August 27, 2012

White Dog shook her head and sighed. "It is always something, eh, momma?" She was looking over my shoulder at her brother Oso whom I was holding as Steve slathered his little legs with vinegar. "Phew, it smells like Easter Eggs in here," she muttered and hopped down.

Oso has tortured his front legs by chewing

Both Oso and Nuka have had terrible trouble all summer with chewing on their legs. At first we thought it was an environmental allergy and tore out anything suspicious in the yard. But that did not solve the problem. We tried Benedryl cream, herbal anti-itch lotion, a special canine soothing agent, bitter apple, hot spot relief, and a few I cannot even remember the names of. Each worked great the first time, but then my stubborn AWD and OAWD decided it wasn't so bad after all...the deterrents were like steak sauce on the legs they were cannibalizing.

Although Nuka is hereditarily cursed with bad skin, she is not helping by her chewing

We have been fanatic about brushing out their coats and washing down with soap those areas. At this point I am almost convinced that the problem is in their heads not on their legs. Dr. Julia laughed and suggested the dreaded cones to stop them, but Oso was so pathetic that after two hours of drama we took it off...it DID keep him from chewing...and the memory lasted for about 20 minutes.

The WDA gets vitamin supplements, are bathed/groomed with gentle herbal shampoos that contain skin conditioners, and eat fresh mackerel as their main protein (which has tons of skin and coat benefits). Steve has even tried rubbing the hot spots with vitamin e oil. We have ruled out mites, fungus, bacteria, diseases.

I took a page from when my dad was trying to break my youngest sister of sucking her fingers. We covered the well-licked leg parts with hot sauce (forgetting that the WDA lives in the land of spicy foods), mustard (Nuka actually thought this made the fur taste BETTER), the fridge yielded no help.

The cupboard produced a bottle of distilled white vinegar that we use for cleaning because it is non-toxic to pets. "Why not," White Dog prompted (I know she was experimental mostly because SHE wasn't the subject), "it stinks, tastes awful, what have you got to lose? Give it a try!"

Know what? It works! Of course, the house smells like we color eggs year round but neither Oso nor Nuka will chew when the vinegar is applied...and the deterrent last almost all day. Finally their furry white bodies can heal the rawness...and I don't stay awake worrying that they will cause an infection in themselves.

Of course, WD reminded me, there IS always the taped-on sock!