Cooper things: birthday, allergies, and training

So, it was sort of a weird coincidence that I posted a collection of Cooper pics yesterday because then this conversation happened:

Well. Dangit.

Four years of having my boy’s birthday wrong.

So, last night we pulled out some puppy ice cream and celebrated Cooper’s fourth birthday!

And followed it up with a trip to the vet today…

Some of you guys noticed that he’s been back in his cone. He got some kind of sting or bite on his back leg, which was making him loony. But he’s been itchy head to tail, scratching open a rash in his armpit. And his eyes are faucets.

We’ve tried a bunch of different things and monitor his food so closely that I was sure it had to be seasonal. According to the vet today, there’s a real issue right now with tree pollen.

I really wanted to get him on Apoquel, but our clinic is on a waiting list and won’t get any until January. Rats. We’re trying another anti-histamine for the next two weeks and making (yet another) tweak to his diet. Overall, though, she was really happy with how his skin is looking (I attribute that to the addition of coconut oil to his diet – thanks, Sof!) and isn’t too worried about his runny eyes at this point because the goop is mostly clear.

Of course, as we were driving home I realized that scheduling his appointment for today was, perhaps, an error on my part. It was a hugely stressful event, as usual, and the poor guy has reactive dog training tonight. Ooops. Hope I can make the rest of his afternoon fun and stress-free to create a separation between two intensely stressful events!

Cross your fingers… 🙂

Hope your day and week are going swimmingly! 

UPDATED to add: He’s opted to sleep off the stress of the visit…