Tuesday, October 19, 2010

More Flea Woes

Sammy had the fleas not too long ago. We gave him a flea bath and they were gone. Or so we thought.
The flea bath really seemed to dry out his skin. We washed it out, and waited the suggested amount of days until giving him another bath with normal shampoo. He was very itchy until then, and the new bath really seemed to help him out. We thought we were doing really well. Gave him his weekly bath right before leaving for Illinois. Just wanted to make sure it was all out. He didn't seem too itchy while we were there, and neither of the other animals were itchy either.
We got back and yesterday I did all the laundry from the trip, unpacked and gave the Sammy pants a bath. He had become increasingly itchy from our return, combined with the slobbers from the trip, I really thought it would help him out.
While in the bath, I stumbled upon a really yucky wound looking scarish thingy. Hard to describe. It was right above his nub where he had been trying to chew. His bath only made him more itchy. It was time to call in the professional.
It was time to do his yearly shots. We were supposed to get his rabies during September, but our last vet never sent anything or called us like they usually do. With all the moving and everything, we didn't really think about it til after we should have gotten him in. We lumped it all into one. We called up a new vet place advertising half price vaccinations. sounded like a good deal considering we didn't know how much his current condition wuold cost us.
The earliest we could get in was the next day (today) at 1 pm. Sammy was just miserable. His skin was red and you could tell through his white fur. He just wanted to lay on my lap and get my attention. He was so itchy he couldn't stop itching and licking and biting himself. Oh I just felt awful. i couldn't wait to get him to the vet. I got so wrapped up I never got to blogging our Illinois adventure!
He couldn't sleep during the night. I didn't want him to itch it and make it worse or rub it so raw it bled, so I ended up waking so frequently to hold his paws I didn't feel like I got ANY sleep.
We got up for the day and he just attached to me some more. I just couldn't wait to get him there. The vet and vet tech were so nice. Sammy was on his best behavior for them, too. I was worried he would be a little grouchy from the little sleep and itchies, but he wasn't! He got tons of compliments. Everyone loved him and said he was just so handsome and such a great dog! Which he is, by the way.
Right away, they knew he still had fleas. Which was an awful thing to hear after all I have tried thus far. However, our vet searched and searched him. She found 1. She found almost no "flea dirt." She explained that he was basically hyper-sensitive or hyper-allergic to fleas. She didn't phrase it quite that way, but basically what she was saying.
Omaha is having some trouble with fleas right now. She said they have seen tons more fleas than usual. We are just going to have to be extra careful with him. Aside from his yearly shots, Sammy got an extra shot to help get rid of fleas faster and also got a shot to help his skin from the itching. It will last 5 to 7 days, so hopefully everything will be out of his skin by then. He also is now going to be on Sentinel, which is for fleas as well as heart worm, along with his frontline. At least until the flea count in Omaha is this high. He will be uber covered! Which I am just fine with considering how awful he has felt with these fleas that we can barely find!!
Sammy's shots took immediate effect. He has been able to stop itching and nap the rest of the day. Something MUCH needed after his big trip and all this darn itching. I'm so happy for him. And I'm pretty happy that this happened while we were supposed to be gone, so I had the day off to help take care of him. Even more excited we can sleep in tomorrow and enjoy one more day off together tomorrow!! Yay! Then I can get out Illinois trip blogged!!


Oh and PS...I'm figuring out the whole YouTube thing. I am now up to getting 2 videos up! Woo hoo! I am TheCorgiMomma on YouTube, and I have 2 videos that are from our visit to the breeders to meet the puppies. I took 3 total, and I'm going to try to get the third up there eventually. But they are my "home videos" of our expiernce with Norman. Sammy was totally distracted by the cat and didn't care about Norman unless Norman was trying to feed from his belly!! Haha. Oh, and since we were planning on getting a girl, we didn't have a name picked out for Normy, so he is still reffered to as Brimley, the name given to him by the breeder, and his middle name. My camcorder is a HD camcorder, and I haven't been able to figure out how to get it HD on YouTube. It looks a lot better on the computer or tv or camcorder than on the YouTube. But I will get there. Come check us out:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCorgiMomma?feature=mhum

These are also from the breeder's page. These are the videos uploaded from the past week with Norman and his brothers. His litter was 7 boys and no girls.



and her YouTube page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/carolscorgis#p/u/2/B54XWj615CQ

6 comments:

  1. Isn't it great that they now have pills for fleas or you can put Advantage on the back of the pup's head and it is good for the month? Honestly, I hated those flea collars - they had to be toxic. Hope Sammy continues to improve!

    Nancy

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  2. oh no, yuck that the fleas are back...Hopefully the Sentinel will help from now on...Bailey is on that as well as Advantix, thus far she hasn't had fleas. She did have a horrible week of the itchies though where, just like Sammy, she got no sleep due to all her scratching. She had an allergic reaction to a new shampoo the groomers used on her :-(

    Loved those puppy videos...makes me want a little one real bad :-)

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  3. OMG you videos are awesome! What type of camera do you have??

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  4. OMG! so cute! watched the youtube videos he is adorable! Your gonna get me in trouble cause now I want a corgi puppy! Cant wait to see lil Norman grown up on the blog :-)

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  5. Thanks guys!!! I can't wait to bring Normy home! We got a call from the vet today. He got his bloodwork done overnight and all was fantastic except his white blood cell count was high. The vet said this is because he is so sensitive to fleas his body was fight the inflamed skin! She said if had gone on any longer we would probably have to put him on antibiotics! I just have never heard of such a thing!! But he is all good now. Sleeping tons, now that he can!

    Nancy-growing up we had a chow-shetland mix, those flea collars had no chance fighting that fur! We got to a point where we stopped trying!! Love the pills and little tubes!

    Karen-awww poor bailey! That shampoo was all over and must have been so itchy! Bet Bailey hates the groomers even more than most now! Haha

    Kelly-thanks! I love my camcorder! I researched and went back and forth for 3 months! I ended up with a Sony Handycam. It's the HDR-XR150. It's fantastic. Love it! It comes with a hard drive and also can take SD-pro cards for removable media. Has a 2.7" lcd touch screen. Shoots and takes photos in HD! I'm glad I went with it!

    Katie-haha. Aren't corgis just the cutest! I originally wanted to adopt an older pup, so we didn't hafta do the potty training and such, especially during the winter. But seeing his little face...ah...just had to do it. I was a little more clingy toward the fuzzy female, but Erik had a moment with Normy. Normy just took to Sammy, so it seems meant to be. Can't wait! :) Good luck with the fight to not get a second, it's a tough one. I lost. lol

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  6. Aww glad they got the flea situation taken care of!! I know it can drive the pups nuts. Hope he is feeling better soon!!

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