Pee Protest in the Vets

Max's had his last vet appointment this morning and enjoys a 4 week break from vet visits.  Either he knew this and chose a rebellious farewell or he had complete loss of bladder control, because he managed to pee on the floor 3 times!  A little one when the pretty female vet came over to say hello (understandable), a massive one all over the waiting room floor just before his appointment, and he saved the biggest one for his departure.  This from a dog who has never peed in my house.

Here he is goofing around on the floor.. mong...

His appointment was fine, he had his last Ivermectin injection and a general check-up.  The vet is happy with his progress but keeps reminding me what a long process this is going to be.  I am to continue with the Ectomex baths for another 2 weeks (3 baths - 1 every 5 days) then give Max a break for a while and see how he gets on.  There is an improvement in his skin and even a tiny bit of new fur! (but it is very sparse and patchy). 

Behaviourally he is doing really well, he is obedient and eager to please, he understands 'sit' and sometimes 'stay'.  He is a very laid-back, quiet and relaxed dog, but also very playful when he feels like it.

It is hard to fully appreciate the improvement when I see him every day, but his African Tails fairy-god-mom is coming to visit on Saturday and she hasn't seen him since day 1 (25 Jan) so it will be interesting to hear what she thinks of him.  

F Minus 4

We are on countdown now... like the end of a Bond movie...  "F minus 4, and counting".  (F being Fur and 4 being 4 weeks).  Thats what the vet reckons after Max's appointment yesterday.  Stay tuned.

The appointment was fine, he had another Ivermectin injection and the vet is happy with the improvement in the condition of his skin, there is still a bit of smell but that has also improved and hopefully will go completely within the next 2 weeks.  Here he is permeating his smelliness throughout the house, thank goodness we don't have carpet...

The injections have side-effects, so he has spent most of the day sleeping (and not eating).  After last weeks injection he got his appetite back in the evening so I will put some chickeny treats in his dinner tonight.   He has one more injection next week and another Ectomex bath this weekend to look forward to.

He met another dog in the vet, so aside from being a welcome distraction from his impending appointment, he got a bit of much needed socialising practice with a happy little female pug.  He hasn't seen another dog for at least 2 weeks.  It will be interesting to see how he gets on in Keurboom Park when he is up to walkies.

A Bath!

I suspected Max wouldn't enjoy bath time, he doesn't like walking on the wet lawn and makes sure he is well out of the way when the hosepipe comes out.   Unfortunately for him yesterday was bath day, and he wasn't impressed.

The mange treatment seems to be knocking him for six.  He didn't eat and was very drowsy after the Ivermectin injection on Thursday, spending most of the day in his kennel.  Because the vet told me that the Ectomex dip would have similar side-effects I waited until Sunday to bath him.  Thought I would give him a day to get his strength back before knocking it out of him again. 

The treatment involves 6ml of Ectomex in 1L of water, which needs to be applied all over his body, left to soak for 10 minutes then rinsed.  The Ectomex stinks, like peroxide, and requires me to wear surgical gloves.

Like his trip to the vet last week, Max was very calm and well behaved in the bath, he didn't growl, bear teeth or even look like biting me, even though he clearly hated every moment of it. He made a half-hearted attempt to escape at one point but mostly sat there looking sheepish.   For a street dog he has a remarkable temperament.  

The little fur he has was all fluffy when he dried off and looked really funny.

He is lethargic again today, but eating.   He has another vets appointment to look forward to on Thursday (another Ivermex injection) and another bath this weekend.  Lucky boy.

A name and a trip to the vet...

I didn't think a name was that important because he has no concept of a name anyway.  Although we get along fine with 'Smelly' the sooner he gets a name the sooner he gets used to it.  So, his name is 'Max' and 'Max' went to the vet today.

After some serious biscuit bribery I got him into the car and drove to Hillside Vet in Wynberg.  He was a bit of a celeb in the car park, he got a lot of attention and I got a lot of questions; Where is he from?  What happened to him? Whats that smell?  etc etc.  Unfortunately neither bribery or the confidence from his newly found popularity could get him through the vets door so I had to carry him in.


Max had a skin scrape, was groped and poked for a few minutes, then had an injection. He wasn't thrilled about the situation but handled it like a superstar and was extremely calm and well behaved.

The skin scrape revealed that the Demodex mites are still alive and kicking, so the injection was a treatment of Ivomectin which needs to be repeated in a week.  I also got an Ectomex treatment which I need to bathe him with every 5 days.  The vet said not to expect any massive results in the next week but hopefully in about 2 weeks his skin should start getting better and once his skin has recovered he can start growing fur.  He said that although Max's mange is 'severe' he could have a full, normal, healthy coat of fur in about 4 months.  

His knee keeps popping out of its socket, which sounds unbelievably painful, but apparently not.  They are going to assess his knee in a month or so, and also cut his nuts off.


Otherwise Max is fine, he is much more confident and playful.  Anything left in the garden is 'his' and promptly destroyed (which is how it should be with a puppy).  He also tries take my ankles out with his paws whenever I am walking around the garden, I think the novelty of this will wear off when I face-plant on the patio.

Here is a picture of us playing 'fetch' - sometimes he will fetch it and sometimes it doesn't even register and I have to go fetch it.  The debris in the background is the remnants of the cardboard boxes he trashed.  He also built himself a nest out of an old newspaper...  Whatever keeps him amused...