All about the feet

Diesel is recovering from the neuter surgery without any problems. Luckily he didn't lick the incision, it hasn't swollen or broken open, and he seems just fine. The feet are another matter. They were swollen and raw and actually dripping blood on the floor and on any dog bed that he used. He's on antibiotics for the secondary infection but we don't really know the underlying cause. I'm inclined to suspect allergies, and given the fact that he's underweight and not processing his food very well, my first guess was food allergy as the underlying cause of both the weight problem and the swollen feet.

We switched him to a grain-free food, which sometimes does the trick, but as of today his stool is still sub-par, so I'm not convinced that we've hit on a solution to the digestive problem. We started soaking his feet two or three times a day in a solution of Chlorhexidine. The combination of that and the antibiotics seems to be helping. His feet aren't bleeding any more, they look less raw, and he's not licking them nearly as much. I'm not taking him out walking now. The walks we did before the surgery probably aggravated the foot problem and that's my fault.

He's a one-man dog. He follows me as closely as Vince always did. Every time I get up, he gets up, and he follows me from room to room. I'm able to crate him when I leave, however, so I don't think he really has a problem with separation anxiety. He's very people-oriented, and although he gets along with the other dogs, he's not particularly interested in them. I suspect he had been an only dog.

Maya always watches the foot
soaking procedure, mostly because
she's concerned that he's getting
attention that she's not. 

Today we washed his ears out and they were nasty. He's getting medication in them every day too. At least now they smell like vinegar rather than yeast. Now that the bleeding seems to have stopped, I'll wash all the dog beds he's been using. I am giving him some Benedryl along with the antibiotics in his food, and this evening I gave him some canned pumpkin and a probiotic as well, hoping for a more solid stool.

He eats everything in his bowl, including the pills, so medicating him is very easy. The ear cleaning and foot soaking is a two person job, but he's really quite cooperative about it.