The Mia, she is sick again. Yet another rash on her skin, this time under her neck where her collar resides. I removed it and gave her a bath with her special hypo-allergenic shampoo, paying special care to wash the area thoroughly, but not irritate it further. It seemed to work for her, as she stopped scratching it for a few hours and the redness went away.I thought maybe it was just dirt that had bothered her. But at 2:30 AM she woke me up with her unrelenting scratching. I was afraid she was trying to rip the skin off of her neck. I gave her some Benadryl (works the same for dogs as for people, according to my vet) and tried to distract her so she wouldn't scratch anymore. The only thing that worked, however, was my rubbing her head, and as I drifted off to sleep, the rubbing stopped and the scratching began. Not willing to stay awake all night with my dog, I did the next best thing. I got her an empty water bottle to play with, and put her in the living room so she could chew on it. (Water bottles are LOUD and not welcome in my bed. Especially when I am trying to sleep.) That lasted about 10 minutes. She spent the next 2 hours scratching at my bedroom door, trying to get back in. Finally, I let her back in, sans bottle, and the little twerp crawled right under the covers and went directly to sleep. I could have cheerfully killed her in that moment.
She has yet another appointment at the vet on Friday to get this new rash looked at. Every time I think I want another dog, I get a vet bill for the first one.