Increasing the Potency

SUMMARY: Next magic potion for itching.

I called the vet yesterday after Boost continued scratching into the day. He replaced the previous pills with prednisone.

Well, as any student of fantastic magic (or science, for that matter) knows, if you up a spell's potency, there's a higher price to pay. I still remember how bad I felt when Remington was on pred for some reason, and I left him in his crate for 3 hours while doing something important, and came back to find him and his crate soaked in urine, with him standing there, looking miserable, trying to keep his feet on the only one or two barely dry spots.

So I know about this drinks-more, pees-more effect.

My thinking on this itching thing is that, if it's allergies, a really thorough house-cleaning might help, too, whether there's a stray flea involved or not. So I've been vacuuming like crazy (usually do one room at a time), and last night washed all the pillows, dog beds, sheets, and blankets in the bedroom and put fresh sheets on and a fresh duvet cover, too. Ahhh, felt nice!

Last night, middle of the night, Boost jumps off the bed and starts wandering around. That could mean: Tika rolled over and got too close to her, or: Looking for a more comfy place to sleep, or: Bored, or: Is thinking about maybe having to go potty. What I normally do to forestall the first three is just invite her (or insist) back onto the bed. She popped right up, lay down, and went to sleep.

I always figure that, if she really needs to go out, she'll let me know (like she did Thursday night, twice, by whacking the door with her paw).

This morning, I woke up, she snuggled, and I noticed her entire left thigh was soaking wet. Sure enough, on further exploration, the duvet cover is soaking. And the down comforter inside. And the sheets underneath. And the extra sheet I put over the electric mattress pad. And the electric mattress pad. And the anti-allergen zipper cover on the mattress. And, yes indeed, mattress sopping wet.

Interesting, looking at a couple of very small previous stains on the mattress top. They might very well be from the weekend Jake died, when he first had a major seizure and emptied everything--that's where he was sleeping. So, other than this new, huge stain, that's all that's ever gotten through to the mattress.

Dang, I wonder how deep down the liquid went?

The nice thick, absorbent dog bed ON the bed? Dry as an antler, which, I forgot to mention, I finally spent a bunch of $$ on because so many people rave about how their dogs love chewing on antlers. My dogs? Took them from me, dropped them on the floor, and haven't looked at them since. Gah.

But I digress. I hosed Boost down, stripped everything back off the bed, soaked everything with Nature's Miracle, and am working my way through the laundry. Not what I was planning on doing today. But poor Boost, poor me, guess I'm not going to assume anything at night while she's on the pred. And maybe I should put a ton of extra padding on their side of the bed for the next week or two.

Oh, and I forgot to mention--only a couple of very brief scratching incidents in the night. So the pred seems to do what it was intended to do--and is exacting its price.