I feel like a bad dog owner

Some of you may know I have a German Shepherd Dog named Shadow. She is only 3. I have been a great dog owner. I have been diligent when it comes to her care. Shots and checkups are done the same time each year. Her monthly flea and heart worm treatments on the 18th of every month since we bought her. For the last 3 years we have used Frontline Plus to treat her. When she saw the vet this last time we decided to try K9 Advantix on his recommendation. We got it through her vet. We didn’t use it right away because we still had some Frontline Plus left over. I wanted to finish that up first. I gave Shadow her heart worm meds and treated her with the new K9 Advantix on the 18th. By Friday she was going nuts, scratching her shoulders and biting at her lower back and hips. Almost constantly! There is one spot where her fur is even thinned out from the biting.

My thinking was this … with the approaching fall weather she’s shedding more than usual. I had noticed clumps of hair here and there on the floor. I took her out back yesterday and got the rake and shedding blades and brushed another whole dog’s worth of hair from her. And that’s when I noticed the rash. All along her spine where I placed the flea treatment was this awful looking rash! No wonder she was going nuts. I looked all through the house and could not any of the anti-itch creams/lotions/sprays we have. Darn those kids! My in-laws just happened to call from Wal-Mart asking if we needed anything. Yes! Aveeno max strength anti-itch cream please! They picked that up and even bought her an anti-itch spray from the pet aisle. I rubbed the cream in everywhere I could find the rash and waited. By bed time she wasn’t digging and scratching. I sprayed the areas with the dog anti-itch spray, combed it in and put her up for the night and went to bed.

This morning I checked her and the rash was just about gone but it was still bothering her. I rubbed in more cream and let that sit. And then waited til the vet got in. I called their office and they confirmed my rash theory and said I was doing everything correctly to treat her symptoms. Switching from one product to the other can cause problems. As well as the fact she could just be allergic to the Advantix. I was told that I can even giver her liquid Benadryl to help with the itching but that is last resort for me/Shadow. They told me to bring back the unused Advantix and they would trade it for the Frontline Plus. The allergic reaction could last up to a week. I was told to watch and make sure she doesn’t create any sores with the scratching and biting.

So why do I feel like a bad dog owner? Because something I did to her is causing her this discomfort. Yeah I know .. she’s just a dog. But I have to tell you, she’s my best friend next to my wife. I Feel like I’ve let her down. How would you feel if you gave someone, a loved one or a friend, who has a peanut allergy, a Snickers Bar and they ate it and got sick? Or, I think this is closer .. you gave your kid penicillin and they had an allergic reaction? How would you feel?