WARNING: This post has "gross-out" potential.
Continuing "WTF next?" week, yesterday I ended up at the vet with Toby.
Every 4-6 months, Toby the basset hound gets the idea in his head that he is an athletic dog. He'll come gimping into the room after throwing out one of his front legs. When he has this limp it tends to come and go. Sometimes you think he is perfectly fine only to see him doing his best impression of the Hunchback of Notre Dame a couple of hours later. He still wants to go out for his daily walk. But the other day, I just made it past a couple of houses before I turned him around and came home.
Unfortunately, he didn't have any medication left from the 3 or 4 other times we have been to the vet for this very issue. I got a same-day appointment, but at 4pm... which is never good. That late in the day the vet office gets so backlogged from a full afternoon of pets. I arrived at 3:45p and didn't even get into an exam room until 4:20p. There was a guy with his dog who was there when I got there and just eventually got up and left (which was too bad since I got into a room about 3 minutes after he left).
So to make a long story short. Toby got his usual pain meds... with limited or no walks depending on how he and the leg are acting (we went out for a short walk today and he did pretty well).
But in a "since I am here" moment, I off-handedly mentioned that he seemed to be licking his backside a bit more than normal... not obsessively but enough that there was a little stain spot on his rump.
If you have a dog, you may just know where this is going (especially given the title of this post).
So, Toby's @nal sacs were huuuuge! (Yes, I am in "search hit prevention mode" using the @ sign). So they needed to be "expressed." Now I knew dogs had these things, but my knowledge was pretty limited. So when Toby returned from the "back room" I asked... ok, so what's going on here?
Now I won't get into the graphic details. The doc said he could even show me how to do it... but warned the "result" is very odoriferous and ... ahem... can potentially shoot 6-8 feet. I am sure my facial expression was priceless at this point. The "expression" was successful... apparently no need for concern and everything looked fine.
Do it myself? I think not. This is perhaps the best $25.65 I spent for any type of service in a loooong time!
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Scott-O-Rama | Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 03:42 PM
I agree. With our three huskies, this is not a do it ourselves option.
Posted by: Scott C | Friday, January 19, 2007 at 09:16 AM
. . . . thanks Ed. Now I can keep that image in the back of my head as both Bailey and Karter look up at me with their "oh so innocent eyes". Ewwwwwwwwwww!
Posted by: Buckaroo | Friday, January 19, 2007 at 10:04 AM
OMG! Gross, and I understand totally.
We've dogs and cats, and found out late last year that cats have similar problems. I googled the symptoms, diagnosed the cat myself, looked at what it was, choked on a little of my own bile, saw how to express them, choked on a lot more of my own bile, then took him straight to the Vet where I paid the nice veterinarian to do it for me. She very kindly offered to show me how, and I very politely yet firmly declined. I had a blog entry similar to yours back when it happened. LOL!
I love my pets, but our relationship is not, nor will it ever be that close.
Hope Toby feels better soon.
Posted by: Craig | Saturday, January 20, 2007 at 10:34 PM