Sunday, April 22, 2007

Charlie the Conehead


This is our dog Charlie with his conehead. He got it off Friday and was very happy. However the vet was not so happy with him. He had dislodged the drain that was supposed to be in his ear. It was sutured in and somehow Charlie had gotten it out, despite the cone. It seems like ripping out something that was sewn it would be painful. But he doesn't look too unhappy, does he?

This was Charlie's second surgery on his ears. Part of the problem is because he's a lab and they have floppy ears so the air doesn't get in there and dry things out. But Charlie is worse because he has allergies. He's allergic to everything. He has to have a special pet food with no animal protein in it. No dog bones for him. He gets apples and pears and ice cubes to chew on. When Charlie's allergies act up he scratches and rubs his ears in the lawn, thus creating hematomas (giant bruises) and getting cuts and dirt and debris in there. So I have to bathe him weekly and clean his ears out twice a week, plus put in antibiotics. This last time, his hemotoma got big enough he had to have it surgically removed. Except that he had too much scar tissue from the last surgery so the doctor could only put in the drain to siphon off the fluid. Which Charlie managed to take out somehow.

This picture might give you an idea of how he does that. He runs across the lawn and dives head first into the grass, twisting until his ears hit the grass and he forces the cone back. He went through two cones in three weeks, both of which I ended up duct taping to hold them together.

It's a good thing he's cute. And happy.

7 comments:

gilda said...

my dog had to put on a cone before too and she hated it. poor charlie must have gone crazy with the cone, and i bet you did too. but well, anything for our dogs eh? heh heh. good luck.

Elaina M. Avalos said...

Awww...makes me miss my black lab, Brinca. She had the white on her chest like Charlie. Hopefully this time Charlie's ears will be okay and he won't have such a problem. I would've thought he'd have an easier time in the desert with allergies like that. Shows how much I know! :)

Jenny said...

Give Charlie a hug for me and tell him Daisy and Mack send their regards (and are eternally grateful they don't have to wear a cone!) Poor baby, poor frustrating baby.

Abundant blessings,
Jenny Cary

Heather said...

Poor Charlie. Have you ever tried to imagine the frustration? I'm sure you have. Twisting and turning, never knowing who is on either side of you, not being able to reach that itch, a whole new level of creativity to just eat meals. Poor Charlie.

Malia Spencer said...

Aww, poor Charlie! Our last lab, Buffy, had that problem and man did she hate the cone too.

Angelo has a skin irritation on his face right now and might end up a conehead. I can just SEE him taking it off the same way Charlie does. I'll be praying he recovers (quickly) with no more recurrences.

Cyber chocolate and hugs to you Jen!

Dineen A. Miller said...

Poor doggy!
Hope you're doing ok, girl. Sent you an email a while back. Been praying for you and the whole house thing.
((((((((HUGS)))))))))

Unknown said...

Thanks for the prayers, Dineen. That was one of the MANY e-mails I lost when my Mac crashed the first time. They're all in a file somewhere, but numbered! So, needless to say, I haven't felt the urge to go opening all of them. Sigh.

Apple sent me a box to return my Mac to them in, but I'm going to wait until next week. I'm headed to Chicago/IN to visit Mich this weekend.