My dog is special.

[boxofdelights]

My dog Kitsu, she worries a lot. She's a nervous little dog in a big-dog body. One way she copes with her worries is by overgrooming. She has had at least one lickspot in all the years I've known her, usually on her feet. We've gotten through two sets of paw protectors. We also use the Cone of Shame.

This summer her lickspots have been more varied and more persistent. Still usually on her legs and feet, but the most recent two are on the underside of her fluffy tail and at the top of her fluffy left hipbone. I worry that this is the only visible sign of a painful underlying disease. I worry that it's a side-effect of my not grooming her enough: it began in the spring shed, which always makes her miserable, since her undercoat is dense, fine, and curly, and mats easily.

This morning she woke Hugh up by vomiting. Yellow froth, three times. This evening I saw her gagging and got her outside, where she choked up a hairball. Hair sausage, really, but: my dog has hairballs.

I think I must ask the vet for doggy Valium.

Comments

[boxofdelights]

Handling raw meat in this kitchen would be difficult: 3/4 of my family are vegetarian, and the only meat I eat is fish. I might try it in *my* kitchen, in *my* house.