When it rains, it pours

Eleven dogs in a house without a mudroom during a three day rain event is no fun, but I'm actually not here to complain about the weather. It is winter, and I guess I should be happy that it's not coming down as snow.

The title of this post actually refers to the abundance of vet visits I've had this week. I don't particularly mind a drive to town and back, or two if the dog is in for the day, but it takes a big chunk out of my work day, which leaves me working still in the evenings and feeling a bit stressed.

On Tuesday R.W. went in for his dental appointment, which resulted in 12 extractions and a possibility of more in the future. That was two trips to town on that day, followed by two more trips the next day when Dobby went in to be neutered. Normally I'd come home and get a few hours of work in before going back to pick up the dog after surgery, but they called before I was even home from dropping him off, asking me to come back as soon as possible after the surgery because he was very stressed out. Being blind and deaf and dropped off in a strange place with no familiar smells would be scary, so I sympathized with Dobby and did pick him up early in the afternoon, but that meant I really didn't start work for the day until mid to late afternoon.

And then, I decided that Maya needed to be seen on Thursday, even if it did mean three days in a row of making trips to town in the middle of the day. She has been licking her front left paw for probably two weeks now for no apparent reason. I've tried soaking it, spraying it, and even put a cone on her, but it didn't seem to be getting better. Yesterday I saw that she had figured out a way to get to the foot and lick it even while wearing the cone, so I said, fuck it, we need to go to the vet.

The exam didn't show anything obviously wrong, except an injury to the edges of two of her pads, which seemed to be healing. We are going to stick with the soak, the spray, and the cone and see if it will continue to heal to the point that she stops obsessing over it. We made it her annual exam so the trip wasn't entirely wasted. She got the kennel cough vaccine and heartworm test. I declined the lepto this year because it made her very sick the last time she got it. And at least I found out I was on the right course of treatment for the foot. If anyone has any suggestions for something that will prevent her from licking it, I'm open to them.

This is the paw she licks and you can see
that it's between those two center toes.

Maya isn't bad at the vet, but she is extremely
anxious and scared.
 I think she learned that from Trooper.

The growth on her forehead seems to be a cyst. I'd like to have it removed, but it doesn't
warrant anesthesia on its own. Maya may be due for a dental next year, and we'll have it off then.