Frasier is Giving Me Grey Hair!

(I took the word verification off for comments, it's a hassle sometimes and the words are impossible to read.)

Actually, I should probably say that he's giving me more grey hair since I already have some.

I slept in my own bed last night.  Frasier didn't want me to.  He barked once after we'd been in bed about 30 minutes or so, and I yelled for him to hush.  I looked out from the bedroom door and could tell that there wasn't anything wrong, other than the fact that he wanted my company.  So I went back to bed.  A little while later, I heard one more bark but it wasn't quite as loud.  I ignored that one, since I thought maybe he was testing to see if he'd get any response.  Sometime after that, Bill was snoring so I grabbed my ear plugs and went to sleep.  I got up somewhere around 4:20 for a bathroom visit, and it was really too late to go back to sleep but I did at least get back in bed until the alarm at 5:00.  When I went into the livingroom, Frasier was sprawled out on the floor as normal but Maggie Moo was waiting by the dog block.  Usually, she's on the love seat which is off limits to her but she still sleeps there if nobody sees her.  I made sure that he was able to get outside (not that he did) and get water.  When Otter got up and fed them, (her job) she said that he kept her awake most of the night because he was "talking."  I didn't hear him because of the ear plugs.  She didn't take an allergy pill last night, which is probably the only reason she actually heard him.

Tonight, I'm planning on at least starting out in my own bed.  But I might move to the couch, if I have to.  We'll see.

When we came home at lunch, I brought the dogs in and Frasier went straight to the water dish.  I took the cone off of him and he drank and drank and drank...  But then he went back for more after the cone was back on and he was able to drink without any problem.

However, we discovered that his wound looked really bad and bloody.  I called the vet and they said to bring him in this afternoon.  I had to go back to work, or we would have taken him right then.  But since Otter was home and could watch him, and it wasn't gushing blood, they (and we) felt like he was ok to wait.  We took him after I got home, Maggie Moo went along for moral support - also known as it's impossible to get one dog leashed and out without the other!  Maggie got droopy this time, she didn't really want to be there.  When we got into the exam room, she ran to the corner and stood there.  When she heard someone out in the hallway, she immediately got underneath Otter's chair and squished herself into as small a space as she could! :)  When she realized that nothing unpleasant was happening to her, she came out from under the chair but she was still very timid about actually taking a treat from the vet.  However, the belly won out and she was happier after that.

The vet looked at the wound and agreed with me that the stitches had pulled out.  He went ahead and clipped them all out.  Frasier did pretty good, although he did try to move his leg a couple of times.  After the vet was through, Frasier put one of his front paws up on the vet's knee and had the sweetest expression on his furry face.  The vet didn't think that he would be able to re-stitch it, as big as it is, and I think he was right.  I don't think he was particularly surprised tht the stitches didn't hold.  I wasn't.  Basically, it is left like it was when he removed the stitches.  It looks like an open wound, but he could see some definite signs of healing.  I think he figured out a while back that I'm not squeamish.  (I never was particularly squeamish, but if I had been - Bill would have cured me quickly with all his accidents!)  The wound looks like the sides are flapping open but the skin/muscle underneath looks healthy.  I asked the vet if he still thought it was a lick granuloma and he thinks that it might have started out that way, but for whatever reason it turned into a cyst or tumor.  He said it was bigger than he thought, once he started removing it and that he also thought it had grown bigger quickly in the two weeks between the decision to take it off and the actuall procedure.  I thought it was growing quickly at the time.

He gave me an antiseptic spray to use twice a day and he sprayed it so we could see just how much to use - a lot, it needs to be soaked as much as I can and then I am to take a paper towel and dab a little bit off so it doesn't drip.  He also gave me an antibiotic pill that Fraiser gets twice a day.  I gave him the first dose tonight, in some ground turkey meat.  He said we can wrap it if we feel like we need to, but it will mean a very heavy, thick & stiff cotten, gauze and vetwrap bandage that might be too stiff for the dog to even walk with.  I won't do that unless I need to.  Fraiser won't need to go back at this point, unless it bleeds or gets infected.  Otter will be home with the dogs tomorrow afternoon, and then we'll decide about Monday after we see how it does over the weekend.  He'll have the cone on for the foreseable future.

I probably won't spray it tonight, since the vet did it today.  The spray is actually what is used in cleaning areas for surgery, and it came in a concentrated form.  We ran to Wallyworld and got a spray bottle, because it needs to be mixed with water.

I did not post a picture, it looks horrible.  It's not as bad as it looks, but it does look pretty gross.  If anybody wants to see it, I'll post one or email.

Frasier has been much happier the last few days.  He was acting like he wasn't happy or maybe not feeling the best in the days leading up to the vet's decision to take it off and the actual surgery.  We thought the growth was bothering him.  Since the surgery, once he got over the initial pain and the indignity of the cone, he's been playful again and like a puppy.  A big, fluffy, puppy with grey hair, but still a puppy.  I'm very happy that my puppy is back!