Quick health updates--Silver first: Silver was spayed in March. (Note: She handles post-anesthesia nausea very poorly. And she screams when they give her a shot of cerenia. That's my girl!)
She's still having trouble with that leg after more than a year. It was better for a while, but it flared up again in June. The "veterinary dermatologist" (vet-speak for "expensive specialist") took biopsies and had them checked at a lab and one specimen cultured. Turns out, she has a bacterial infection and a fungal infection, probably triggered by an allergic reaction to a bug bite. Bacteria, fungus, allergy: the triple threat. Having recently seen how her leg swelled after a yellow jacket sting, I can confirm that she really reacts to a bug bite.
The vet is still trying to figure out what to do about the fungal infection (waiting for lab results), but Silver's on doxycycline (200mg, twice daily) and pentoxyfilline (400mg every 8 hours). There hasn't been any improvement after a week on the meds, and I don't really think there will be until we nail the fungal infection. In the meantime, Silver's muzzled to keep her from chewing the leg. You can imagine how much she loves that. (P.S. The yellow jacket sting was to her bad leg. Of course.)
Pope High School's mascot is the greyhound. Our local rescue group takes greyhounds to the school's home games. The dogs get lots of petting from the crowd before the game, and they run down the field with the cheerleaders before the game. Silver enjoys the petting stuff, actually behaved well for the run down the field, and only wishes they'd eliminate the "bombs bursting in air" line from the Star-Spangled Banner (or at least do away with the accompanying fireworks—although she's starting to calm down faster, these days). Pope lost their first two games. For a lark, I painted Silver's toenails blue (school colors are blue and gray/silver), and the Greyhounds have won every game since then. I think we might be stuck with the nail polish for a while—at least until the end of football season. But we might try Silver polish, next time. (Polish on the front nails only; if I polish the back nails, she's liable to lie down with her feet under her and get polish everywhere.)
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Just heard from her dermatologist: the fungal infection appears to be ringworm (Trichophyton), but it's so imbedded below the surface of the skin it wouldn't show in skin scrapings (which also is why it hasn't been contagious...and why we can't treat it topically). She'll start Ketoconazole today.
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