oh yays!

Sam's itchings cleared in less than a week. yay! the pill and gel combo probably helped, as well as avoiding any more shampooings. i cut a little more of his thick fluffy fur though, and i'm glad i didn't have to do more. shaved furmonster just isn't right!

i had to skip the vet followup appointment on account of my own health, and since Sam was clearly on the mend, didn't bother to reschedule. i hope the vet can live with the hanging plotline...

oh noes!

Sam has been spectacularly good lately, so providing no amusing anecdotes for my blog. another plausible explanation is that we've gotten so used to his antics we hardly remark upon them anymore.

well, this week marks the end of that. something is being naughty, but we can't really blame Sam. he has a skin problem. i took him to the vet because i thought he'd injured himself on barbed wire, or something like that. when he shaved off some of Sam's thick, fluffy fur, we realised he had little sores all over his shoulder (after i'd taken him home, i found more all over his back). he suggested flea allergy, but the husband and i are discussing alternative possibilities: the ripe cow muck he rolled in last week? the sweet-smelling shampoo the dog walker used to get it off him? (that didn't quite work, quite the way. we got perfume mixed with barn smell instead).

currently, i'm feeding Sam delicious meals mixed with foul-tasting pills -- i know they must be bad because Sam, who gobbles up his deworming tablets, carefully licks bits of these pills clean. and putting special vet-prescribed cream on his poor, spotted skin. our poor, mangy-looking dog is getting a royal treatment, and quite enjoying it.