Poor Little Coco

I typically write about fashion, home decor, travel, Sunday scriptures, etc. However, this is really a life style blog about my life. All of those things play a big party (oops, I mean part)  of my life. 

But my little Maxi and Coco are a huge part of our lives. SO, when they get sick or feel bad - we feel bad.

I noticed Saturday morning that Coco was a bit fidgety. I didn't think it was anything unusual - it was after all 4AM in the morning. Yep, we get up early on Saturdays and do blog posts. Later that morning, I reached down to rub Coco's neck and noticed what felt like a huge scab. I tried to look at it, but she wouldn't have it. I grabbed my husband and we both tried to look at it. She kept scratching at it. We went to Uncle Bill's and purchased an Elizabethan collar.  It was one of the plastic ones. In hind sight, I should have gotten one of the blow up ones. Coco is always right at my heels and that plastic collar hurts when it scrapes your leg!

The next day, we decided to take her to the Emergency Vet.  To make a long story less long, turns out she has a hot spot at the side of her head. These are common in dogs as everyone I have told about it has had a dog  with one. Seems that these hot spots can spread rapidly (hours) if left untreated.

They shaved  little sister's left side of her head to let the hot spot breathe and sent us home with some powder that will dry out the area. God love her - she looks like Willow Smith.

I've always loved Coki's little ears. When she was a pup, we had to tape them to make them stand up. Yeah, that didn't last long. She had huge ears for her size. Eventually, they went floppy. Her hair grew over the ears and she looks like she has little curly ponytails.

My husband isn't a huge fan of her long hair. So, when I asked Dr. Vet if that contributed to her hot spot. He said it could. "We don't need to cut her ponytails? Do we?"  Of course, my husband said "YES". Ever the diplomat, our vet just smiled. Silence is golden (to my husband). Dr. Vet's silence meant we need to have the hair on her ears trimmed down..............................

I love her just the same! Who knows, maybe Coco having her hair cut will finally coax me into a shorter cut.

Here is a little bit about hot spots for all of you animal lovers from Pet Med :

Hot Spots are one of those less then desirable skin irritations seen in pets. Often, you'll here your vet refer to them as moist eczema, but you ... well, you can call them hot spots. They occur when your dog itches, scratches or licks him or herself excessively, eventually forming a wet scab on the fur. But what do you with a hot spot?

Hot Spots (also known as Summer Sores or Moist Eczema) can seemingly appear spontaneously anywhere on a dog's body; the surrounding area can rapidly deteriorate too. This moist, raw skin disorder has a variety of causes but the most consistent factor is bacteria.

Anything that irritates or breaks the skin can create the environment for bacterial contamination if the surface of the skin has but only a little a bit of moisture on it. Such incidences of moisture can be such seemingly innocuous things such as as a recent bath, swim, stroll in the rain, or playtime in wet craze. Even a slightly oozing sore can provide enough moisture and/or nutrient for a bacterial infection to take hold.

Although there are various types of "hot spot"-causing bacteria, most respond to oral and topical antibiotics. For some reason, cats rarely acquire hot spots.