Itching Again

Since Maya had an upset stomach a while ago, we've went through a few weeks with no allergy problems (though we got some tooth problems instead). We thought it's because the of the food we fed her, so we started a food trial by feeding her THK Zeal only. Unfortunately, it didn't went as well as we wished. After taking Maya to a baseball field about two weeks ago, all hell broke loose. She started scratching again and it went from bad to worse in a short period of time. Though I didn't find any on her, I believe she got bitten by fleas while she buried her face in the tall grass sniffing around. Taking the meds seemed to help a little, but never really eliminated the itchiness. I guess we just have to wait patiently till all the flea saliva got flushed out.  

The poor girl seems to know that scratching makes me unhappy. Sometimes she'll sneak to a corner to scratch or just rub her face on the carpet when I'm around. Sigh. I just wish she can have a break from all these health issues. Though none were life threatening, it sure is frustrating, especially when waking up in the middle of the night by the scratching sound. It also breaks my heart seeing her hurting her beautiful face like that. 

Scratching herself raw again around the mouth area

Got a black eye because of the excess scratching

Tooth Issue Update

After a weekend of not knowing what to do and worrying about losing the window to fix the tooth, we finally nailed an appointment to meet with a pet dentist on Monday. Thanks to the lady at the dental office, who helped convinced the doctor to stay for an extra hour to see us.

Tuesday afternoon, we took Maya to the office to meet with the doctor. He gave us three options (from the cheapest, which isn't cheap at all, to $$$$$$$): extract the tooth, root canal therapy, or root canal therapy plus a crown.  He showed us a fake dog jaw with removable teeth, and pull the one Maya fractured out for us to get a better idea how it actually looks like. After seeing that the tooth has three roots and all go deep into the jaw, we decided to save the tooth, which should be mush less risky nor painful. We also leaned towards doing the crown, but weren't certain as it's really expensive and she'll need to be put under a second time to put it on. After the visit (which itself cost us $125), I felt bad because of the big dental bill, but also felt a lot better because at least we know what we're dealing with. Before leaving, we made an appointment to do the surgery on Friday, which left us a few days to make our final decision.

My boyfriend and I were both raised in middle-class families. Though not wealthy, our parents never had hesitations when it comes to our health or education. Luckily, they are both relatively cheap in Taiwan and we never had any major medical issues. I had friends who went back to Taiwan just for dental procedures, as it's often much cheaper even without insurance. Too bad we can't do the same with a dog. It saddens me that we need to make our decision based on the cost, not just Maya's welfare.  It saddens me even more, knowing that there are people making this kind of decisions everyday, not only for their pets, but for their children. After some back and forth, we decided to go with the crowning. With the knowledge we gathered so far, it seems to be a better option for the long run. Maya's still young, and if we take good care of her and the tooth, she'll be using it for many years.

This morning, I took her to the dental office for the scheduled surgery. She was jumping up and down as usual, excited to meet everyone and walked to the back happily with the lady. According to the doctor, everything went smoothly, and I was able to pick her up three hours later. When I entered the office, Maya was once again jumping up and down. At home, she ate a little, drank a little, and slept a lot. It'll take her a few days to fully recover, but everything should be back to "normal" tomorrow. We will go back in about three weeks to put the crown in.

Thanks to the nice lady at the office, who kept me updated via email, I got some photos of the tooth pre and post surgery.

Before the surgery

After smoothing the surface

After root canal therapy

View from a different angle

Dozing off after coming home

Maybe I Overreacted

I guess I overreacted a bit about Maya's tooth yesterday. I was extremely upset because it wasn't shit that just dropped on me, but something I could have prevented. Maya was making crunching sound when chewing on the Himalayan chew and at one point I did thought about taking it away.

Yesterday ended up to be a bad day for the entire family. Not only did we found Maya's broken tooth, my boyfriend also got into a car accident. Thank goodness no one got hurt and his insurance can cover most of the cost. I'm just glad that in both cases, the damages are fixable with a bit extra money. I guess that's what savings are meant for after all.

Just a bit rant on my end. I really wish the vet office could show a bit more sympathy when owners are freaking out. The doctors have always been warm and fuzzy, but that's only when you pay the ticket to enter the examination room. They always say "call us if you have any questions", but I was never able to get anyone besides the receptionist on the phone when I have questions. During this incident and Maya's upset stomach, which both could and could not be emergencies, all I can get over the phone was a cold "the doctor has to see her to give you answers" and "the next available open spot is X days later". What am I going to do NOW? How am I going to decide if X days later is okey or not? This is a place I spend hundreds of dollars per year, but even the strangers on the forums had been much more supportive. It's not like I want to be cheap and get free professional advices, I was planning to take my pet in right away if possible. I'm even fine if they charge me for the phone calls. I thought about going to a different vet, but after talking to a few neighbors with pets, it seems like this clinic is the best around the area. If the best is like this, I don't know what to expect from the worse ones.

As of Maya, she seems to do fine as long as we don't touch the tooth. She isn't playing as much, but eats and drinks as usual. Though she's really annoyed by me examining and cleaning her teeth a few times a day, she behaved very well and hasn't snapped nor even growled at all.

We decided to take her to a specialist first to get some professional opinions. If saving the tooth is an option, we'll probably do so, since it's the biggest tooth and kind of important. If it's not worth saving or too late, it's seems like most dogs can do fine without it. It sucks that no one works during the weekend, so all we can do now is to keep her mouth clean and hope for the best.

Fractured Tooth?

Maya might have chipped her tooth when chewing on the Himalayan Chew or antler yesterday. I noticed her constant licking and pawing at her face, so I decided to brush her teeth this morning. While brushing, there was this spot that made her almost jumped up when I reached in. Then she refused to let me touch her teeth nor open her mouth at all. I was hoping it was just some food stuck in there, but after lots of pampering, I finally got a good look, and it sure doesn't look good.

Sigh. I remember reading about the "when your dog made you cry" topic on the forums. This sure was the moment. I sat there and cried for a good 10 minutes while Maya was hiding from me cause she didn't want me to touch her. I know shit happens, but I still feel like killing myself at the moment.

After the emotional moment, I called the vet and it sounded like all they know is removing the tooth. I asked if it's possible to repair and they referred me to a doggie dental office. I looked up the dental office's review on Yelp, and it seems to be another specialist that totally rips off their costumers. I am at lost now...

Monthly Expenses: February 2012

February 2012

• Accessories: $15
• Food: $42
• Supplements: $52
• Toys: $7
• Treats and Chews: $37
• Vet & Medical: $114
• Miscellaneous: $13

TOTAL: $280
YTD TOTAL: $884


Accessories

I got a new treat bag since the old one was pretty torn, and also got two Munchkin Snack Catchers as a even better solution for holding training treats.

Food

I ordered a box of the Honest Kitchen Zeal for Maya's food trial. The box should be able to last at least a month if that's all we feed her, but I'll probably start adding in some raw meaty bones soon if her conditions remain stable.

Supplements

After learning that flea Saliva could be the biggest offender of Maya's allergies, I got some rosemary leaves, eucalyptus oil, lavender oil, and neem oil to make my own flea repellent. Too bad the neem oil smelled really gross and almost made me throw up, so I ended up throwing it away without even opening the bottle. I also got a jar of brewers yeast that I plan to add to Maya's food, but haven't gotten a chance to try yet. In order to get free shipping, I also stocked up on coconut oil and some vitamins.

Homemade flea repellent

Toys

I got Maya a toy that has a small pocket to hide treats for agility training, but I ended up making one myself that worked better.


Treats & Chews

I ordered two bags of Terra Paws Beef Liver and Sweet Potato Pet Treats through Barking Deals for $10, and a 1lb. bag of Mojopet Pizzle Pieces from doggyloot for $16. Both deals were good and Maya really liked them, but I probably should stop subscribing to those daily deals.

Maya's daddy also got her an extra large Himalayan Dog Chew when we were at the pet expo, because I "accidentally" said "I heard those are really good" when we walked by the booth. It wasn't as long lasting as I expected, so I only let Maya chew on it for about 5 minutes whenever I brush her.

Himalayan Dog Chew

Vet & Medical

I thought we could save a bit on this category this month, but Maya had an upset stomach and we had to take her to the vet. Next month won't be fun either, cause we are running low on Frontline and Heartgard, sigh.

Miscellaneous

I had to pay $5 to cross the bridge for an outdoor agility class, as well as $8 parking for attending the pet expo. Though going to the pet expo has nothing to do with Maya, we probably would never go there if we didn't have a dog.

Munchkin Snack Catcher

Ever since I started agility class, I've been looking for a good treat bag. I got one from the pet shop, but wasn't really satisfied by it. Why? The cloth opening sometimes make it hard to reach for food. If I fold the cloth over, then the food will spill out when I start running. It's also hard to clean if I need to bring wet/greasy treats, like meat balls, cheese, or hot dogs. 

During Maya's last playdate with baby HM, one of HM's accessories caught my attention: Munchkin Snack Catcher. It's basically a small cup with a plastic lid that has soft flaps, which is designed so that toddlers can reach in for snacks but food won't spill out if knocked over. This is exactly what I need! I went to Target the next day and got myself a pack of two right away.

For those who may be interested, here are some pros and cons.

Pros: 

• Cheap (about $6 for 2).
• Easy to reach in for the treats.
• Food stays put when running and jumping around.
• The two handlers make it easy to attach to a bag or on the waist. 
• Dishwasher safe.
• Can be stored in the fridge.
• Bright baby colors.

Cons:

• The opening might be a bit too small for those with bigger hands.
• Does not come with a stay fresh type of lid that seals the top, but I did find a soft-spread butter lid that works well with it. I'll just have to remember not to throw it away when I finish the butter.
• Can only hold one type of treats. I guess I can tie both cups on my waist if I have to, though it'll make me look really silly.

I've been using it for more than a week and really loved it. It might not be for everyone, but definitely servered my needs.

Big Reset?

Ever since Maya started on her allergy medicine, Atopica, I've been trying all I can to reduce the dosage. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful there is something that works to stop the itchiness, I'm just not keen on the idea that she needs to rely on drugs from such an young age. We were able to keep the itchiness at bay when giving her the meds about twice a week, but whenever we pushed it further, it always kind of backfired. She even drew blood a few times due to the insane amount of scratching. 

However, with her upset stomach two weeks ago came an interesting side effect. She went through an entire week without taking Atopica and everything seemed fine. The only big change during that time was her diet, which was limited to rice and the Honest Kitchen Zeal. I have always been worried that I might have been feeding her something that's triggering the allergy symptoms, because when I started on raw, she was on full dosage of Atopica, and it might have suppressed the bad reactions. Looks like it could have been the case, and I've been feeding her  something "bad". Though I secretly hoped that she went through some detoxication and pooped out all the allergies, but that's probably not the case. 

After she got better, I decided to start a food trial and only feed her Zeal. So far it's been two weeks without the meds and she's doing great! She still scratches here and there every once in a while, but nothing too serious. I'll start adding some meat back to her meals soon, but I'll take it extra slow this time. Since she's already on a balanced diet from a reliable company, I can take my time trying different ingredients.

Because I've only been adding Zeal to her meal about a tablespoon per day as a topper before she's sick, a trial size package was enough for us lasts quite a while. After feeding it as a full meal, the last two boxes were gone in days. I'm glad I found a good deal on wag.com and got the package within 24 hours. Just in time before we ran out.

Zeal is the most expensive of THK's product line. It was never my intention to feed her the most pricy product. I was actually trying to be cheap by ordering the product with the most unit price, since all trial packages cost the same. Oh well, you got me THK! At the end of the day, if Zeal is the only thing she can eat, I'm totally fine with feeding her just that. It's a great product and it's still way cheaper than the pills and vet visits.

The real tricky part about the food trial is the treats. Since we are taking agility classes, I really need to give her a few different treats for training. I was giving her cheese with her meals while she was sick, so I continued to use it as treats. I also gave her some Zuke's Mini Naturals and Cloud Star Buddy Biscuits during our class last Saturday, but I'll probably cut those out since she's been scratching a bit over the weekend. ZiwiPeak Cuisine, though pricy, seems appealing. I can probably skip a meal on Saturdays and just feed it to her during class instead.

Scratch scratch scratch

Anyhow, I'm thrilled by the progress so far and really glad to be able to start a trial with a clean slate. It'll be wonderful if she can stop taking the pills for good!