a Taj MuttHall Dog Diary: Increasing the Potency

Saturday, August 20, 2011

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.

7 comments:

  1. Man that's hard, on her and on you. Poor pup I hope she doesn't have to be on that med for long. It's no fun for people either when they have to take it. She won't just sleep in her crate for the duration of this prescription? I suppose not.

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  2. Oh dear -- Been there, when Lucy was on a full course of Vanectyl-P for her allergies and I hadn't encouraged her to do her thing right before bedtime. What a mess. My sympathies. If memory serves, I dumped about a quarter of a bottle of bleach over the wet part of the mattress, opened the window, closed the door, and slept on the couch for a week. Haven't smelled anything since, but then, I have a pretty bad sense of smell to begin with.

    At least the scratching has diminished...

    My dogs loved the antlers for all of about two sessions before they became about as interesting as yesterday's oatmeal. Uh -- no wait, Lucy would have been way more interested in yesterday's oatmeal.

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  3. Ugh!! Poor you. I have a mattress cover that has the plastic liner in it. It works great. A few years ago my cat sat up and then fell over into a seizure and died on my bed. She emptied her bladder during the seizure. The mattress was dry as a bone. I hope things get better soon.

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  4. I had a plastic mattress cover for a while and hated the noise and the feel. Maybe the materials are better now. Will have to look.

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  5. Yeah, I could zip her into her crate. She sometimes sleeps there on her own, so it's not a terrible thing to do, but she does feel left out if I make her stay there.

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  6. Ugh, I hope Boost is better soon for all your sakes. Prednisone is not a happy drug to deal with for anybody.

    My dog's aren't impressed with the antlers either and they'll eat just about anything.

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  7. Oh, good, glad mine aren't the only ones who reject antler therapy. ALthough, frankly,I've spoiled them with bully sticks. Getting them to chew on almost anything other than [expensive] bully sticks is nearly a lost cause.

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