Pathetic

I know, a picture says a thousand words.... but I feel like I should at least give a little background as to WHY Odin looks like a helpless invalid right now.

Norwegian Elkhounds are one of those breeds prone to getting sebaceous cysts. And Odin, unfortunately, has had the bad luck of MORE cysts than our vet or breeder has ever seen on an Elkhound. Aren't we all just lucky ducky? :( What's worse, sometimes the cysts will seep or get infected, which encourages both Odin and Lola to lick, bite and scratch at the sores until they are raw and super sensitive to the touch.

As time has passed, it's gotten so bad that we've had to keep the two dogs separated during the day when we're at work. Odin wanders the house with a cone on his head (so that he doesn't lick the cysts himself) while Lola is kept crated all day, storing up all of that ridiculous Lola-energy to unleash on us the minute we get home.

In any case, Jon forgot to separate the two of them when he left for work on Friday and unfortunately, Lola WENT TO TOWN on one of Odin's larger cysts on his upper back/shoulder. When we got home, it had become a huge wound that, overnight, developed a terrible infection and made you wince just looking at it. :( We cleaned and medicated it (we have an antibiotic cream specifically for this sort of flare up) 2-3 times a day throughout the weekend, dressing it with huge pieces of gauze and self-adhesive tape to try and allow the wound to heal on its own.

I took him to the vet this morning and, given the severity of the wound, we decided to just clean it out as best as possible and medicate Odin with oral antibiotics, hoping that the sore and infection will heal over the next few days before our vet tries removing the cyst. I asked what I could do to keep it covered (since it's an open wound) and/or how I could keep Odin from scratching it raw (which he's been doing since he can't lick it himself).

The vet said I could try putting a t-shirt on him to keep the sore covered while it heals and to put socks on Odin's hind paws, so that if he DOES try scratching himself, at least his nails won't dig in and make the sore worse.

So, that's exactly what I did. Pathetic, isn't it? :)

When I got home tonight, the socks were off and scattered on the floor. It doesn't look like he scratched himself (since the t-shirt was still on and covering the sore), so I think it's actually going to help quite a bit! We'll see.