Friday, April 9, 2010

Expressing Himself

Warning to the faint of heart, this post is going to be a doozy.  As in gross.  If you don't currently own a dog, this might scare you off.  If you are so lucky as to be a current dog owner, then, well, let's commiserate, shall we?



So the Husband and I drove up to Monterey last weekend to spend Easter with his family and family friends.  It's a thing.  We decided to bring the little rug rat along, since Rex was going to be there, and any place is an adventure when Theo is involved, right?

Theo is by now pretty experienced with long car rides.  We've driven him to Reno and back several times now, and that's a few hours longer in the car than Monterey, so I wasn't expecting any problems.  So what was wrong this time?  I have no idea!  I think it must have been me.  And I'm not being mopey.  See, I hurt my back last week, a few days before we left.  Jump squats in combination with too much lifting of my Fatty McButterpants of a nephew.  I don't want to talk about it.  Anyway, have you have sat in a car all day with a hurt back?  It was rather excruciating.  So my only guess is that Theo was picking up on my discomfort (read: pain), and added it to his own stress.

Ok, that was a little mopey.

So how do I know Theo was stressed out?  Well first off he kept laying on the floor on the front passenger side, rather than wedging his body on the seat between me and Husband like he usually does.  Second, and more importantly,well...we noticed a smell.  Husband caught a whiff of something he said smelled like fish.  Rotten fish.   He said he thought it was Theo, I said no way it was him, then I smelled my hand, which had been on his butt.  Oh my goodness my hand has never smelled so fowl.

Have you ever heard of dog's having this little thing called anal glands?  They are glands on the rear end of a dog that can secrete some kind of nasty compound.  It's called expressing.  Some breeds get a bit...backed up in the gland area and have to have them expressed by a person.  That's why some dogs drag their butts on the ground. They are trying to relieve the discomfort from needing their glands expressed.  Anyway, from my experience, Corgis are not one of those breeds, and Theo, at least, has never expressed, um, back there.  So we were a bit taken aback that he did it in the car.

And of course he did it in the car, when we were trapped!  For hours!  With that nasty fish smell!  Thank goodness for hand sanitizer and doggy wipes is all I'm going to say on that subject.  That, and I hope you never have to smell the smell.  Ew.  I'm scarred.  For life.  Possibly my next life too.  I'll be a Jungle Princess who at random times smells a mysterious fish smell she can never quite place or identify.  Because by the time I die and get reincarnated the world will have Jungle Princesses.  Mark my words.


In other savory Theo life events...I had another one last night.  Remember that fatty tumor the vet drained a few weeks ago?  He had described it as a waxy buildup, which I didn't understand, since what I was draining was definitely what I would describe as fatty (um, cottage cheese?), and not waxy.  Well, I noticed last night the bump had returned (it was very small), but it was at a head, so like a pimple, I figured I would go ahead and try to pop it and get out any buildup I could.  Well after a couple of squeezes that seemed pretty painful to Theo (poor pup!), and I say seemed because he never verbally complained.  What a trooper!  Anyway, after a few squeezes something popped out that was definitely not cottage cheese!  It looked like a tiny corn kernel.  I showed it to Husband (after I asked him to bring me a paper towel because no way I was going to touch it, ew!), and he reminded me that that was probably the waxy buildup the vet was talking about.  Interesting right?  If you can see past the gross factor.  Poor Theo had a little hole in his skin where the wax had come out.

Husband wanted me to title this post "Wax Balls Under My Dog's Skin".  He might have gotten the idea from me.  But I decided to lead with the expression.



And because I think all things should come in 3s, here's another picture of Theo:



Yup, he's pooping.  Nope, I don't pull any punches on this here weblog.  It's not the best poo shot.  Sometimes his front paws are all the way on top of his back paws, and his back is super hunched.  That's the cutest.  Next time.

8 comments:

betty said...

LOL with Theo pooping. Does he do what Koda does? He kind of does this hunched up walk sometimes for up to 200 feet (I kid you not) until he finds just the right area to poop. We laugh and say that he has paw sensitive feet and it just has to be the right place before he "data dumps" (that's what we call it). They are so cute though with their short legs when they take care of their business

I have heard of those glands, but we (thankfully) have not been subjected to that experience (yet).

Poor Theo (and you with your back); that must have been an uncomfortable car ride for all. When we drove down from Montana, Koda developed stress colitis, but of course we didn't know what it was at the time) so he kept trying to tell us he needed to stop to take care of things but we weren't reading his clues. He likes car rides but about 1-2 hours is his limit before he gets antsy.

have a great weekend and I hope that back of yours feels better soon

betty

Kelly said...

Eww.. I have never experienced the gland thing.. but it sounds like it smells like that salmon flavor of Vital.. which makes me want to vomit just thinking of it lol... Seriously.

And again, I'd probably be excited about the 'corn kennel' lol. Sounds like you achieved victory in the pimple popping scheme of things :)

I need to get a picture of Gibson pooping someday. They are so funny. He always looks back at us like he's saying, "I hope you can see this cause I'm doing it as hard as I can." hehe ;)

JuLo said...

Thanks Betty! The back already feels much better. Theo doesn't do the walk thing, but he does think and hesitate for awhile until he finds just the right spot. Hehe.

Kelly, I didn't find the salmon Vital THAT bad. This was so very very much worse. Like gag-inducing worse. LOL about Gibson! Theo always looks a little self-conscious, I think, when he's pooping. Hehe. Like "Do you mind giving me a little privacy here?" Also, sometimes when he's really trying he lets out a little groaning noise. So cute!

Dog Ballet said...

I am so sorry your dog has that kind of problem. My dog does too. And people have almost vomited from the smell.

Ivy@PaperElixir said...

Poor Theo! Glad you were able to get that "waxy substance" out :P And as for anal gland, we unfortunately had some experience with it... His groomer used to express them every time, but as we started grooming him ourselves, they have been "unexpressed" for a while... until our vet found out they were quite "full" during a routine check up and helped us empty them. They could cause a lot of discomfort and could even get infected if not emptied out periodically, or we were told... I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask your vet next time you bring him in for a routine check-up if they can check his behind. Just to be sure, you know? :)

Emily said...

Awww I love the pooping pic! Whenever my little guy goes to poop I say very obnoxiously, "Awwww! Goober's poopin'! Isn't it the cutest thing???" And he looks at me like, "Mom... you're crazy. And annoying me." Haha love it!

I just found your blog for the first time but I'll be checking back regularly!

Emily and Ein "Goober"

Sylvia Kinzie said...

This is a definitive explanation of anal glands. My Corgi - like Chihuahua went to the groomer today and I was told his stuff was gluey. I felt like a bad doggy mummy. Research brought me to this reassuring video.
https://youtu.be/yA9SeHAEyQ4

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