No More Toes for the Captain.

Took the Captain in for his appointment today, to get his pink lips looked at. The Doc was pretty stumped and had to go get her reference and look through it for a while before coming back with the educated guest that Doggie has vitiligo. It's another Pointer tendency, from what she told me. I'm to watch for sores or crustiness in the affected areas as signs that there's something else going on, but in all likelihood he's fine beyond the skin color change. Fine by me--he can be Captain Jackson as long as he's healthy. I'll need to make sure he has sunscreen on the depigmented areas if it starts to creep up his nose, also.

While we were in the office, I had his paw looked at. Yesterday I woke up to the sound (and wetness!) of him licking his foot excessively. A claw was broken and splintered all the way back to the quick, and the wound was starting to smell a bit funky. I called as soon as I noticed and they said it would keep til the appointment. I duct-taped a sock onto his leg to stop him constantly licking the foot for much of the day. It sapped all his powers, that terrible sock. He could barely move other than to slither from floor to Best Chair and back again. Deep, abiding sighs in numbers too great to count--the whole canine guilt trip. Only ferrets forced to wear a harness can do the dance better than an intelligent dog. A ferret will go the extra mile and throw in a death rattle before going completely limp and still.

Once the vitiligo was out of the way, Doc called a technician to come and hold the Captain while she took care of the claw. I tried to distract my brave puppy with treats, but he lost interest the second the shears came out. Doc lopped the whole bloody claw off in one move, right down to the base of the split. The Captain screamed and wailed and bled all over the place. It was pretty terrible, and was followed by several minutes' worth of dark-eyed canine betrayal angst.

Doc calmed him down with several spoonfuls of the really good treats she keeps in the office for post-torture apologies, and the Captain relaxed a bit. A few minutes later he was doing tricks for snacks, albeit with more caution than usual.

The bright orange bandage they put on his foot was like a clingy, blood-stained business card for the Ministry of Silly Walks. Poor dude tried not to use that leg at all the whole time it was on, but his torment was not over yet. I took him to the pet food store and bought him a nice new pair of clippers. The old pair was getting dull, and I need to keep his nails extra short from now on to prevent this ever happening again. I also got some fish oil supplements because Pointers tend toward brittle claws, and our floor is hardwood with gaps between the boards. Doc says that's usually how talons get splintered.

I am pampering the shit out of my boy right now. Even still, he keeps glancing at me with this expression that says "You did this. You let them cut off my feet." Oh, Captain, you are such a fucking drama queen.

Also today, I opened up a bank account here in town. My previous bank was in Bellevue, NE, and I'm tired of the inconvenience. I am now considering getting a credit card. I've never had one before, and it's a bit intimidating. But I really should establish an emergency financial backup plan for the future.