I am hoping we may have at least one of Mimzy’s problems taken care of. But every time I post a possible resolution, we have a relapse, so fingers crossed this time!
His biopsy area is healing pretty well, the fur is coming back in odd fits and starts and a lot of it is still bare, but as a result I’ve been slathering it with bag balm every day. It’s kept the skin nice and soft. There also appears to be no further irritations. The dry patches are also receding.
On a whim, I began putting the balm on the tips of his ears, where the almost cuticle like tears have been for over a year now. I felt them this morning and the rough edges have all but completely disappeared.
I am at a loss to explain it. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars in testing, put him through all sorts of heck to find out what this is. And the simplest thing…a $9 tin of bag balm. I haven’t even dented the salve significantly and the rough skin is almost healed.
Now, I think he is suffering from an all over dry skin condition, he still has a few rough spots on the ears where they join his head, but I haven’t put anything on those yet. Plus I have all but eliminated chemicals of any kind (vinegar and water, Nature’s Miracle, Swiffer cloths) from the cleaning of his hutch. He is beginning to lie down for his naps with his head back on the floor of the pen again. He hasn’t flopped, but he’s getting close. I am still wondering if the pen is causing some of his skin problems. Or whatever I clean it with, more specifically. It always seems rinsed thoroughly to me, but hey, my eyes aren’t what they used to be. Neither is my nose.
But for now, at least he isn’t kicking his face and ears like he was. The tips must really have been bothering him. And except for the need for Carefresh in his litter box/overnight in his pen, he has almost no dust causing material in there, so even his nose seems a bit better.
I haven’t had to give him much benadryl or metacam in the last week or so. Just keeping up on the bag balm. And prayers. I have to take him back in pretty soon to have the stitch removed from his biopsy site, but hubby is pretty good at doing stuff like that, so maybe we can handle it at home. (We did this for our dogs all the time, since it was so hard to take the big bruisers back to the vet in our tiny cars.) I think my vet had some kind of family emergency this last weekend, because I couldn’t speak to her on Saturday, but she’s supposed to be back in at the end of this week.
How wonderful it will be if I can tell her Mimzy is better! How silly we are both going to feel if it was just a skin allergy or low humidity!
As always, we want to thank everyone here who’s been thinking of him and sending healing vibes. BB Vibes are the best!