Itchy and Scratchy

Well you've seen the shedding and the hairballs that result from it, but when is shedding too much?  We're concerned now that this may be the perfect storm: shedding an overly thick winter coat, food allergies, and seasonal allergies.  At first we just figured, ok that time of year and she was always an outdoor dog till now, so she has a lot to shed right?  Then we noticed Nawny started to bite and scratch a lot, and we took her to see the vet.  It was dismissed as seasonal allergies maybe pollen or grass, especially since we had changed her diet to Orijen a high protein grain free diet.  Usually grains are a good cause of allergies in dogs when part of a staple diet.  So we tried Benadryl... no luck.  In fact we're convinced she may even be scratching more after... albeit groggy and drowsy, but still itchy.  So after trying to stop her when we catch it and tired of her sad looks speaking to us "i know I'm not supposed to but it's itchy..." we are finally doing what we should have done to begin with...  Full allergy blood work.  Nawny goes to get her blood drawn tomorrow... really hope it's not food allergies, as we have a whole lotta Orijen we're gonna be donating.  I know... stupid, we should have tested before we bought a ton. Bugger...

Cheetah Spots

I always thought only chows had spots on their tongue, but the first time Nawny yawned I learned I was wrong. She has these spots on her tongue shaped like a flower. If we ever lose her in a field of yellow labs, we'll always know which one she is because of her flower-spotted tongue. In fact her identifying tongue has helped us once already, when we took her to the groomers. Although I'm sure the groomer would have figured out which dog was which, the spots did the trick. See spot, see spot run. See Nawny, see spotted tongue.

Hairball!

So apparently Labs shed a good deal, but two times a year, when the seasons change, showers of fur fall out every time they are touched. We thought we had found an exception to the rule because Nawny did not shed AT ALL during the winter. We basked in the false pretense that we found the only Lab in the world that did not shed. HA! Naive, yes I now realize the sad truth.

It turns out we did not find the only non shedding Lab in the world... as a matter of fact far from it. It seems lately I have been vacuuming every other day, hunting down little tumbleweeds of fur blowing into corners of my once pristine condo. My hoover windtunnel series vacuum (with pet hair removal brush tool, yes this is my plug for hoover) has served me well and I have definitely gotten my moneys worth in only the 5 months that I have owned it. I emptied the bagless canister today and unloaded a hairball the size two small chihuahuas. TWO, yes TWO, small chihuahuas. I will spare you the picture because it is rather gross.

However, after her bath today, which I may add is quite tiring in a condo bath tub , I collected a wet ball of dog hair/fur the size of a softball. This is wet... compacted... hair, imagine if this were fluffed out and collected... seriously I think it would have easily filled 2 plastic grocery bags. Perhaps there is profit to be made by collecting the softer down of a dogs coat and using it as fill for pillows... hmm? Anyhow here is a picture of said hairball with Annie's fist as a reference to the hairball. Thank goodness for hair catchers... imagine calling the plumber to remove that mess. Yuck.