I went to Baltimore for a pharmaceutical scientist convention on Sunday morning. A pet sitter came four times a day to look after Mercy and Anastasia, and Mrs. Ravis came once a day to play with them. Both of them called me once a day to give me updates about Mercy and Anastasia. Mrs. Ravis called on Sunday night to say that she found some cat litter scattered on the bathroom floor, so it seems like mercy has learned to open cabinets, and Mrs. Ravis said she would keep the bathroom door closed from then on. Both the pet sitter and Mrs. Ravis reported no problem from Mercy or Anastasia, except that one after when Mrs. Ravis came into the apartment, Mercy was whimpering, but otherwise, they were very good while I was gone. I came back on Friday.
Friday, November 12, 2004
I usually clean Mercy's ears twice a week. But the last time I cleaned her ears was Saturday night. This morning (after getting back from Baltimore at 3:30 AM) when I was checking her, her left ear seemed to have a lot of dark wax, so we went to the vet. The vet said it's definitely yeast infection, and she prescribed
gentamicin ointment. She said only left ear seems infected, so ointment in left ear only for 7 days. She agrees that it really doesn't seem like Mercy has allergies, it's just that we need to find an ear cleaner that works best for Mercy (Mercy does have pretty long ears for a field bred). I tested about four ear cleaners on Mercy when she first came, but ran out of them, and she had been on Drs Foster Smith ear solution for the past two or three weeks. The vet said to try something with acetic acid (vinegar) in it. From the five ear cleaners I've tried on Mercy, she did best with Gent-L-Clens. She was okay with the last acetic acid one I used on her. Right now we are using the DermaPet Mal-Acetic from the vet. Her left ear was a little more sensitive than her right ear when the vet was checking them, but she didn't seem to be bothered by them when I was cleaning them after we got back from the vet.
We went to Callaway Gardens to see their fall foliage.
I'm trying to get rid of Mercy's groomer phobia, so yesterday I took her to the pet supply store for a self-groom. Amazingly, she did not appear scared at all when we were there, and did very well when I was bathing her. But when I turned on their dryer, she tried to hide under the table. She was okay after about five minutes. But otherwise she was great, no sign of groomer phobia, strangely. Maybe like Janet said, Mercy seems to have more confidence after her CGC test. So next week I'll try to have her bathed by the groomer to see if it's actually the separation that caused her groomer-phobia. And then after that maybe have her groomed (with electric clipper) by the groomer. So her adoptive family wouldn't have to groom her themselves if they don't want to.
