Crime scene

We had a list of things to get done today a mile long. First off was to get the tree down, decorations boxed, and sand and salt swept off the floors. We've had so much snow and ice this year that I crunch when I walk, and that just makes me nuts. So does clutter, i.e. Christmas decorations when they've been up for too long.

So we start the day with a plan, and high hopes. But R tosses in another job that he thinks we need to do. He thinks we should catch up on our pug grooming by cleaning their ears, trimming nails, and giving baths. It's true we need to do all of those things, but neither of us are enthusiastic. He convinced me to go ahead before we change into work clothes because once pugs are groomed and bathed, pug hair covers us from head to toe.

So we start with the most difficult one, the fawn male. Truth is, if he watches the female get her ears cleaned and nails trimmed, he freaks out even more. We begin to clean his ears which he hates. He has always had ear problems so they are probably sensitive. R holds him and I clean them with a special solution. Then we administer a cream that should help with any infection. The pug screams and squirms the entire time, but he always does.

Then we move to his nails. He has the most difficult nails to trim you can imagine. They are black as coal from bed to tip. I took him to a groomer once to get his nails trimmed and they refused, telling me they didn't want to attempt it. That I should just walk him on asphalt or concrete a mile each day. He's a damn pug! He doesn't even like to step off the deck to pee!

Anyway, I trim one lower foot and cut a bit close. I don't do it every time, but I never do it more than once a session. He howls and squirms but it's not too bad and we continue. I move to his right forepaw. R is holding him, we have all of the kitchen lights on so I can see what I'm doing. In spite of that, I do it again. This time, he screams. Pugs, especially our fawn male, scream like pigs. It starts bleeding immediately and we hold a wet paper towel on it. He stops screaming but is wriggling and squirming. Whenever we remove the paper towel it drips, and he flings blood everywhere. R has blood on his jeans, his slippers, his shirt, and there are spatters on the floor, the cabinets, you name it. We look like a crime scene. We elevate his foot, apply pressure, and it still drips. I get the styptic pencil and we try that. No luck. I think styptic pencils are for shaving nicks, and this dang dog has a cut artery (or at least it looks like it). We use paper towels, washcloths, and have no luck. We finally decide to put him outside to see if walking around, maybe in the snow, will do it.

But he's a pug. He doesn't like snow and he doesn't get off the path we've cleared on the deck. He walks blood spots all over the deck. It won't quit. We bring him inside, try our home remedies again. No luck.

It's a Sunday so I call the nearest person to a veterinarian I know, my son who is finishing med school. I give him the facts. He said he had the same problem with his pug (also a fawn with black nails) and they ended up having to run to the pet store for styptic powder. He told us to elevate the foot above his heart (we had been doing that already) but we should really try getting the powder as it works better than the pencil on animals.

I hung up the phone, not sure what to do next. Then I realize I can shave off some of the styptic pencil and use my mortar and pestle to grind it down. I noticed it earlier this week when I was in a rarely used drawer, and I've never used it since I bought it but I still think it's cool to have one. I tried it, applied the powder with a moist cotton ball as my son instructed, and......it worked.

Deep breath. R wanted me to continue on with the rest of his nails, but I couldn't. I was shaken and the dog wasn't excited about it either. We decided to work on the black pug and get her ears and nails done (she's easy -- her nails can be seen). We got her done in short order and then decided to go ahead with baths. The male had a lot of blood on his one foot between his toes and they both really needed baths.

R took them to the basement and began with the female so the male's nail had more time to heal over. I proceeded to clean up the carnage and collect dirty clothes to start laundry. The kitchen was a mess of strewn paper towels, styptic pencil shavings on the counter, and clipped nails on the floor. I picked up the dirty clothes to toss down the basement stairs and just as I released them, I saw there was fresh poop at the bottom of the stairs, right where the clothes landed. AARGHH! I went down, picked up the clothes, and cleaned up the poop. Our fawn male often poops when he's nervous and in unfamiliar surroundings (once in the lobby of the vet's office) so it wasn't a surprise, just once more dang thing I had to clean up.

R finished up the black female and I noticed the male was checking out places to pee. I did manage to get him outside for that little function. Then back inside to take his bath. He doesn't mind his bath and did very well. He also loves to be brushed, which was a small compensation for the blood-letting that had occurred earlier. The black female scouted out the cat poop in the litter box for the most tasty morsels, and we had to keep hollering at her to leave it alone. Pretty sure she got some anyway. R cleaned up the male, rubbed him with fresh towels, and started brushing him when he saw he was bleeding again. I went back upstairs to shave and grind more powder, R held him, and I tended to his toe. It didn't take long for it to work again and we tidied up his foot with a wash cloth.

Then I put in a load of laundry, including wet towels and bloody washcloths. We looked at the clock and it was lunch time. The bleeding, clotting and cleaning had taken two hours! And it wasn't even on the list of things we wanted to do! Needless to say, both of the humans in the house were pissy and tired. But we had to get something on our list done so we ate lunch and got back to work.

No rest for the weary pet owners.