Time to check in folks, I did not get round to doing my SOS post, let me tell you why.

Meet my Dog Paddy.

Paddy is a patterdale x jack russell, who this year will be 7. Now I don't mean to tug at your heartstrings but I want to let you know a little bit about him.

I have had Paddy and his brother Max, from puppies, they were tiny when we first got them back in england. You would not think they were brothers from the same litter, but max has more patterdale an paddy more jack russell.

This is Max the brother

So when we got them, they were healthy happy puppies, with no problems at all until paddy got to 2 years old. I noticed one day that he was furiously licking on the pad of his front paw, I was checking it to see if maybe something was stuck in it, but I could not see anything.

He licked and licked at it until it was red raw, and I hat to bathe the paw and treat it to try and relieve the irritation. Then I noticed things started to get worse with paddy, he was itching all over his body, and he was losing fur. Particularly around his chest area, and his skin was bright red and really hot.

This all happened within a matter of a month.

By now his fur around his front paws was thinning and his chest area, he lost fur around his tail also, and he was constantly scratching. He could not get any relief. I took him to the vet an explained the symptoms. The vet said they needed to run blood tests because they thought it was allergies.

So they ran blood tests and started to treat him with steroids to give him some relief from the symptoms. The vet said that it was probably that paddy would need regular steroid injections from now on, but I was not keen on that because of the weight issues it can cause.

The results came back and the vet said that Paddy was allergic to dust mites, mould spores and tree sap. By this time I noticed that Paddy was scratching at his hears, he was constantly shaking his head, and scratching them. Then I noticed max was licking at his ears so I asked the vet and they said he had an ear infection.

So Paddy was on antibiotic drops and an ear wash he had to have three times daily. It seemed the drops were working and that his ears were getting better. But after we noticed that when it was going to rain, or if there was a lot of moisture in the air, his ears would drive him crazy.

He has been suffering now for 5 years.

Fast forward to last year so far the vet bills were about £4000, every month paddy was getting a monthly injection which was 1ml and cost £200 a time for 10ml of it. When we moved to Bulgaria, I took paddy to see the vet and had the injection with me also for him to source.

Paddy was very withdrawn also, he did not want to play, he just wanted to sleep and had a thing about being covered with a blanket all the time. He did not seem interested, he had no problems eating and drinking, but he just lacked energy.

Originally the vaccination he was getting monthly was coming from the netherlands, so I knew exactly what he needed to do. I had all paddy's veterinary notes for him to refer back to and explained the problems he had been having. Paddy had virtually no fur on his front and back paws or his chest, and he would emit a strange yeasty odour most of the time, that bathing would only give temporary relief for a few days then the smell would return.

I remember taking him into see the vet. He spoke good english and I was able to explain the problems indepth. However I noticed while I was talking to him, he did not seem to be listening, he was more focused on paddy looking him over completely. I was trying to explain that I needed him to order the vaccination and finally he took it from my hand.

He opened the box and said "You realise that this is just herbal right?" He said.... I had no idea that was the case, I thought all this time it was a chemical he had been getting and the injections were not doing any good.

By this time the vet studied paddy for a long time and said that he disagreed with the original diagnosis, and that Paddy did not have allergies, but he believed it to be a parasite that had invaded the skin.

He gave paddy two worming tablets with an ingredient to kill the parasite, the vet said that to know if it was working we would need to look for new hair growth. The costs of the treatment was about £2, and would you know it worked, the skin started going from an angry red to a light pink, and the hair was growing back.

The British Vet had misdiagnosed him.

I felt so guilty after this because he was suffering and there was not a thing I could do about it for those five years, it was heart breaking to see every single day watching him go through that.

I was so annoyed with the British vet, that I emailed them with a complaint about the years of suffering that the dog had went through, not to mention how much we had paid in treatment. I did not expect to hear anything back from them and I was right I had no response at all. But I do hope now they will not trust a skin swab which picked up nothing.

If there is a god, please will you give this dog a break.

Whilst Paddy's skin is now under control his ears have been a constant issue, having to keep buying drops treat them, then for a few weeks their ok. Then they flare up again, its a constant battle. But then I got the shock of my life the other day when I examined his ear and saw a very big very pink lump inside of it, that should not be there.

Back to the vets we went on Friday, the vet looked at the ear and said it was a benign tumour which needed cutting out. Surgery was scheduled for the next day (yesterday) for the lump to be removed. The vet believes that the infection has caused cellular change of the skin in his ears which i what is making them itchy.

The operation was about an hour and a half, and the vet said he had three benign tumours which were all removed, but there is a possibility they can come back and spread in the ear, something we have to keep a close eye on.

Paddy after his operation

I feel so sorry for him last night I got no sleep he was in pain, which was just breaking my heart. I tried everything to make him comfortable and would not leave his side, I ended up switching off all the lights and playing something on you tube actually I recommend it for calming dogs down, it worked for paddy.

source

So I have had very little sleep last night, and a poorly pup which I ask if there is a god, please this dog has suffered enough and just needs a break. He does not deserve such suffering, sometimes I have considered euthanasia, but then I wonder if that is me being selfish, I just don't like to see him suffer like this readers.

So there you have it, this was just me pouring out my heart for a while, and to let you know why I have not been around these past few days. I will keep you updated on paddy's progress.

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