Stella heard thunder last night and became a little nervous but did not really go crazy. Paced a little but not much. I was told when I got her that she was afraid of thunder. Sadie did nothing but lay down and sleep as did Heidi.
It wasn't too long this morning before the skies turned dark and rolls of thunder were being heard. I had to look at the weather sites to see that it was suppose to be a day of thunderstorms. By noon the sun was trying to come out through the clouds. Needless to say, there has not been a lot of activity her in 'the tropics' so far today.
Heidi's skin looked good this morning as I applied the 4th dose of Wounded Warrior Ointment. All of the redness was gone on shoulders, her legs, insides of her rear feet and armpits. It's hard to tell because of her skin folds but it did look like there was not any inflammation.
Heidi came outside after her lunch. I thought I saw some skin improvement first thing this morning. By noon I wasn't so sure when I looked at her. Then I look at this photo and see a lot of the redness is gone on her rear legs and stomach. She still continues to chew small spots on the edge of her rear shoulder.
While Heidi headed to the front yard, Sadie was chest deep in wet grass. Stella didn't leave the driveway and just stood looking at me as if to ask what now? I thought of taking the walk but 10' into the field I see standing water. If it is that bad at lower elevation it gets worse as we get further away and a little higher.
Once Sadie found out the walk was temporarily called off until later this afternoon ... but that would take some strong sun to help dry out the ground ... she didn't get too far and did a little posting for the camera.
For the first time in a long time my 55-200mm zoom actually worked at the setting of 200mm. It had only been working at 135mm for the past month. I keep having to turn the ring counter clockwise to move the lens back to the original position when set at 55mm. A new 55-300mm Nikkor lens is sounding better all the time.
Temps are rising, sun is trying to come out and those big rain clouds are slowly moving east.
Bloodhounds are a great breed ... but I think it takes a special person to own one. They have a couple of things that other breeds don't have and one of those is drool. Some hounds drool more than others. In this case Stella's is hanging lower than I have seen in a while. It's as strong as that Gorilla glue you see advertised but can be wiped away easy with a Bounty paper towel.
Well back to my addiction of the day ... Mahjong. I am still attempting to get those last few games below 3 minutes and 30 seconds. I justify it by being retired, plus it keeps my hand and eye coordination in good shape.
It's a quiet Friday in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
Life in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana, the high desert of the southwest and back to 'the tropics' with the hounds and dogs.
April 22, 2016
April 21, 2016
Bloodhounds Play & Heidi Takes The Morning Walk
Earlier today after Stella and Sadie checked out the ground, we found it was not muddy like after a typical rain. It was more like a really heavy dew in the field. I went in to get Heidi and she trotted to the door, made a left turn and headed to the field. Once again I took the leash off and let her go at her own pace today.
Sadie and Stella were happy to be able to walk, Heidi seemed to enjoy it but I was a little off by the amount or wet grass. Just after starting my feet were soaked. I need to get some rubber boots for wet walking.
I could tell that Heidi was more into her own wandering instead of walking. She never tried to stay in front of the other hounds nor me. So after Sadie and Stella were so far ahead of me and she was behind, I let her enjoy her exploring and I walked with Stella and Sadie.
I turned to look a final time at Heidi and she was making no forward progress ... on we went.
Stella practically sprinted for her favorite far right hand corner of the field. Sadie wasn't far behind. I'm not sure what they expected but before I knew it, Stella had walked into the wooded area ... too far.
Once I called her name, she came out running toward Sadie and they were off down the back edge of the field.
It looked like this around us, but I didn't hear thunder plus the radar showed nothing as far as rain when we started the walk.
Once again I had to call Stella's name once she took off for the 'no fly zone' and she came running to catch up to me and Sadie, without hesitation.
As we got closer to the house and had just made the slight veer to the left, Sadie saw Heidi and took off. Stella didn't want to miss any of the action.
I don't think she even left the spot from when I left her. She may have wandered in circles but it was at the same location. She turned around when I said "let's go home" and walked in on the outgoing path we use.
Stella decided it was time to play. She sprinted to the house after Heidi started walking and waited for Sadie to get into the yard. You'll have to excuse the 'pooper scooper' but that is a convenient place for it. I only use if for Heidi's front yard disposals.
Heidi did not try to join in on the fun but got involved just walking to the house as Stella completed her turning fake out.
Due to all this playing the bloodhounds have been sleeping most of the afternoon. Heidi hung out on the couch trying to get her baby socks off after the 1pm application of ointment.
The socks are a 'catch 22' .. they keep her from licking the ointment off her feet but keep the area too moist. She does get the four socks off eventually and has been sleeping more than itching. I have more or less made up my mind that I will finish the 28lb bag of the grain free food and will use both tubes of Wounded Warrior Ointment before I make any decision to change.
I am not going to mix and match baths, ointment or Epsom salts but do one at a time. I need to see what works and what doesn't. Same with the food.
The food will last around 56 days since the bloodhounds eat a different kind. I am not sure how long the two tubes of ointment will last but I would think after they are empty I will know if it works or not.
Plan B - If WWO does not work, it will be a bath with the Burt's Bees Shampoo and then leave on applications of a mixture that is one cup of vinegar per gallon of water. That is suppose to kill the layers of yeast infection.
Plan C - If the water/vinegar mixture does not show improvement I will go back to having the vet give her allergy steroid shots for the first time since September 2014 when they had stopped lasting ore than a week.
Time will tell.
Well the sun just popped out of the clouds ... I think the bloodhounds and I can get another walk in. It will be up to Heidi if she wants to go or not.
It's a cool and damp afternoon here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
Found Some Trends In Heidi's Skin Changes
Late last night I could hear the rain lightly hitting the leaves of the trees. Every time I woke up, it was raining lightly ... great sleeping weather.
With rain Heidi heads out behind the yews under the overhang to relieve herself while the bloodhounds attempt to go to the field. Depending if it is raining they don't always go out into the field.
They will stand at the edge of the carport and observe, then venture out for some inspection if it is not raining hard. This morning the rain had just stopped for them to go outside. This morning Sadie went to the field only because it had stopped raining. As soon as Stella feels a lot of wet ground under her feet she is not interested in going anywhere. She stood almost like a statue until I went back inside, then she sprinted for the door.
With the on and off rains today the daily walk may be cancelled. I am willing to do the walk if the rain stops as it has not saturated the ground like a hard rain would do. Of course if Stella will not go into the field, the walk will be cancelled. The radar looks pretty clear though for the rest of the afternoon.
While they slept this morning, I lined up some of the best photos of Heidi's skin since January and then added my notes with dates in between the dated photos. I found some trends I think, although looking back through 18 months of photos -- really not a lot of change in her skin condition.
Her skin will have periods of improvement but just as fast as I noted that improvement it flares up again like nothing has worked. If you click on the label on the lower right sidebar, named Heidi's treatment, it will show all of the blog posts I made last year with 4 different vet ideas, different shots, lotions, pills, etc.
The major trends I noticed from my notes compared to her photos happened to be fairly noticeable in the photos:
With rain Heidi heads out behind the yews under the overhang to relieve herself while the bloodhounds attempt to go to the field. Depending if it is raining they don't always go out into the field.
They will stand at the edge of the carport and observe, then venture out for some inspection if it is not raining hard. This morning the rain had just stopped for them to go outside. This morning Sadie went to the field only because it had stopped raining. As soon as Stella feels a lot of wet ground under her feet she is not interested in going anywhere. She stood almost like a statue until I went back inside, then she sprinted for the door.
With the on and off rains today the daily walk may be cancelled. I am willing to do the walk if the rain stops as it has not saturated the ground like a hard rain would do. Of course if Stella will not go into the field, the walk will be cancelled. The radar looks pretty clear though for the rest of the afternoon.
While they slept this morning, I lined up some of the best photos of Heidi's skin since January and then added my notes with dates in between the dated photos. I found some trends I think, although looking back through 18 months of photos -- really not a lot of change in her skin condition.
Her skin will have periods of improvement but just as fast as I noted that improvement it flares up again like nothing has worked. If you click on the label on the lower right sidebar, named Heidi's treatment, it will show all of the blog posts I made last year with 4 different vet ideas, different shots, lotions, pills, etc.
The major trends I noticed from my notes compared to her photos happened to be fairly noticeable in the photos:
- Putting Winston down on January 5th
- Giving her pieces of my steak and steak fat
- Giving her bacon grease
- Could be season related with grass & pollens in air
- Epsom Salt soaks for 20 minutes with a water rinse helped every time
Right after Winston was gone, there wasn't any change in her appetite. She is usually low energy so I didn't notice any change in her moods. She didn't pace the house looking for him like I have had some hounds do in the past. yet for the next three days she skin flared up with redness, inflammation and chewed spots.
I gave her the steak and bacon grease in early March when I thought that "fat" might help her skin. She has not been given any since and will not be given any. Once again during a 2-3 period her skin became inflamed redness and she had chewed different spots.
As far as pollens, grass or farm field chemicals in the air ... I don't have much choice on that unless I sell the house and move. I am surround by fields that are planted annually with fertilizer applied on those fields. Yesterday when the neighbor was mowing their yard, it was windy and my sinuses inside the house with the windows up, plugged up. So grass may also be a reason for her skin issue.
Some have thought stress is her problem. Yet, when we traveled for 8 days in June 2015 feeding her Fromm's Classic chicken/rice basic dog food ... her skin actually improved. During those 8 days she never ate at the same time every day because it depended when camp was set up or where the next Rest Area was as we drove down the freeway. When Stella showed up on August 30, 2015 there was no noted change in Heidi's skin.
The most likely cause isn't the food she eats, as Vet #3 said ... it's environmental. Her skin flared up last week when my sinuses decided to go crazy after mowing the yard. It was the 4th mowing this spring but the 1st time my sinuses went nuts.
Notes and photos show that last April to the middle of May her skin looked just as bad as it does today. Yet by June to the middle of July her skin looked much better.
So it's just as confusing as ever.
This is Day 2 of the Wounded Warrior Ointment where it is claimed it helps with skin issues, cuts or hotspots on the dogs that are used or were used overseas in combat situations.
I will give her a fresh dose every 4 hours during the day and right before she goes to sleep for the night. Since she tried licking her paws after I put the ointment on, she is back to wearing baby socks that not only cover her paws but her legs. Unlike February 2014, she has not tore off the socks this time.
I should see some skin improvement within the next 2-3 days based on what the seller told my friend that bought it in North Carolina for me.
The radar may be clear but the sky sure looks like another storm is near here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
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