3.30.2020

March 30, 2020

White Dog agreed it was time to call our beloved healer, Dr. Julia. We discussed the impossibility of Roman going in to see our vet made further complicated by precautions made to keep safe during the pandemic. "Call her. Dad can make some phone movies to send if she wants. She knows his history and has all his charts. She will know how best to handle things."

Roman has, over the past week, been indicating that he is literally uncomfortable in his skin. He scrapes his body, hard, against anything that will support him and rolls and roaches. He is not blowing coat. He is not biting at his furs. There does not seem to be a single area of particular sensitivity. Of course, he will not allow us to comb him out or to spread his layers of hair to see his skin. And his discomfort has made him surly...intolerant to the others.

First thing this morning I called and talked with Casandra at the front desk. "Can I arrange a telephone appointment with Dr. Skains," I asked her. "Our reactive boy, Roman, is having some skin issues that I am hoping we can talk through via phone instead of coming in. I know we are all being extra careful these days plus Roman is not exactly easy to transport without stress. I was thinking she could charge me for the conversation and then Steve can run over later and pickup prescription if there is one." Casandra pulled Roman's file and promised to have Dr. Julia call us.

It was eerily quiet on the other end when the vet called an hour later. The clinic has put a series of new rules to avoid humans contacting each other which involve techs going out to bring in patients from cars while humans wait outside so the lobby was empty and quiet.

I explained Roman's symptoms and his behavioral changes and wondered if he might have gotten walking dandruff. I based that on long ago Puff's susceptibility and the fact that when she had it I usually developed a rash where I held her. I have a slight rash now.

Looking through his file, Dr. Julia suggested it might be a reoccurrence of the atopic dermatitis infection he had last November. As she talked we considered the possibility of treating for both; treating for walking dandruff and if that did not work then for the dermatitis; or the opposite. We decided that treating both might be taxing on his system. Since he previously experienced the atopic dermatitis it seemed to make sense to see if that was the problem and if not THEN trying the stronger treatment for the mites. I love that Dr. Julia works through problems with us and considers all of the possibilities. We agreed that Steve would come by in the afternoon after calling and paying by credit card to pick up the Apoquel so that someone could just hand it out of the door.

Roman must take the medication for the next two weeks and then we will reassess. In the meanwhile we CAN increase his anti-anxiety meds but we are hoping that will not become necessary. Typically, she took a few minutes to ask after the others and my own health.

Steve went and picked up the meds...there was no consultation charge...and Roman started treatment tonight. He is an excellent pill taker and said, "Here's hoping Dr. Julia is once again on target" before swallowing the piece of hot dog with the pill inside.
And then he rested awaiting post walk treats.

3 comments:

Random Felines said...

Poor Roman but bless Dr Julia

KB said...

It is so hard trying to help a pup like Roman. Thank you for being so empathetic to him. To be honest, our Hachi has made me a far more empathetic human being. I love him and try to help him even when I feel like he's building walls between himself and others.

meowmeowmans said...

Dr. Julia is the best. We sure hope the meds help poor Roman with those itchies.