A popular topic at the pets blog is pet health; examples of various maladies your pets might contract, and what to do if that happens. Unfortunately for me, last week I made my second trip to the vet in a month. But that’s fortunate for you, because it gives me more pet health insights to share.
This time, we’re not sure what Chihiro’s original problem was. Maybe she had a bug bite. Maybe she had a scratch on her nose as a result from her playtimes with the cat. We noticed a bump on her nose in the middle of the week, but we didn’t think anything of it because Chihiro’s had them before, usually minor cat scratches, and they heal on their own within a short time.
In this case, however, Chihiro began scratching her nose. We went out for awhile on Saturday evening, and when we returned we discovered big red lumps on her nose. Whatever the original wound, she scratched it open and gave herself an infection.
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Chihiro mopes about having to go to the vet again
Of course, we didn’t know Chihiro had an infection for sure until we took her to the veterinarian on Monday. Before then, we spent the weekend trying to diagnose her problem. I looked up the symptoms of ringworm, bacterial infections, yeast infections, and more. After making the appointment with the vet, I decided to try asking her how I might in the future determine what’s wrong with my dog should I see something similar again.
While the vet said that without experience it is difficult to diagnose pets on one’s own, she did point out to me the signs revealing Chihiro’s bacterial infection. By Monday, when we went to the vet, Chihiro had big red bumps on the top of her nose, but deeper colorless ones on the sides of her nose.
The vet said these marks indicated that Chihiro had an infection, and one that potentially ran deep. She said if I saw anything like that again I’d know what the problem was. However, I wouldn’t be able to treat it entirely on my own because I’d need antibiotics given to me by the vet.
Fortunately, the vet did have some advice for how to help prevent Chihiro from scratching any wounds open in the future. She said dogs can handle taking Benadryl; specifically, we can give dogs up to two 25 mg capsules of Benadryl a day to help relieve itching and thus prevent dogs from engaging in harmful scratching.
We did give Chihiro some Benadryl on Sunday, but we weren’t sure how much or for how long were appropriate for her. It’s good to know how much Benadryl to give her, and to be able to share that information with you.
Chihiro received a stronger antihistamine from the vet to discourage her scratching in addition to the antibiotic she needs to fight the infection. By just a few days after the vet visit she looked much better, and at this point it’s as if she didn’t have a problem at all, although she still needs to take the antibiotic for another two weeks.
So if you see deep-looking bumps alongside a wound on your pet, it’s possible they have an infection. But it can still sometimes be hard to tell (Chihiro didn’t seem to exhibit any discomfort around her nose, which made us wonder if it was really an infection or not until we saw the vet), so of course always take your pet to the vet if you have any concerns.
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