Nicki has been having hot spots for the past four months. They come and go, but have mostly been coming of late. They’ll appear on one spot (front legs) only to move to another spot (inside rear hind legs) after Nicki has managed to lick himself into bald spots.
It did not look like he had fleas but just to be an the safe side, in July and August, i applied a topical Frontline. But the hot spots (and scratching) continued.
For the most part, i’ve managed to keep it under a semblance of control by upping his yeas and omega-oil at chow time and applying an OTC anti-hot spot medication at other times. I’ve also shampooed him with $12.00 dollah neem oil and cotton wood bark shampoo, which actually did seem to have an emollient effect.
Alas on Thursday morning, i awoke to a dog that had licked a bright shiny bald spot on his left haunchy during the night.
On inspecting the area i notice ONE flea. So i called up the pet groomers and inquired as to the cost of a flea dip/shampoo. They said they would need proof of his rabies vaccine or, in the alternative, they could call the vet.
Rather than rummage around for Nicki’s rabies certificate i called the vet to alert them to the call.
“Oh we don’t recommend you use a flee shampoo service....”
“Why not?”
“Well we don’t know what chemicals are being used and some of them could cause an adverse reaction and make things worse.”
Welcome to Neurosia.... the country that loves to play the risk game.
Flea bathing has been around for quite some time, and one would think that people in the pet-business would be familiar with the “chemicals” that are generally used in dog flea dipping. It’s not (yet) a Homeland Security Secret. The premise of ignorance is just bullshit.
Of course it is possible that some grooming service would use an unheard of “chemical” and it is further possible that that chemical could cause an “adverse reaction.” Thus, on two degrees of conjecture, it is possible to have a “reasonable basis” for not recommending a flee shampooing service....
“We recommend....”
I interrupt. “How much does one month’s dosage cost?”
“$19.00”
“I’ll be over in 15 minutes.”
“We don’t recommend you give it on an empty stomach....”
“Why not...”
“It could produce an upset; it’s best to wait until....”
“I’ll be over in 20 minutes.”
So Nicki is going to object to an extra chow time? I open up a can of Chicken Mush Delight which he wolfs down before we’re out the door.
I get to the vets, only to discover that they’ve unexpectedly closed for a yearly staff conference. The sign says “ We apologize for the inconvenience.”
I pound very hard on the door and start yelling that I was not told that they would be closed when I said I was coming over and that I was not going to wait until their once-yearly staff conference was over.
They open up.
The person I spoke to was already conferencing so I told the person who opened up that I came for a flea pill @ $19.00
.
She calls up our records, and gives me the pill which i pay for.
“Is it chewable,” I ask, “I wan’t to give it to him right away.”
“Oh we don’t recommend you give it to them in the car be..... :
“JUST DON’T GO THERE!”
“....well they could get an upset...”
“Just answer the question: is it chewable?”
“...well yes.”
“Thanks. Have a nice staff meeting.”
===============================
In the ensuing hours, Nicki’s scratching is a little less frenetic, but he’s still licking. The itchiness can persist even after the fleas are killed, so i start supplementing the treatment with cortisone spray.
You can’t buy Animax anymore; but I use Google to look up its all-purpose anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory ingredients and lo and behold I have two of the ingredients in separate ointments and a third which will do just as well.
The only problem with the Pseudo Animax + Anti-Itch spray is that Nicki likes to lick it off, which of course only makes matters worse.
I’ve decided against Cone Collars because I think they are torture devices. How would we like it if someone tied our hands when we had a ferocious itch?
I hit on the trick of applying the ointments before we go out, so that Nicki will get distracted with other things and the ointments will have at least some chance to take effect. But this is going to be problematic if it continues into the next two weeks when I have to board him.
So this morning, I decide I have to go to the huckster vet to get a prescription for prednisone.
I call up and they have an appointment for 11.30. They can see me if I can get there in 15 minutes, which I do. Of course, once i get there the person at the desk is not the person i already spoke to. She starts the fol de rol, noch einmal
“What are we seeing Nicki today for?
“I just told you over the phone, didn’t you write it down?”
I force her to look at the damn computer screen she is staring at anyways.
“Has he been treated for fleas?”
“Will you just please look at the file on screen, I really don’t want to have to repeat myself.”
Day by day, i find it increasingly insulting to be treated like some sort of object whose purpose it is to endlessly repeat answers to the same questions over and over again. It’s actually the sort of thing the KGB and the Gestapo used to do to wear down and debase their “clients”.
Once in the examining room, the “veterinary assistant” starts with the same questions.
“I’ll save it for the doctor.”
{Enter doctor}
“.... and sooooooooo I think he needs to be put on prednisone.”
The vet ruffles through the hair (and of course sees nothing).
“Well we could do that but it could be parasitic mange in which case prednisone would be contra-indicated; I recommend a skin ....”
I cut to the chase: “How much?”
Fuck it. Fee for Service = Question on Fee.
“Why do you think it could be mange?” I ask
“Well, the generalized hair loss indicates it could be mange...”
I know he’s lying through his teeth; but he has me over a barrel.
“How long will it take?”
“Oh just five minutes.”
Thirty four dollars for five minutes... Not a bad huck.
“Okay.”
In three minutes he comes back with the result of his scrapings: No mange. No parasites were visible he explains.
Wonderful. Thirty four dollars for him to look at some skin scrapings under a microscope. THAT is the test, two minutes of which involved walking to the other room and back.
It did not look like he had fleas but just to be an the safe side, in July and August, i applied a topical Frontline. But the hot spots (and scratching) continued.
For the most part, i’ve managed to keep it under a semblance of control by upping his yeas and omega-oil at chow time and applying an OTC anti-hot spot medication at other times. I’ve also shampooed him with $12.00 dollah neem oil and cotton wood bark shampoo, which actually did seem to have an emollient effect.
Alas on Thursday morning, i awoke to a dog that had licked a bright shiny bald spot on his left haunchy during the night.
On inspecting the area i notice ONE flea. So i called up the pet groomers and inquired as to the cost of a flea dip/shampoo. They said they would need proof of his rabies vaccine or, in the alternative, they could call the vet.
Rather than rummage around for Nicki’s rabies certificate i called the vet to alert them to the call.
“Oh we don’t recommend you use a flee shampoo service....”
“Why not?”
“Well we don’t know what chemicals are being used and some of them could cause an adverse reaction and make things worse.”
Welcome to Neurosia.... the country that loves to play the risk game.
Flea bathing has been around for quite some time, and one would think that people in the pet-business would be familiar with the “chemicals” that are generally used in dog flea dipping. It’s not (yet) a Homeland Security Secret. The premise of ignorance is just bullshit.
Of course it is possible that some grooming service would use an unheard of “chemical” and it is further possible that that chemical could cause an “adverse reaction.” Thus, on two degrees of conjecture, it is possible to have a “reasonable basis” for not recommending a flee shampooing service....
“We recommend....”
I interrupt. “How much does one month’s dosage cost?”
“$19.00”
“I’ll be over in 15 minutes.”
“We don’t recommend you give it on an empty stomach....”
“Why not...”
“It could produce an upset; it’s best to wait until....”
“I’ll be over in 20 minutes.”
So Nicki is going to object to an extra chow time? I open up a can of Chicken Mush Delight which he wolfs down before we’re out the door.
I get to the vets, only to discover that they’ve unexpectedly closed for a yearly staff conference. The sign says “ We apologize for the inconvenience.”
I pound very hard on the door and start yelling that I was not told that they would be closed when I said I was coming over and that I was not going to wait until their once-yearly staff conference was over.
They open up.
The person I spoke to was already conferencing so I told the person who opened up that I came for a flea pill @ $19.00
.
She calls up our records, and gives me the pill which i pay for.
“Is it chewable,” I ask, “I wan’t to give it to him right away.”
“Oh we don’t recommend you give it to them in the car be..... :
“JUST DON’T GO THERE!”
“....well they could get an upset...”
“Just answer the question: is it chewable?”
“...well yes.”
“Thanks. Have a nice staff meeting.”
===============================
In the ensuing hours, Nicki’s scratching is a little less frenetic, but he’s still licking. The itchiness can persist even after the fleas are killed, so i start supplementing the treatment with cortisone spray.
You can’t buy Animax anymore; but I use Google to look up its all-purpose anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory ingredients and lo and behold I have two of the ingredients in separate ointments and a third which will do just as well.
The only problem with the Pseudo Animax + Anti-Itch spray is that Nicki likes to lick it off, which of course only makes matters worse.
I’ve decided against Cone Collars because I think they are torture devices. How would we like it if someone tied our hands when we had a ferocious itch?
I hit on the trick of applying the ointments before we go out, so that Nicki will get distracted with other things and the ointments will have at least some chance to take effect. But this is going to be problematic if it continues into the next two weeks when I have to board him.
So this morning, I decide I have to go to the huckster vet to get a prescription for prednisone.
I call up and they have an appointment for 11.30. They can see me if I can get there in 15 minutes, which I do. Of course, once i get there the person at the desk is not the person i already spoke to. She starts the fol de rol, noch einmal
“What are we seeing Nicki today for?
“I just told you over the phone, didn’t you write it down?”
I force her to look at the damn computer screen she is staring at anyways.
“Has he been treated for fleas?”
“Will you just please look at the file on screen, I really don’t want to have to repeat myself.”
Day by day, i find it increasingly insulting to be treated like some sort of object whose purpose it is to endlessly repeat answers to the same questions over and over again. It’s actually the sort of thing the KGB and the Gestapo used to do to wear down and debase their “clients”.
Once in the examining room, the “veterinary assistant” starts with the same questions.
“I’ll save it for the doctor.”
{Enter doctor}
“.... and sooooooooo I think he needs to be put on prednisone.”
The vet ruffles through the hair (and of course sees nothing).
“Well we could do that but it could be parasitic mange in which case prednisone would be contra-indicated; I recommend a skin ....”
I cut to the chase: “How much?”
Fuck it. Fee for Service = Question on Fee.
“Why do you think it could be mange?” I ask
“Well, the generalized hair loss indicates it could be mange...”
I know he’s lying through his teeth; but he has me over a barrel.
“How long will it take?”
“Oh just five minutes.”
Thirty four dollars for five minutes... Not a bad huck.
“Okay.”
In three minutes he comes back with the result of his scrapings: No mange. No parasites were visible he explains.
Wonderful. Thirty four dollars for him to look at some skin scrapings under a microscope. THAT is the test, two minutes of which involved walking to the other room and back.
But that’s only half of the cheat. The real lie was in the implication that generalized hair loss was an signifier of mange.
Obviously, if Nicki does not have mange then generalized hair loss is not only an indicator of mange. It is also an indicator of something not mange.
In other words “generalized fur loss” is not an indicator of one thing over another.
Worse yet; there is hardly a dog owner I have talked to over the past two months who hasn’t been having problems with hot spots and that means that Nicki’s condition is nothing unusual and that in turn means that the vet most probably must have seen many like case of licked spot fur loss which was not mange.
As a theoretical possibility Nicki could have been suffering from mange. All things considered he was not. He had general fur loss due to an “unknown etiology” ...most probably, as Mr. Vet now said, “an allergy of some sort.”
He starts to explain something about “air borne fungi...”
I cut him short. “Yes; it’s is not a healthy environment around here.”
He is taken aback by this pronouncement. Folks around here smugly pride themselves on the fact that Beeham has the among the cleanest air in the country. But that is only in terms of ozone and other contaminants. They don’t measure the spores, mold and fungi that thicken the air.
“... you all but have mushrooms growing out of the sidewalks”
The vet is forced to agree; which is to admit that mange had nothing to do with anything.
A nonhuckstering vet would have said that based on what he had seen this season Nicki's scratching & fur loss was most probably caused by "some allergen" making the rounds, but that there was a 10-15% chance it was triggered by parasitic mange, the test for which involved a simple eyeballing for critters under the scope which would cost $10.00.....
But of course, that is not what he said...
Nicki is now on prednisone. But this is a nashun of hucksters heretics and cheats. That is my allergy.
