Poor Ellie. It's been a rough ordeal for her with her mange. Even though her itching has been better since January, which is a huge relief for her, her fur has been falling out much past that. We think this is the last of it, because it's hit almost every part of her body. Looking back at old photos of when we first adopted her, I realized how fluffy she was! That's how her coat is supposed to be. We'd forgotten just how fluffy she used to be. And after the our recent trip, she looked really thin when we saw her, but she hasn't lost weight, just fur.
I didn't take these pictures specifically to document her mange, and she doesn't really like the camera, so when she was itchy, the last thing I wanted to do was torture her more. When she was at her most bald with raw red wounds, I was pretty emotional about it. In fact there are large blocks of time with no picture of her. Me trying to protect her pride. By showing this, I'm not trying to embarass her, I think she's gorgeous in all ways. I just want to document her recovery and tell others that it takes time to heal from this vicious stuff.
September 2010
Full coat, with a few itchy patches which we thought were from flea bites.
Full coated in October, more camera friendly. Still itchy, but no fur loss.
October 2010: one big ball of fluff!
Christmas 2010: she was miserable. Look at that raw red elbow.
January 2011: finally getting treated with anti-mange meds, although she had been on prednizone for the itch before.
Itch caught on camera. Sienna is perplexed.
Fur falls off in droves. Baldy chest.
February 2011
She's lost a lot of the lower fur, but her "mane" neck hair remains
Later in February
Her hock fur falls off in patches.
Neck fur still think, hind area looks skinny because the fur is falling off.
Febraury 2011
Leg fur growing back, elbow wounds healing, still patchy in other areas. Still got that big mane!
Early March 2011
Chest fur grows back, yippee!
Most recently, end of March 2011
Body fur thinner, neck hair falling out and thinner.
We can actually see her collar, that neck/mane is so thin! Belly fur coming in thick.
Her ears are still shedding a bit. We use a furminator (which she hates) to get the fur off.
I hope to post many many pictures this summer...let's hope her full coat is back in full glory!
2 comments:
Aw, Ellie. She's so gorgeous, with or without all of her fur. I got very emotional when Rowan was losing her fur from Candida, losing sleep & worrying so much about her. She had a lot of fur loss on her neck and chest. It's so stressful to see them that way. I'm glad that Ellie's recovering and hope things stay well!
We think you're looking great, that looked very painful, poor you. Lovely to 'meet you' and hope to read more from you soon, Dexter & Louis x
Post a Comment