Doggy Drama

To say that our dog is a drama queen would be an understatement. In addition to being an archetypical Chihuahua, she is very sensitive, delicate and gets anxious about everything that is outside of her usual routine.

The move has been difficult for her. Most of the new house has hard flooring, which makes it hard for her to maintain her footing, to run around and jump onto and off of furniture. She clearly doesn't quite feel at home here yet (then again neither do hubby and I - this kind of thing just takes time). She isn't yet familiar with all the sights and smells. With the unpacking and arranging yet unfinished things are still unsettled. Further complicating things is the bitter cold, snow and wind that has made walking the new neighborhood very difficult. Even all bundled up in her coat, she simply can't handle this weather. She is very small, very skinny and has very thin hair - a dog clearly designed for warm weather.

She absolutely hates going to the vet and makes sure that everyone within ear shot knows it. There is screaming, crying, pleading, pooping and even attempts at biting. She gets so worked up that even the most benign touching makes her scream out as if in terrible pain. It has gotten so bad that I also now experience a good amount of anxiety when it comes time to take her in.

But it became clear last week that she has an ear infection. No matter how much we both hate going in, she needed to see the vet and get some medicine. As the drama was winding down and she was allowed to just sit on my lap I decided it was time to take action. I asked if we might discuss medicating her prior to these visits.

I felt kind of bad even bringing it up but things have just gotten so out of hand. And it's not just the vet's office that elicits this kind of a response. She freaks out when we take her to get her nails done and whenever someone comes over, or (as we just learned) when we try to give her the prescribed ear drops to take care of her infection. Our sweet baby girl turns into a terror the second she is confronted with something that scares her and frankly there are a lot of things that scare her.

The vet tells me it may or may not work but thought trying it was a good idea. Based on her freak out this morning over the ear drops we've decided to try it tonight when we have to administer the drops again. Fingers crossed that the meds help her enough that we can treat this infection and take care of all future nail and medical needs without all this anxiety and drama.