my kids
Today I learned two things about my children (dogs):
1. German Shepherds are susceptible to week paw-pads. After a nice outing at the dog park, I noticed Max limping up to the apartment door. I thought maybe he had a sticker-burr-thing in his paw, so I lifted it to check it out. I was shocked to see that a big piece of the top layer of his pad had been grazed and was nearly hanging off his paw. I checked the other, and it was the same! It looked as if someone had tried to slice the top layer off, so it was superficial but still looked bad. My poor baby could barely walk. Being the super-paranoid mom that I am, I took him to the emergency clinic at A&M because they were the only place open on July 4th in the U.S. The vet proceeded to cut off the dangling pieces and inform me that this is a common occurrence with German Shepherds. He said I needed to keep him off of hard surfaces (i.e. pavement) and that if it seems to really bother him, I could get him some "booties." This news really sucks because I already have to be watching out for his hips going bad, and now I have to keep an eye on his pads, too. My poor, sweet baby. It breaks my heart to see him try to walk...even on the carpet. I put old softball socks on him, but I don't know how long that'll last. I guess I'll just go get him some booties...
2. My other kid, Sami, gets heat rashes. While we were waiting for them to bring Max back in the little room, I noticed her belly was really red and spotted. "Great," I thought. Now I'm thinking she has something wrong, and I'm just going to have to spend more money to get her looked at. I'm saying this rash was ALL over her belly, and the spots looked like small pustules. Needless to say, I got a little worried, but I decided I would just bathe her in this special shampoo that I have and see if that helped. I ended up not doing this, but, alas, she is all back to normal. Not even any remnants of a rash. It was very hot today, especially at 1 in the afternoon. I suppose I'm not 100% sure on this one, but it seems to make sense.
Aww...my sweet babies. I love them so much.
1. German Shepherds are susceptible to week paw-pads. After a nice outing at the dog park, I noticed Max limping up to the apartment door. I thought maybe he had a sticker-burr-thing in his paw, so I lifted it to check it out. I was shocked to see that a big piece of the top layer of his pad had been grazed and was nearly hanging off his paw. I checked the other, and it was the same! It looked as if someone had tried to slice the top layer off, so it was superficial but still looked bad. My poor baby could barely walk. Being the super-paranoid mom that I am, I took him to the emergency clinic at A&M because they were the only place open on July 4th in the U.S. The vet proceeded to cut off the dangling pieces and inform me that this is a common occurrence with German Shepherds. He said I needed to keep him off of hard surfaces (i.e. pavement) and that if it seems to really bother him, I could get him some "booties." This news really sucks because I already have to be watching out for his hips going bad, and now I have to keep an eye on his pads, too. My poor, sweet baby. It breaks my heart to see him try to walk...even on the carpet. I put old softball socks on him, but I don't know how long that'll last. I guess I'll just go get him some booties...
2. My other kid, Sami, gets heat rashes. While we were waiting for them to bring Max back in the little room, I noticed her belly was really red and spotted. "Great," I thought. Now I'm thinking she has something wrong, and I'm just going to have to spend more money to get her looked at. I'm saying this rash was ALL over her belly, and the spots looked like small pustules. Needless to say, I got a little worried, but I decided I would just bathe her in this special shampoo that I have and see if that helped. I ended up not doing this, but, alas, she is all back to normal. Not even any remnants of a rash. It was very hot today, especially at 1 in the afternoon. I suppose I'm not 100% sure on this one, but it seems to make sense.
Aww...my sweet babies. I love them so much.