foxtail 5

June 28th 2013

The day Big Steve got surgery, June 21st, he threw up at home and didn’t have an appetite. It was probably because he was taking antibiotics. He didn’t eat or drink. So we have decided to make his food exciting by adding some flavorful canned food. We bought Natural Balance “Venison and Sweet Potato” and it worked!! He started to eat and got better everyday.

His lump has gotten smaller everyday. On June 26, he was scheduled to have his drainage tube removed. As you can see in the picture below, it started to come out on its own.

June 26th – foxtail – the tube came out.

This is after the vet removed his tube.

June 26th – foxtail – the tube was removed by his vet.

July 1st, he is scheduled to remove the suture . He is doing great!

June 26th – foxtail – He is doing fine. 🙂

foxtail 4 – surgery

Monday, June 17th 2013

Big Steve got a lump on his paw, as I mentioned in my previous blog. It has gotten A LOT bigger. At its peak, it was about 3.5 centimeter.

Big Steve’s foxtail injury has gotton a lot bigger.

My husband took him to the vet and they have decided to cut the part open and remove what’s inside. Yes, he needed surgery, and it was scheduled for Friday. Vet told my husband that if the lump’s size doubled in the meantime, he would need a surgery Wednesday instead.

I used a ruler to check the size of his lump. It got bigger and bigger every day, but not doubled.

We got an estimate price for the surgery and other stuff. It’s gonna be about $500.00.

Friday, June 21st 2013

My husband took him to the vet for his surgery of removing foxtail and discharge this morning at around 8:30ish and we picked him up at around 3:00.

He was drugged up and looked groggy. Poor him, but he survived the surgery.

The photo below is the foxtail that caused him to get the surgery. Vet told us that it’s actually a small foxtail. It’s 1.3 centimeter in length.

This foxtail was in his leg near this paw.

The total cost was $553.25.

Now he’s got a stich and tube to remove all the discharge.

After the surgery. Foxtail

After the surgery.

After the surgery.

The document below shows what needs to be done after the surgery. Click the photo to enlarge.

Document of removing foxtail from the vet. Click the photo to enlarge.

In 4-5 days they will remove the  tube and, in 10-14 days, they will remove the sutures.

We hope he won’t get foxtail anymore!!!

foxtail 3

June 14th 2013

It’s getting hotter in San Jose.It’s about 80 to 90F lately.

His discharge is gone now, but we see a lump on his left paw.

It doesn’t bother him, but we are worried about it.

He has an appointment with his vet this monday, so I hope we’ll find out!

lump around his left paw.

lump around his left paw.

lump around his left paw. closer shot.

foxtail 2

June 8th 2013

Yesterday, I got a phone call from the vet. They called me to inform that result of his stool sample and also wanted to check how Big Steve was doing. The result of stool sample came out good. The wound is getting better but I still see some discharge from it. The vet told me that they can check quickly to see if it’s not getting worse. So we took Big Steve to the vet.

It seems like everything is okay, but they told us to give him a warm compress on the spot for a minutes or so, a few times a day to remove the discharge quickly.

I hope he will get better soon!

He had foxtail, but it’s healing!

Closer shot!

There are some discharge, but it’s healing!

 

Foxtail

June 5th, 2013

Hello,

It’s been a while since I wrote about my pug. Which is a good thing because I usually write blogs when something happens to my pug. 🙂

Big Steve became 9 years old this April!! 🙂

Since last time, I didn’t write about his Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia, but he is doing great, and now he is only taking Prednisone : 5mg every M and F.

 

Just a few days ago, we saw blood coming out between Big Steve’s front paw. I assumed something sharp must have cut the part. Big Steve was licking the wounds, but I didn’t want him to lick it, so I cleaned the wounds with antiseptic (hydrogen peroxide solution) and covered it with gauze and bandage for a while.

Later, we noticed that Big Steve was limping a bit and we found his left leg area got swollen a bit. If his leg was broken, I think he can’t even place his paw on the ground. So I didn’t think it’s broken. It sort of looked like a spider bite or something, nothing serious.  However we decided to be careful.

Next day it got better, and we hoped he is going to be okay, but today we found the part got more swollen and bleeding again. We desided to take him to his vet, and luckily they had time to see him right away. So, we were able to take him to the vet today.

We had no idea what is going on with him. He eats fine. He pees and poops fine.

Now we found out that he has “foxtail.”

Fox tail???? Actually it’s not fox tail, it’s foxtail.

This is a FOXTAIL. The photo is from this website. http://leerburg.com/foxtail.htm

Another photo of foxtail. http://www.petinfo4u.com/Foxtails.htm

I’m sure you have seen this dry looking plant before at fields filled with dry grass.

The vet told us that this plant can actually get inside animal’s or our skin and body… everywhere, and when you move, foxtail moves and it causes infections or other serious problems.

At this point, Big Steve is not having such a big problem, but his vet gave us antibiotics called “Cephalexin” (250mg twice daily) for  bacterial infections and pain meds called “Tramadol” (50mg.)

He kept licking the wounds, so we also got him a cone collar so that he won’t be able to lick the wounds. They told us if he licks it won’t get heal. So keep the part clean and dry. Luckly, antibiotics make him sleepy, so we hope he is not going to stressed out with cone collar.

We hope he gets better soon!!

June 5th 2013
Bis Steve got foxtail for the first time.

June 5th 2013
Bis Steve got foxtail for the first time.

June 5th 2013
Bis Steve got foxtail for the first time.