Zack has had a lot of healthproblems. When he only was a few of months old he got a serious throatinfection. He got two penicillin-treatments that did make his fever go away and made his spirits come back again. But his throat didn´t look any better. Then the vet took a test of his tonsils to make sure he would get the right penicillin. He ate penicillin for 30 days but it didn´t help. The only thing left to do was to get his tonsills removed. That is something that the vets don´t want to do in the first place because the dog can get more sensitive to infections after the tonsils are removed.

At the same time a lump had started to grow on his backleg. By the time of his first christmas in the year 2000 it was so big that we had to have it removed. Thankfully it was harmless. But it took a long time to heal. And this meant more penicillin.

During autumn of 2001 he got "noskvalster" (Pneumonysses caninum), an infection in his nose. It sounded like he was getting strangled on our walks. After a few pills he became better.

In november of 2001 he started chewing on his claws. At first the vet thought that he might be bored. But then he broke a claw and they discovered that all his hard clawshell on all his claws on all four paws sat loose. He was sent to sleep and the vet removed all the hard shell around his claws.

The vets couldn´t exactly explain what kind of disease it was. They could only confirm that it was an antiresident disease. It sort of makes Zacks body push away his claws. He was in very much pain and got really depressed. It was a hard time for us too, not knowing if he would get well and if it was the right decision not to put him to sleep.

It took a long time before his claws started to harden. For three months we had to put on shoes every time he had to leave the house. He wore out 3 pairs, 12 shoes despite we couldn´t take him for real walks. He had to spend his time inside for a very long time. After a while he seemed better.

But then he started to limp on a backleg and on a front leg. Although his claws looked better on the outside the infection had started all over again on the inside. He was in such a bad shape that I had decided to have him put to sleep so he did´nt have to suffer anymore when we wen´t to the vet. But he suggested that we should try to give him a small dose of cortizon every other day. It has worked very well so he is on it for life. He also gets extra Omega 3 every day.

His claws will always be fragile. From time to time he injures a claw. But it heals pretty fast. His sister Zorba also got the same disease six months after Zack.

You can find pictures from this trying time here >>

Summer of 2002

Winter of 2003

Christmas of 2002

Zack broke a claw.

April of 2003

Zack got irritated skin between his legs and got penicillin for 20 days whisch helped. It looked like this:

May of 2003

Zack injured a claw and as it started to heal it got infected and he had to have old shellparts removed. Then they discovered that there was pieces left of his tonsils that he got removed as a puppy. They were red and had to be removed.

September of 2003

Every summer Zack get some sort of rash. Mostly on his head. The vet thought it was some sort of allergy.

Rash on zacks head.

Closeup.



On his behind.

October of 2003

Zack broke a claw as we were "training" agilty. He also had diarrhoea for six days. It feels like there always is something to worry about.

!

March of 2004

Zack fell on our morningwalk and hurt a claw.

September of 2004

This year Zacks rash returned as usual. But it wasn´t as much as usual.

November of 2004

The crust on the snow hurt Zacks claw.

August of 2005

Status: Once in a while Zack hurts his claws and he still gets his rash every summer. This year it wasn´t as much as usual. Maybe because it was a cold summer!?

For some days I´ve spotted blood in Zacks urin. We got him checked up at the vet. They discovered that his prostate was enlarged.He got a big injection with female hormones and a dose of penicillin.

December of 2005

Zack has got a worse skincondition than his usual rash. It doesn´t seem to itch but the skin on his neck is very dry and he is starting to loose hair. The vet took some tests and they didn´t find any signs of fungus or mites. He got penicillin for 15 days and a special shampoo and conditioner that we should use 6 times the following month.

January of 2006

Zack was sent to sleep at the vet´s because they wanted to take four skinsamples to make further tests on Zacks skin which hasn´t improved. They took one sample of his neck, back, behind and on one leg. It meant one stich at each place.

The tests did show that he had a serious infection all the way down to the hair follicles. I had hoped for an explaination of why the rash had appeared but they didn´t know. It meant penicillin again for 20 days. We are also going to try to give Zack a smaller dose of cortizon beacause it makes him more sensitive to infections. And we also give him Aloe vera. We can only hope that it doesn´t get any worse.

MARCH 2006

Zacks skin is getting better and the hair is starting to grow out again. This month he breaks a claw and has to go to the vet again. He is put to sleep and they remove half the claw. He gets a bandage for two days. And penicillin for eight days. He is going to have to wear a shoe when he goes out until the claw is stronger.

After two days we took off the bandage. He only had half the claw left. But it looked good. He had injured this claw earlier so it had started to heal already at the parts near the skin.

Now another problem has arrived. He has got little cuts on his eartips. That is a problem he has never had before. When he shakes his head we have blood all over our appartment. Not funny, so we went to the vet for some advice. They wasn´t much of a help since he is already on penicillin and cortizon. They said that we could try to smoothen his ears with babyoil and keep them taped for as long as they caused a problem inside. Apparantly it is a problem very hard to solve...

It can appear as a cause of cold and dry weather or because the dog shakes his ears.

We have got a lot of advice from other dogowners in our guestbook. Here we are trying zinkpasta which dries out the skin at the same time as it makes it heal. It stops the blood and we dont have to keep his ears taped. Which is easier said than done. Right now we are trying Opsite-spray. And we also got a tip of Fucidin that we haven´t tried yet.

After trying a lot of good tips we found this padding to be the best solution for us. As soon as Zack shaked his head the cuts opened up again. It was impossible to keep his ears taped. But this padding stayed on his ears for days. It is supposed to protect cuts from infections and increase the healingprocess. It also protects the ear when Zacks feels like shaking his head. After a week we took them off and now the ears are almost healed.

SEPTEMBER 2006

Zack gets a skin infection again. It starts on his tail. He looses a lot of hair. He also gets hairless spots on his tummy and on his shoulders. The veterinary gives him the same penicillin as last time.

FEBRUARY 2007

Zack fell on the ice and broke a claw on the right back leg. He is put to sleep at the vet and they remove half the claw. He gets a bandage for two days. And penicillin for a few days. He is going to have to wear a shoe when he goes out until the claw is stronger. Today we took the bandage off and it looks fine.

 

JUNE 2007

Zack breaks a claw on the sida of his left frontpaw.

JANURI 2008

Zack injures a claw.

MARS 2008

We discovered blood in Zacks urin. His prostade was enlarged and he had to be castrated for his health.

JULI 2008

Zack injures a claw.

DECEMBER 2008

Zack has a broken tooth that the vet has removed.

JUNE 2009

Zack has been to the vet. He has got a small case of "blood-ear" thats going to heal on it´s own. He got some eardrops beacause he had fungus in the other ear.

The vet went through his back and behind because he is weak in his hind legs. They could not find anything wrong with his joints. The vet said that it could be something that pushes on a nerve from time to time. He doesnt seem to be in any pain so we where pleased with that explaination for now.

MARCH 2010

Zack got a toe remoeved becase of a benign tumour that was growing.