Puppy Love


Wherein Our Heroine Gets a Shock.
Our dog MacIntosh has allergies. The poor guy has been chewing on his paws since spring. The diagnosis was somewhat convoluted due to an infection of mites last year - our regular vet worried that he might have a chronic mite problem, and diagnosis of this condition can be somewhat fraught, so poor Toshie has had test after test, and we have endured vet bill after vet bill.

Finally, though, his allergist (yes, the dog has a specialist) ruled out the mites and the possibility of a food allergy (sorry, pup - that expensive hypoallergenic food you like so much is going away as soon as this bag is done!) and did a battery of tests yesterday. I read the paper and filled out my application for Yoga teacher training for an hour, then got my dog back. He was blinking and yawning from the doggie-valium that they had given him, and when he rolled over onto his side, I could see where they had conducted the test.

Okay - I'm an idiot. I hadn't really thought about what the test would entail, and I hadn't asked enough questions. When Tosh is standing, his yeti-like fur drapes over the shaved bit and he looks pretty normal. But when he flops on his back for belly rubs, you can see the test site clearly and it was something of a shock. It looked like a regiment of OCD-afflicted bees armed with a Sharpie and a Norelco had gone over him but good. In the 8" x 4" shaved patch are tidy rows of about 60 black dots, some of them with angry red reactions. He didn't seem to mind in the least, especially as he was still dopey from the sedative, yawning and blinking. But I just about fell apart, feeling horribly guilty that I had put him through this.

The logic? None. I would have put him through it anyway - in the long run, it is better to know what he's allergic to and to be able to cope with it. But I blame myself for allowing the situation to shock me so much. I should have been better informed.

So, what is he allergic to? Well, here's the list: house dust, 2 types of mold, white poplar, three types of grass, dandelion, pigweed, and cat dander. Yes. One of our pets is allergic to the other two. No, we don't have to choose between our pets (or step up our housekeeping) - we just get to inject him with allergy vaccine that covers the cats and everything else he's allergic to for the rest of his life.
Posted: Wednesday - September 08, 2004 at 07:10 AM         | |

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