Yesterday marked the first visit to the vet (for us) with Fitz! Both Gwen and Fitz needed to head to the vet for various things and one thing we didn’t really think of was how much TWO dogs will cost at the vet: over $400! But what the vet talked to us about Gwen is really the reason that I wanted to share this in a post.
Let’s start with the easy one: Mr. Fitzwilliam. Fitzy had to get his rabies shot and get an exam so we could get him Trifexis — the flea/heatworm/internal parasite prevention & treatment that Gwen has been on since she was a puppy. We went back to the vet that Gwen had seen when we first moved here. Initially I wasn’t too impressed as I didn’t really like the lady vet. I’m not entirely sure what it was but I didn’t really like the way she talked to me or answered or rather didn’t answer my questions. Either way, this time around we were scheduled to see the man vet. He was a lot more easy to talk to, liked both dogs, and answered all of our questions!
They took Fitz back to get his rabies shot, bordetella vaccine, and to microchip him. We could hear his little puppy screeches and it was so pitiful! We tried to guess which was which…we knew from prior experience with Gwen that the microchip was painful (but over in a second!) so that, we figured, was the biggest screech. The poor little guy was so happy to be brought back to us and given a cookie that his big sister tried to steal.
When it came to Miss Gwendolyn she was only supposed to get an exam and her bordetella (kennel cough) vaccine. Then the vet asked us if we had any other concerns and at this point we brought up her paw which she keeps licking and itching at. One paw, one toe. Back in January or February, I had a friend of mine that is a small animal vet take a look at Gwen’s paw when we were at the barn. She prescribed her an antibiotic, some bendaryl, and told me how to clean it and recommended keeping her from itching it. She also recommended that I put Gwen on fish oil. Gwen’s paw cleared up pretty well but then after awhile she started up again. I have some spray stuff to put on it which seemed to make her feel temporarily better. Only problem was, it would never go away completely.
So Mr. Vet took a look at her and said he would like to shave the toe and get a better look at what was going on there. Gwen was taken into the back to have her toe shaved. When they came back he said it looked like she, again, had an infection in that one toe/claw and that it needed to be treated and cleaned. The infection, he told us, could have either come from her having had a little fracture in the nail or a cut in the skin. Either way he strongly advised that we get this taken care of ASAP or she could lose that claw in the long run! Neither of us realized how serious her obsessive toe licking had become! 😦 He talked to us about the different options with the strengths of anti-inflammatory medicines and he recommended the stronger steroidal one that way she would not be itchy and it might speed up the healing.
Gwen went home with a baggie full of special paw soak cleaner, long-term antibiotics (21 days worth!), and some Prednisolone (the steroid). (Plus they both got flea medication.) Gwennie also has to go back in for a recheck in 2 weeks to see how her itchy toe is fairing.
All in all, these little twerps cost over $400 to go in for their routine visits. I should have known it would be more expensive than we had planned. Oh well, got to keep the Corgis happy and healthy!
Drinking water out of the same water dish at the same time! We are making progress!
Dog Food:
One of the things we talked to the vet about was the food the dogs are eating. Fitz is eating Puppy Wellness Complete while Gwen is continuing to eat Purina Pro Plan. When we broached the subject of Gwen’s itchy paw we brought up the question of “do you think it might be a food allergy?” and the vet said, “honestly, I highly doubt it.” She is at the age where it would become apparent if she did but the itchiness is only manifesting in one paw, she does not have the chronic yeasty ears, hot spots, raw spots on her face from itching, and her hair is not falling out. Her skin isn’t dry and itchy everywhere, only in that paw. We talked to him about the current trend of total grain free dog foods and he told us he thinks of the grain-free foods as being more of an off-shoot of the human dietary fad of gluten-free everything. Yes, there are some people that cannot handle gluten in their diets. Yes, there are some dogs that cannot handle grains or wheat or corn, etc. BUT not all dogs/humans are like that. What he told us was that the food we are feeding Gwen is not a bad food and that her weight is not bad and we have no reason to change her diet unless it is really bothering us that she isn’t on something fancier.
Fitz came to us eating a really nice food called “Go!” which is a grain-free and overall really good food. The reason we did not stick with that food was that it was going to be hard to find. Only one store in the area carries it, unless we were to go over to Seattle (a ferry ride away) just to buy dog food. That was when we decided Puppy Wellness would be the way to go with him. If our Natural Dog store was closed for the day then we would still be able to swing by Petsmart or Petco and get puppy some more food. I suppose that would make it about convenience (and a little of cost effectiveness too) more than anything. Either way, the vet was happy with our choice in puppy food.
Both dogs are a healthy weight and have good looking coats and are nice and active! Gwen weighed in at 30.8 lbs and Fitz weighed in at 18.4 lbs!
Gwendolyn Rose 