Sassy problems again - pls help

Cathy; What did the vet say about the lumps; are they getting smaller? Do the pills she's been taking seem to be helping? If you can't get her into a tub could you make a smaller batch of the solution and use a washcloth to soak her feet?  I did that when the vet wanted us to use Doneboro for Jessie's feet; it came in small packets and it would have taken about $30 worth to make enough to soak her feet in the bathtub.

Janice - the vet called me back Monday evening, in response to my msg about Sassy's lymph nodes, and she said that it was hopefully a sign that the lymph system was working to filter out the infection.  The nodes are still swollen today.  She said that the culture showed something was growing, and she saw that as a good sign, but that it was still growing so she'd call me by today with the results.  I notice there's a small red spot on Sassy's tummy, so I'm hoping that isn't going to blow up into something major.  The feet actually look better, so I'm happy about that. 
Thanks for the suggestion about soaking each foot with a washcloth.  I could do that, but I'd never get passed the first foot.  Sassy tolerates having her feet touched, but not real well and more than anything, once she decides she wants it to stop and leave, she'll have no more of it.  We've been able to do the soaking a few times now, so I do think that has helped the feet.  I also think these antibiotics are doing some good and hopefully the vet's not going to call and say we need to switch to something else.  I've only got 2 more pills to go though, so who knows.  I hope to hear something one way or the other today though and I'll be sure to post.

Sound kind of good Cathy!   The nodes sound encouraging, along with improvement on her feet!   Hoping for good news later!

I have TWO WORDS for you!!  ***string cheese***
 
*grin* and I am serious.  Back when we first got Billy and were beginning to deal with his mega allergy issues (in the middle of 3 back to back hurricanes down here - Charlie, Jeannie and Frances), this boy did NOT like his feets touched!!! NO WAY.
 
Well, one of the things we did was the soak in black tea.  Well I say "we" -- this was my husband's thing.  He was walking Billy out front every morning (re-arranging your yard with a hurricane tends to wreck havoc on potty habits in the backyard!!), so he just set it up with this container of sun tea, a turkish towel and before he'd go out he'd slip a package of string cheese in his pocket. 
 
Well, lo and behold -- by about the third morning Billy was wanting to cut the walk SHORT just so they could get to the swisshy foot game!!!  Dog sits, paw gets sloshed in tea and patted on turkish towel and RAH -- DOG GETS CHEESE PIECE!!!!
 
It was hysterical to watch.  He would get SO excited knowing that David had string cheese in his pocket that he would almost not be able to pee!!  HURRY HURRY gotta get to the steps so we can do the swisshy foot thing!!!!
 
Of course David made him wait a bit longer and we began to handle his feet more and more -- with and without any reward.  But dang ... I tell ya -- string cheese is one of those things you don't want to forget!!!  It's a darned good training tool - it's easy to just pull back the plastic, pinch off a piece and you have this reward any dog will die for, and even just a 'lick' will do!!  too funny.  But it works!!!

Thanks Callie and if your husband's not busy, I'd love to have the foot treatment and some string cheese too [].  I love that stuff!!  I probably should try to find something more appealing than carrots, although she generally love them.  Because of her allergies, I'm paranoid about "new" foods.  She's also a very wary type of dog though and because of all the treatments she's had, has become distrusting.  If she even sees anything in my hand that makes her suspicious, she will go under something and hide and I can't get her to come to me to even see or smell what I've got.  Then I'm in that situation of making it an "issue" and more unpleasant, so I drop it for awhile and try again later - not sure that's been an great idea either.
 
The vet's office left a msg last night just checking on how Sassy's doing but didn't mention the culture & sensitivity, so I left them a msg to pls call me today with the results.  I gave her the last Zenequin today and her feet and elbow look 75% better, so I'm real happy with that, but over the last week she's developed a few other scabby sores randomly placed over her chest and thighs.  Not many, but enough to make me concerned.  I mixed up the solution last night and just dabbed it on her feet, tummy, elbows, etc., and she didn't mind that at all.  Anyway, hope to hear something more today.

Cathy,  I wanted to send my good wishes for you and Sassy.  I can relate to the struggle with foot soaks.  Tonka used to have bouts of interdigital dermatitis on his feet once in a great while, and we had to soak his feet in a special shampoo solution, as well has trying nettle and chamomile teas.  We did the dishpan thing, too, and it was always a messy challenge to get him to stand there for the required time.  One thing he tolerated was if I made a tea solution, soaked cotton balls with it, and tucked them between each toe.  It was easy to do since he had huge feet, so it may not work on small feet.
 
I also know how it feels when you know the dog is avoiding you after you've made so many attempts to do various treatments on him.  Poor Tonka would walk around, trying to stay ahead of me and the cotton balls, but he'd eventually sit in a particular space near the wall and couch, with a defeated look on his face, and he'd let us take care of him.  We'd shower him with treats, hugs, kisses, rubs, etc. so he wouldn't be mad at us, but it still made us feel bad.
 
I hope you can get some definitive answers for Sassy's issues - extra hugs for both of you!

Thanks Tracy - I know you went thru soooo much trying to help Tonka, so believe me, my woes are minor in comparison.  Sassy's got pretty big feet too, so maybe the cotton balls would work.  I'll give that a try.  I swear she can read my mind sometimes.  If I'm several feet away mixing up some solution in the kitchen, she's watching me the whole time and I can see in her eyes "she's gonna try and put some nasty stuff on me, I should go hide now" [].  Makes me feel bad, especially if I manage to cajole her into coming to me and then do something unpleasant.  She's getting more than her share of treats lately though, so hopefully that makes up for some of it.

Hang in there Cathy...we're all here trying to give you and Sassy support.

Cathy -- this might be dumb but it has HELPED Billy (and me too, incidentally).  If the spots are allergy related, and a LOT of this stuff has almost a dermatitis type of mystery to it -- it's dampness internally (that's a Chinese medicine term -- it all comes from the spleen being deficient) and the "under the belly, armpits" stuff usually is like that.  It starts as a sore spot and spreads like wildfire and gets infected (usually the infection sets in AFTER because it finds this nice sore bit of skin to set up shop in).
 
Dr. D (holistic vet) had me mix up this salve to use on Billy when I first saw a sore spot develop.  I'll be darned -- but it would help heal it up!!  It kept it from getting too 'damp' and it dried up the spot but it also kept it from getting TOO dry.
 
Simple recipe -- have at it ANYONE who wants it:
 
100% zinc oxide (Walgreen's carries it -- get the CHEAP one - $2.9
tea tree oil
red clover oil
 
The two oils are essential oils and you'll need to find some health store to find the red clover oil (or you probably can find it online).  The recipe ain't rocket science!!
 
A GLOP of zinc oxide in whatever small container you can find. 
A few drops of tea tree oil
A few drops of red clover oil
 
Stir together. 
 
Now for those of you like me who want EXACT measures - say a glop of zinc oxide about the size of a pecan in the shell.
 
About 15-20 drops of tea tree oil and 15-20 drops of red clover oil. 
 
That's as exact as I can get.  It's goopy -- and it will come off on stuff -- rub it in pretty well (it will almost disappear).
 
I'm astounded how well this works.  I've used it on MY OWN skin (most of you know I have mega dermatitis) and it really helps. 
 
But it might prevent that from spreading.  Red clover oil is specifically for the skin - the tea tree helps heal and kills staph and yeast.  The zinc is specifically a 'protectant'. 
 

Thanks for the recipe Callie.  I have the tea tree oil and have seen how well it can work, so I'll pick up the other ingedients and give it a shot. 

So I have to vent - the derm vet called me Mon. evening and said "yeah, well the culture's growing but still growing, so we need to see what develops.  We should know tomorrow or Wed"  So, I got home yesterday to the msg checking on how Sassy's doing (from the derm vet asst) and I left a msg back saying she's better but I've only got one pill left of the antibiotics and she still has sores.  I left my work # and my cell phone # and said I also wanted to know what the culture showed.  Well, it's 8 PM and no one ever called me.  I've spent soooooo much, and $300 just last week, and I feel like I'm not getting great service.  My husband thinks I need to make it an "issue" but I feel like I need these folks and don't want to jeopardize the relationship...but then I also think, what kind of service is it if I pay for a culture and sensitivity and it takes a full week to get the results. Is that unreasonable?  This isn't the first problem I've had with them but there's only one other derm vet in Sacramento, and I hate to change unless it's absolutely necessary. 
When we took Sassy in last week for the issue with her feet, they decided that she needed to see the derm vet.  I'm sitting in the exam room and I could hear the vet techs going on saying "they can't just come in as a regular dog and then become a derm dog".   They were all upset because it meant fitting Sassy in to be seen by the derm Dr., but that wasn't my call.  I brought her in to be checked and the regular vet looked at her feet and said "she needs to be looked at by Dr. C".  However, when the vet tech came back in the room, I nicely told her that I could overhear them outside and that Sassy was and always had been a "derm dog" which is how we ended up there in the first place.  I said that I'd made the appt with whoever I could see because I needed to get the problem checked out, but I wasn't trying to weasel my way onto the Dr. C's schedule.....anyway, I'll stop now, but it's been a frustrating experience, and my husband thinks I'm being too silent about everything.  What do you all think?

Cathy, I can't tell you if you are being too patient or not vocal enough -- my brain is fried to be honest and I"m so tired I can't see to know what I typed *sigh*
 
BUT
 
(yeah, this is me .. you KNEW there had to be a 'but' in there, right?? *grin*)
 
A culture and sensitivity of ANYTHING takes literally *at least* a week -- and often longer.  See, at least my understanding is -- first they grow it and then they KILL it. 
 
They have to let the culture mature enough for a positive identification (and remember -- sometimes bacteria/virus grow WITHIN virus -- like coronavirus lives *on* parvovirus) -- so they have to let it be what it's gonna be ... SO they can then kill it.
 
Then they divide up the culture and administer different drugs to different pieces of it ... and see how Drug A kills it (and how long) and then Drug B, Drug C, etc. 
 
So when you get the report it will say something like:
 
Genticin was effective on Bacteria B but not on A and only after application for X days and then took longer to effectively kill it.  Baytrill was effective in X amount of time. 
Blah Blah-cillin didn't work at all. 
Wonder Drug was the fastest at killing bacteria A but didn't work as well on Bacteria B.
 
In other words you get a breakdown on which drug works best but is the least 'strong' drug (you always want to use the least strong drug first so the dog doesn't become resistant right off to the most superior drug and thereby leave you with no where to go if the condition worsens).
 
They literally rank the drugs to use by how strong and by how effective they are with whatever bacteria they find.
 
SOMETIMES the bacteria isn't even known.  That happened with Muffin twice.
 
I'd call them in the morning and say Sassy is OUT of ___ antibiotic.  Can you give me enough for another few days?? Or what does the vet want me to do?
 
P.S.  Call around for the red clover oil -- it's not a super common one.  You'll run your legs off otherwise and hate me!!!
 
The pure 100% zinc oxide isn't common either and it should be -- you just want the plain cheap stuff -- Walgreens does sell it but I don't know who else does. 

Well Callie - for having a fried brain, which I can totally relate to, you are very articulate and I appreciate you explaining it as well as you did.  I guess I just need to calm down a little.  If I had to explain it best (to the vet), I'd say "when you act extremely concerned like you did when you saw Sassy, but then don't respond as you say you will, it leaves me with lots of questions and worries".  It's the same as when they did the biopsy, then left me a msg "we've got the results, give us a call" but then they were gone for 2 days.  Grrrrr...okay, deep breath. 
 
I'm happy to say that I looked Sassy over this morning and her feet look great, her elbows are still scabby, but at least they're not oozing, and the other sores seem to be healing.  Her lymph nodes are still swollen, so I'm going to think the best about that.  I started her on the echinacea and hope that'll give her immune system a little boost.  I've also been dabbing the solution they gave me on any problem areas.  I've left another msg this morning and if I don't hear something by mid-afternoon, I'll call again.

You know what Cathy,,,,I think you are having the same kind of problems with the vet as many people do with human doctors.  Somehow, I hate dealing with vets and doctors,,,they don't mind taking their time, not returning phone calls, making us wait and worry!   That said,,,Callie knows more about the specifics as she explained.  But maybe in the future,,,ASK how long you should expect to have to wait for results to a test or cure, etc....and then you have something to go on after that.
I am glad that some of Sassys issues are better though!    So there IS some good news.  Hang in there Cathy!

Dyan - Ironically, I had a cervical biopsy on Monday and the Dr. said "I'll call you next Monday with the results.  If you don't hear from me, call me on Monday".  Well, he called this morning to tell me that the results were normal.  Now, this is a very busy OB/GYN Dr.  I left a msg for the vet this morning and haven't heard yet though.  I think these 2 derm vets have too much on their plate.  They have 2 clinics plus one out-of-state (no idea how that works).  I guess I wouldn't be as frustrated if they hadn't said last Friday "we'll know in a few days" and then said Monday evening "it's growing, but we won't know for sure until tomorrow or Wednesday". 

No surprise to any of the dog-lovers like me, but I hadn't been worried at all about my test results, but I sure worry about Sassy's []

Yeah Cathy, it does sound like those vets have too much going....but I think your pretty lucky that your doc called back when they said! 
DH was waiting for test results from an MRI,,,and called the doctor and they said she hadn't gotten them back yet,,, so he waited 2 more days and had to call her back. BUT in the meantime, I had asked for a copy of the results to be sent to him from the lab and he got them two days before he finally spoke to the doctor about them.  So now, don't you figure she got the results the same day he did,,,if not before?