Gracie and the Cone of Shame

Gracie lost two nail caps in the night around January 7th and made herself bloody. The cause for concern was that her wounds were deep (under her chin) and she was in distress. So, we took her to the vet as soon as possible (the same day). As usual, I felt like we got the runaround concerning her allergies. However, she does have a secondary skin infection. Thus, the cone of shame and some medical intervention (antibiotic and steroid shots along with her usual ear treatments). We are also "bathing" her with some medicated mousse in hopes of alleviating her itchiness.

It's been a struggle with her. She managed to take the cone of shame off two nights in a row about a week later and made herself all bloody again. Fortunately, all her nail caps were present. Thus, no deep gouges and the like.

I think, overall, she is doing better. But, it's been a struggle with her. And, she still has her cone of shame. I want her fur to grow back just a little more before giving her freedom from the cone.

I am not sure if the steroid shots helped because she is still wanting to viciously scratch herself. We go back to the vet around February 23rd to discuss her state of affairs.

I am saddened my biggest fear became a reality (secondary skin infection). She has been doing so well for years with getting her ears treated periodically at the vet along with Zymox and nail caps. I've always thought she'd have a short life due to her aggressive scratching. Dan made me feel slightly better by telling me that she definitely would have had an extremely short life if we hadn't adopted her. But still, I feel bad for her.