Sunday, August 17, 2008

Update

Just an update so all of you people know that we've not disappeared. Tierce is definitely worse; he has a huge bare spot on his head now. We've been in contact with both Shassi's breeder and Tierce's for advice. His breeder is going to call her vet (we've been going through a very interesting time with vets of late) for an appointment; we are probably looking at Demodectic Mange as a result of the rabies vaccination on July 7th. However, again due to the aforemention interesting experience at the vet's, we have had no confirmation of that.

Okay, well... here goes. I was discussing the possibility with my mother and aunt of them taking Tierce into the vet's about 10 days ago. I work all week, and it's really hard to get any kind of vet on the weekends - they're so booked up. My aunt asked me if I would like her to make a call. I said yes.

She called me several hours later to let me know that she had up and taken Tierce to the vet. This was the same vet who gave him the 3 year, sub-dermal shot on July 7th. I was not happy. Not only did she not bother to ask me if there was any information I could give her (such as I wanted a mite scrape done and that Tierce had stepped on some glass and torn a toe pad right off - yes, it's been a wonderful last two weeks).

I was so not pleased. For those of you who are parents, imagine someone just randomly deciding to take your child to a walk-in clinic for a rash without bothering to check with you first - y'know, to see if the kid is allergic to something or just got the rash by something you already knew about.

The vet also had no idea why Tierce was limping and suggested that if it didn't fix itself, that they bring him back for x-rays.

So, $85 later, I was given all the information that Shassi's breeder had already given me and was no closer to an idea of why Tierce is trying to scratch his skin off. I also apparently have a vet who either can't see an obvious wound or can't be bothered to find it. Guess which way I'm voting. Not heading back to her again. The other vets who work there are competent, but are against feeding raw, etc. I don't want to spend my time arguing with them.

To my aunt's credit, she apologized. But we're still trying to fix my poor little puppy and I can't wait for an appointment at his breeder's vet.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor Tierce!

I do hope you get to the bottom of his afflictions.

A bald shiba is not a dignified shiba.

Poor Baby!

Nikko's Mom

RedShasta said...

Thanks; Tierce got to the vet and is now on two antihistamines and some ointment for his head. The vet also gave him a shot for the infection and swelling.

He's on a strict diet - either Red Dog Deli's herring formula or a combination of pinto beans and sweet potato and peanut butter for flavour, with potato chips for snacks and treats. We're going up to the store to get some herring formula, but I'm thinking of giving him the pinto bean formula for a change.