Appointment #3 for Boon

Last Thursday, Boon was really giving off a terrible odor. At first I could not determine where the odor was coming from...but through process of elimination, realized that it was coming from his ears. Right away, I started doing some online research...I found that this kind of odor usually indicates a yeast infection inside the ears. So, I contacted the animal hospital and described the odor...they said that it would be a good idea for the vet to check out Boon's ears.

Just a few days prior, Boon had finished the antibiotic that was prescribed for his swelling...the swelling had cleared up nicely and was almost indiscernible...but now it looked like he had an ear infection??...something did not seem right about this picture...

The next morning Boon and I had our third visit to the animal hospital. Overall, Boon did well at this visit. He whined a little and had a difficult time sitting in one place...but he allowed his ears to be swabbed and cleaned out. It was determined that Boon did indeed have a yeast infection...so a topical med was applied to each ear, and would need to be applied once a day for the next two weeks. When it was time to render payment, Boon seemed to decide that SIT and STAY were highly unnecessary words. He showed a strong preference for pulling on his leash, which made it very difficult to take care of his bill...but thankfully, the receptionist gave a helping hand and Boon and I were soon on our way.

I was concerned that Boon was having so much physical unrest. I started doing more research regarding dogs, ear infections/lymph swelling, I read that this often means that the dog is allergic to something he/she has ingested. I began thinking about all the things that Boon regularly eats...any signs of unrest in him after he had eaten certain things, etc. The first thing that came to my mind was: pork.

Boon loves pork-hide chews...he will sit and chew on them for hours at a time. A few days after he started on his antibiotic, he showed marked improvement in his swelling...but on about the third day, I gave him a pork-hide chew...the next morning, his swelling seemed retrogressive. At that time, I thought through everything that he had ingested and wondered if it was the pork-hide which had caused this retrogression. Since that day, I have not given Boon another pork-hide chew...but when I learned that he had a yeast infection in his ears, I decided to look through the ingredient list on each of his treats...sure enough, there were other treats which also contained pork...so, as an experiment, I have taken Boon off of all pork. Hopefully, this will be beneficial and will aid in keeping Boon healthy and balanced. In the last three weeks, we have had three visits to the animal hospital...I really do not want to make it four in a row.