a trip to the vets for me and two of my dogs yesterday. My TT kept scratching her back and pulling the hair out so she's got steroids and anti biotics for two weeks  and my poor old boxer boy suddenly got an egg size lump right by his anus and wouldn't stop trying to clean it and he has an abscess in his bottom. poor things on lots of tablets too and has to go back next week and have it drained if the tablets don't work.
All in all a bill for £62 so far but their worth every penny. so everyone is feeling a bit sorry for themselves today but a few sausages to help the tablets go down seemed to cheer them up a bit.
if it's not the children to worry about it's the dogs but it would be a boring life without them all.      

Sorry to hear you have 2 poorly woofs, I hope the tabs help your old boy, draining doesn't sound nice. £62 doesn't seem bad at all for 2 lots of AB's, I had to take Daisy in a month or so ago for a weepy eye, they thought it might be entropia (sp), but gave some eye cream to try first, went back a week later for a follow up and another tube of cream - and they charged the same price again. My old vets didn't charge for follow up consultations, so it was a bit of a shock, think it came to about £85 in total.

Sausages are good for tablets, I'm sure mine would prefer it if I went down this route, but my eldest is a sly one. She manages to swallow the sausage/ham/chicken etc, whilst spitting the tablet out of the other side of her mouth! I've managed to get around this with a tube of squeezy cheese (primula), I coat the tablet in said cheese, and put another dollop on my middle finger - they then get the tablet, but swallow it really quickly as they're intent on also licking the extra cheese off the finger. OH hasn't quite got the routine down yet, so we end up with soggy tablets and very happy dogs.

T

Poor woofs hope they fell better soon. O agree £62.00 doesn't dounf too bad we have just been to the vet for a hot spot and after and anti inflamatry sp? antib's and fuciderm am now £80.0 lighter !

Ahhh poor dogs :( I agree, £62 for 2 dogs to have AB's is quite good, hope they do the trick and your dogs are back to normal soon :)  it's horrible seeing misarable doggies :(

> I coat the tablet in said cheese, and put another dollop on my middle finger - they then get the tablet, but swallow it really quickly as they're intent on also licking the extra cheese off the finger. OH hasn't quite got the routine down yet, so we end up with soggy tablets and very happy dogs

You could crush the tablet up (between 2 spoons) and mix them into dollop of cheese spread/peanut butter, no chance of an ejected tablet then. It works a treat for my sisters Boxer who could pick a tablet out of anything :)

As my dog is such a pig, if he ever needs tablets he'll swallow them whole - no food needed to disguise them

Hi, you poor thing having to nursemaid a Boxer all of ours seem to play on it all the sympathy but regaurding the abscess our Boston Terrier has has three of them recently the last one two weeks ago all i can say is that all have burst the next day after visiting the vets for Antibiotics i also ask for some tramadol capsules for her as they are really painfull and these keep her well rested (1 dose 8hrs) this stops her rubbing it have you tried holding a hot flannel on it hand hot is best if he will let you as this is what my vet said to do,when they burst clean it with some mild salt water has your vet said to go in when it bursts? I had to keep taking the scab off the hole to let it drain for a few days so that the underneath heals first without trapping puss inside it does leave a bit of a scare but this soon gets hair on, Mabel went for a check up on Friday and all ok both Anal Glands working again, i hope by the time you read this it would have burst and your boy feels a lot better.Debby

i will try what you said about warm water on it. looks a little better today, not quite so big but he's still licking it. thankfully he's sleeping a lot as usual and i treated him to a big soft bed yesterday which he's hardly moved off since i put it in the lounge.
i have to go back to the vets in a week but will keep a close eye on it and go back sooner if it looks worst again. hopefully the tablets are beginning to work now.

Hope the woofers get well soon.

Your bill was very reasonable compared to around here.

I'd have expected that for just one.

Bear, wishing them both better soon.  There's always something in a busy household :-(

An update on my two poorly dogs.
Well my boxer is well on the road to recovery and the abscess has gone right down but i've got a check up tomorrow at the vets to check all is well and because of all the treats to get him to take the medication he's put on a little weight, just is great as he is a bit on the slim side these days.
As for my TT girl  she is not happy at all, looking very sorry for herself because of the steroids. in fact i rang the vets yesterday as is sleeping a lot and has been weeing on the floor. not on purpose but when she's been lying down then gets up she leaves a puddle of wee.
Thank God my carpets are so old it doesn't matter but the carpet cleaner has been used five times already.  Anyway the vet told me it is a common side affect of steroids, wish she'd told me that before. she also said not to stop her taking them but reduce them down to one tablet a day and things should improve.
So i have a very smelly girl even though i'm trying to clean her bottom end a bit and she isn't in the mood for a good brush so her coat is  looking terrible and i'm struggling to keep the matting at bay. i'd love to bath her properly but she isn't well enough and i don't want to upset her.
we only have another week or so of tablets so i hope things get back to normal soon, i've never had such a smelly house but there's little i can do about it for now.
it's horrible when you can see your dogs unhappy especially when your just trying to sort their problems out.