Saturday, August 28, 2010

What is Demodectic Mange, Anyways?

It's nothing pretty, that's for sure. Bella started scratching and her hair was starting to come out in little places. I was wondering what was going on.  I even pondered upon the idea that maybe it was demodectic mange because many years ago, I had a toy fox terrier that had it, but at that time, there was nothing to be done for it but the dipping. I took Bella in for a check up and they did the scraping, and sure enough, that's what it was. They wanted to start the ivermectic in cherry syrup but I was afraid. I told the vet that I would go home and discuss this with my family and look online at other possible cures. Well, after much thought, I went ahead. She liked it, much to my suprize, so giving it to her was easy. She started clearing up day by day, a slow process, but when I took her back and got 2 different scraping of negative, she was done, and boy was I glad it was over!
Here are a few links I found in case you want to learn more about it.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-demodectic-mange.htm
and http://www.petshed.com/petcyclopedia/canine-demodectic-mange.html
you can also google this and find more about it.

Bella And Demodectic Mange

With each new day, Bella brings some sort of antics and laughter to my world.  This dog has such a cute and innocent face, but she's anything but innocent. Not only did she come into our household, she's a permanent fixture. I have been dealing with an issue that's not very pretty though....Bella ended up with demodectic mange. It is something that seems to be passed down from the mother. I was, of course, devastated. She got the scraping done, it was positive, so........ upon much researching, I went ahead with the ivermectic in cherry syrup method. It worried me, but I wanted her to be clear, so, I went ahead.  It was about $35 for the bottle, but it lasted more than a month. She loved the taste so it wasn't hard to give. I can report now, that after all is said and done, she is CURED!   well, hopefully for good.  Her coat is such a black and shiny one, as she's been eating Nature's Variety. I also add a small spoon of soft dog food to her meal once a day, but she is doing great.  I am so happy.  She is going to get spayed on Sept. 1st, so I am a little weary and worried because she is only 3 lbs, but she has grown so much. I don't think anything is going to get this little gal down...she's too mean!  and she's already been through so much....lol

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Bella Made Such A Mess!

Well, it seems that even though I have managed to get most of the cords out of Bella's way, AND I thought it was safe to leave her out while I was gone, I came home after a gaunt to the grocery store and Bella had REALLY made another mess! I came home to find that my yarn, which I thought was pretty well hidden and out of her way, was strung all the way across one room, tangled around my coffee table and all the way to the door! And of course, Bella, acting like she had nothing to do with it, even though she was right there with all of it!......I also found cotton balls torn up all over the floor. She had HAD a frenzy of a playtime. Oh how suprized I was at the mess that she created, but laughing that she had made such a mess of things! Don't you just love em?

Monday, August 02, 2010

Bella's Trip

The trip was a success, much to my suprize. The drive turned out to be a little longer than we expected, due to our pulling a trailer with a car on it behind us, so we could take it to my oldest daughter. Bella did wonderfully! She slept for most of the trip, however, when we got there, it was like nearly 1am and she did not want to go back to sleep, but eventually did. The very next day, we happened upon a wonderful invention: a playyard that was made out of that lightweight material and folded all up ! While we were there, she played to her heart's content, but when we left, she enjoyed the roomy-existance of the new play yard. We found it at petsmart for 67. plus change. Yes, more than I wanted to spend, however, if you check out the wire ones, they run 85 and on up. I also checked into the children's play yards that are plastic and look like the plastic gates that connect ( no flooring) and they were running about the same in price, but hard to find. All, in all, the trip was good, Bella was good and we got home safely and not only am I happy, but so is Bella!