I'm done Level 1 (the first semester of my final year), and thus have time to update Murphy's site! I don't have to go back to school, this time to Vancouver General Hospital, until the 2nd of December, so things that fall to the way side while I'm in school - updating Murphy's site, cleaning my bathroom, getting my hair cut - finally get attended to.

First of all, the big news has been Murphy's allergy. You can't see to well in the picture below, but Murphy by the end of the summer developed horrible scabs all over the underside of his body. Here you can just see how red and irritated his belly was:

Take my word for it, his skin was in horrible condition. We wracked our brains to try to come up with what could have caused this problem, but couldn't come up with much. So off we went to the vet. We worked with both vets at the hospital trying to find an answer, but with few results. We tried antibiotics initially, just to see if they'd make a difference. The scabs became a little less severe, but he was still far from normal. So we sent a biopsy off to a veterinary pathologist in Ontario. He came back to us with the oh so insightful answer of allergic skin condition. He also suggested that it looked just like a flea infestation, but we all knew that there were no signs of fleas. So then it was off to the dermatologist.

We have 1 veterinary dermatologist in all of Western Canada. Luckily he's located in Richmond, another suburb of Vancouver. Unluckily he's the only game in town, and thus you have no choice but to turn to him. My vet did give me the option of going to Washington State to see a dermatologist there, but I thought at this point I'd just try the local guy.

Dr. Michael Charach is BC's Skin Vet, pictured above. He's not exactly the most personable guy, but he got right down to business with Murphy to try to sort things out for us. His theory was that Murphy had food allergies. Personally I wasn't so sure. I'd switched the laundry detergent we were using just a few days before seeing the dermatologist and was already seeing a reduction in the number of scans. So I was thinking maybe that was the answer - Murphy was allergic to the laundry detergent. However, at this point, I was already at the dermatologist and I figured it wouldn't do Murphy any harm to rule out food allergies, so I went along with the dermatologist.

So we were put on a complicated plan. First of all Murphy was to be fed a diet of exclusively pork and yams for at least 4 weeks. This would have to be home made as there is no such commercial diet. On top of that Murphy was to go on oral antibiotics for 23 days to knock out the staph infection that he had in his skin sores. Additionally I was to bathe him in antibiotic shampoo twice a week for the first 2 weeks, and then once a week for two weeks.

So I came home and started in on the new regime. Luckily I had my parents to help out, so they brought home an entire box of yams and 8 pounds of pork. To your left Murphy examines the first of several boxes of yams that would be brought in to our home.

Making the pork and yam diet was quiet the undertaking. Murphy was to be fed a precise ratio of 1 pound of pork to every 10 cups of yams. He was to be doled out 1 pound 8 ounces of this food every day. So what we had to do was bake the yams, scoop them put and mash them. At the same time we cooked the pork. When both were done we mixed them together in the above mentioned ratio, and then bagged each day's meal in individual Ziploc bags. Below we have Murphy helping my mother and me peel the yams out of their skin:

 

Now this might not sound too hard, and it wasn't really "hard", more annoying. And expensive. At first we didn't take into account the volume that would be lost to cooking, so we had to go out and buy more yams, then more pork, then more of both. In total 5 weeks worth of pork and yams cost about $160 Canadian. Compare that to like $15 for a month of good quality dog food. Below is the finished product:

Murphy had no trouble eating this diet, as you can see from him licking the edges of the mixing bowl, to your right. The rest of us, on the other hand, never want to see another yam in our lives. We started cooking this concoction on Friday at around 6pm, kept going until 11pm, then started up again at 6am, and kept cooking until 5pm that night. That gave us 4 weeks worth of food. A few weeks later we cooked up the rest of the diet, that time taking us another several hours. All in all it shows me why it is that commercial dog food is so very popular.

For the most part Murphy took to the program quite well. Initially he wasn't his usual mischievous self, or at least not as often. Note the picture above, with him sleeping peacefully on a stack of pillows. We did have to battle ear infections during this time as the antibiotics seemed to knock out the good flora in his ears, letting yeast over grow,

The good news? Murphy's skin cleared right up. Within a couple of weeks his skin was about 90% better. Again, I'm not sure if this was due to the food or the switch in laundry detergents, but all that really matters is that Murphy's feeling and looking so much better.

We went back to the dermatologist for a recheck just over a week ago, and were given a new regime, as Murphy's face is still itching. We've been allowed to switch over to a fish and sweet potato commercial diet by Wellness, pictured above. But we went back onto oral antibiotics as well as oral antifungals, as the dermatologist found infections in Murphy's lip folds. I was also given topical antibiotics and antifungals for his lips, and antibiotics for his tail, which has very tenacious sores that have never cleared up. We're already done all the oral drugs, and have less than a week left on the topical ones.

Now we're going backwards a bit, to before the special diet. In September Murphy got into a ton of trouble. He was just going out of his way looking for things to consume. First up, lettuce:

Doesn't he look proud of himself? He'd snuck this off the counter, and then ripped it to shreds. He didn't eat much or any of it, just had fun spreading it all over the kitchen floor.

Next, tortillas:

Here at least he looks a little remorseful. Jason had left these shells too close to the edge of the counter, so off they came. Note that he ripped right through the package, as you can see the shells spilling out of the bag. I believe that he sampled this particular item a bit.

Third, pretzels:

I think he's learning something in this sequence of photos, doesn't he look a little wiser in this one? Sadly what I believe he's learned is that he should be more discreet so as to be able to consume more of his contraband before being caught. I particularly like the flair of the pretzels in the ear.

Last, drywall:

He'd been scrounging around the basement, in the new bathroom area my father was working on. I don't believe he ate any of the drywall, just swept it up with his nose, ears and forehead. Still, it's an area he shouldn't have been in, so I thought it warranted inclusion in this series.

Back around this time, while Jason and I were still at Children's Hospital together, we took Murphy for a walk along the seawall around Stanley Park. It was a rainy day, and the park was surprisingly empty, considering that Vancouverites are used to the rain. At any rate, we had the seawall pretty much to ourselves, and had a nice time wandering around the edge of the park where it meets the Pacific Ocean.

Above we have me and Murph at the swimming pool located at the edge of the park. It's closed for the season, so the only creatures swimming in it were birds. Murphy and I stopped to take a little gander at them. And check out the rainsuit! It's the one I hunted high and low for back in the winter of 2002. This was really the first chance I'd gotten to give it a try. It kept his back dry, but his belly got all wet despite the gathered covering as any water that was splashed up from the ground was caught and held in there by the gathers. It's hard to explain, but think of how the gathers on the legs of diapers hold wetness in. That's what his rainsuit did.

Above we have Jason and Murphy in their matching rain coats. And in this shot you can see the West End of Vancouver and Kitsilano behind them. The water behind them is called English Bay, a chunk of the ocean that comes into the city. Below is another shot of the two of them. I like that one, the adoring look on Murphy's face as he gazes at Jason. Note that Murphy is sitting on the seawall. That's where he prefers to walk along here, *literally* on the seawall. Obviously, that makes me a little nervous, so I try to discourage it.

We walked along the seawall to about Siwash Rock, a giant boulder that sticks out of the water right next to the seawall that has a whole native legend attached to it. But what Murphy liked about this area was all the birds. You can see him checking one out below:

I thought I ought to take photos of the starfish that lined the rock, for my visitors who might not have these creatures in their area. You can see a whole bunch of purple starfish in along the bottom of the photo below, and at the bird's feet:

And here's a close up of a bunching of starfish:

Now to more recent times. Just last weekend Murphy, Jason and I went to the Christmas Pet Craft Fair:

They had all sorts of things there, from dog food companies to the SPCA to doggie clothing to rescue groups. Above you can see most of the booths. Behind this they also had Santa available for photos. We ran into several people we knew there, including Carol from BC Cocker Rescue, who's never sure of who we are, a new member of one of the online dog groups we belong to, Dogs of BC, and a woman who used to work at Murphy's doggie daycare. I'm still not used to people walking up to us and knowing Murphy when I have no idea who they are, but it happened yet again that day. We also had people come up to us just to meet Murphy. But something new this time - I think all of them knew that Murphy was an ECS! Very strange to not have to give them the English Cocker schpiel.

Above we have Murphy and Jason sitting in the stands. In addition to the craft fair they also had an agility competition going on, so we sat for a bit and took that in. We even saw a woman and her Papillion that were in our first beginners agility class! They did very well, which was no surprise as they were the stars of our class way back then, and were quickly skipped up into Intermediates. We also saw a very pretty English Springer Spaniel who was doing a slow and accurate run, but then slipped on the dog walk and fell on her head! You can see the dog walk in the picture below, sort of jutting out of Jason's chin:

You can tell how high up it is by the woman who is walking on the other side of it. It's about 3 1/2 feet in the air, so that's quite the fall for a little dog only a few inches taller than Murphy. The owner stopped right away and the official on the floor came over to check the little dog out. She seemed fine, but the owner was quite dazed!

So that's about it for what's been going on around here with Murphy. The only other new thing is that Murphy now has a dog walker all his own - Furry Friends and More. I had to find someone to check in on Murphy on days when I'm working and my parents are out of town, as 13 hours is far too long to leave a dog alone. I can't send him to daycare as they open and close while I'm at work, and there's no way to get him there and back while I'm out. So a dog walker it was! Alesha, who used to work at Murphy's groomer, works for this little company so I think Murphy is quite happy with this new arrangement we have going.

So that's it for now! At the moment I'm gearing up for Christmas and already have a present or two for Murphy. I'm trying to convince my mother that Murphy would love a custom made crate cover for Christmas, but we're going to have to wait and see about that.

Email me!

Meghan

Here's the link to the next update: December 4, 2003
Here's the link to the previous update: September 4, 2003

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