Today we got really important paperwork/documents back from CBC, that was lent to them. I'm glad to have that back in my hands. Though now that I think about it I need to go in search of a copy of something else I no longer have.

Ramblings aside Dingle has a random cut (or something) above his left eye. I'm hoping he just scratched himself and it's not the random thought-to-be crotch rot from his chin/mouth. Dingle's nails are quite long so it's possible while scratching he scraped himself. Fingers crossed because I don't want a vet visit anytime soon.

Speaking of vet visits I'm itching to get a check back from Vet Insurance. They denied part of a recent claim because of the way it was invoiced - it looked like preventative care, instead of treatment. Canada Post lost my package of info about 2 months ago so I had to gather all the info again last week and fax it. Thank-you to one of Dinglehopper's vets who wrote a lovely letter explaining that it should have been covered in June, with everything else.

I called Vet Insurance to confirm they received the fax (because I usually hear from them the next day) and they did... I guess it's just taking a while back it is such a complex coverage request... in addition to re-submitting part of June's claim I also tacked on an eye drop claim and something else relating to June. Now I sit and try and wait patiently for my $200.

I was looking at photos of Dingle from when he was a pup and gosh was he ugly when I got him. I did get him during his puppy ugly stage, though, where a lot of his puppy fur had already fallen out, without the adult fur having grown in.

Here's some old Dingle pictures:

One of the first fews days I had Dinglehopper... still have a fair bit of puppy fur.

Losing the puppy fur...

Ah...

In other news Dingle's 4th birthday is September 8th. Yay.

In completely unrelated news I hate formatting these damn entries - it takes like 200 tries to make it look right and sometimes I just give up... like now.

Random Dingle Updates

Hm... what to say. Well, I'm making an honest effort to update this thing... for all of my non-readers.

The other day I took Dinglehopper to a nearby school. The yard is fully fenced and I let him run off-leash. Our neighbours came and so with Dingle and my boyfriend's two dogs there were 8 dogs and then the random few 'strangers and their dogs' that happened to show up. Amongst the dogs were a pug/beagle (bf's dog), pug/bulldog (bf's dog), bulldog, Mastiff, Mastiff mix, other mix (like 120lbs), etc.

Dingle was the smallest dog... by a lot (excluding the bf's dogs). Boy can he keep up with 120+ pound dogs. He has no interest in playing fetch, but he will chase the dogs that are interested in running after the ball. Dingle trails not that far behind (surprisingly) barking his head off.

It was nice to see him running because 1) he barely ever gets off-leash... and 2) it's great that he *can* run... talk about $5,000 (*gag*) well invested for his 3 luxating patella surgeries.

Next time we all go I'm going to try and remember my camera to take a quick video to show how fast my little puffball can run.

In other 'news' - Dingle has adjusted well to the new apartment. Yay. He even ventures off on his own in the evening when it's starting to get dark... when he has very poor vision. I guess he learned the layout quickly. Though I don't leave him outside of the bedroom at night. He goes in the bedroom with the door shut - because our bedroom is right at the top of the stairs. One wrong step and it would not be good, even though I did put a nightlight at the top of the stairs for him.

When we go out Dingle gets 'put in his habitat'... we blocked off my work area for him to stay in. Why? Well the bf's pug/bulldog likes to wreck shit. He's eaten 3 Blackberry cell phones (F.M.L) ... I'm talking jumps onto the counter height table to take them. So to avoid my house and posessions from being destroyed I stuck up a deal - the bf shuts his dog in his den and Dingle goes in his own area. Problem solved, hopefully.

I Think We've Got The Answer!

I think I've got the answer...

Someone I know (who is also a Vet Tech.) saw the pictures I posted and said it looked like a bacterial or fungal infection. (Thank-you for this info!)

So I did a search online and one of the possible infections dogs are prone to are caused by yeast.

Yeast is common in dogs' ears.

Hm.

Dingle had been licking my boyfriend's dogs ears constantly - more so than normal.

We look in the dogs ear and voila - it's red and irritated.

Give it a smell and it stinks... similar to bread.

Boom, we assume the dog has a yeast overgrowth in his ears. He has floppy ears and in the summer floppy eared dogs can have ear problems.

Luckily we had Surolan at home - Dingle has had an ear infection in the past and so has my other boyfriend's dog (who also has floppy ears).

I assumed Dingle's 'beak' (as my boyfriend calls it) was irritated from the yeast.

Yes, we believe my dog has/had "crotch rot" on his face.

Did I rush Dingle off to the vet? No. I decided to try a natural remedy, as his muzzle was already looking significantly better than before. That and Dingle has been on so many meds in his 3, almost 4, years and I wanted to spare him any potential side effects... at least for the time being.

After a few days of him eating plain yogurt, a few wipes with apple cider vinegar and water and he looked so much better.

The bf's dog's ear is all better.

I also read that Surolan can be used on skin and yesterday put a teensy bit on the areas he can't lick (don't want Dingle to ingest it).

I'm hoping we spared Dingle a trip to the vet. Though he loves going, I don't...

And time for a Dingle picture...

Dingle in the bath along with his 'brothers'... the pug/bulldog mix and the pug/beagle mix (the dog who had the ear infection)

Is it a sunburn?

Hm... a coworker wondered if the crap on Dingle's face may have been a sunburn.

We were just on vacation a few days before the scabbyness/grossness.

We weren't outside for hours on end, because the weather was terrible, but he was definitely outside more than we are here in Toronto.

This sounds like it could apply to Dingle: http://www.dogtopics.com/89/the-facts-about-dog-sunburn/#more-89

He has light coloured hair... little hair on his mouth area... it was around his mouth and is now on his nose (came home from work yesterday and a patch on his nose was pink instead of black)...

Is the mystery solved? Who knows.

If he doesn't look 100% by the early week, I will make a trip to the vet. That will likely be vet trip #1,243 for Dingle.