It's Friday, and I think our dog is finally starting to feel less pain and I've decided I will never step foot in a Petco ever again. It's been a ROUGH week of sleeping on the couch to comfort him, cooking him meals so that he would eat and literally carrying him everywhere I went around the house. So, this on top of trying to make sure my girls have a happy summer, being a WAHM and keeping our home together has been a lot! He's on a steroid, two different antibiotics and an opiate for pain. It's crazy to me that this happened because of a visit to Petco to get him groomed. I basically paid over $50 for him to get sick. I feel horrible. And all I was trying to do on Sunday was take good care of him and get him groomed so that he didn't have to keep pushing the hair out of his eyes.

This photo is a pic that the vet took of his ear infection on Tuesday. It breaks my heart. He wouldn't allow anyone to touch it so they had to take him in another room to get a good look. The vet tech said she has been doing this for 30 years and has never seen an ear infection this bad. This was the beginning of the infection that continued to oooze more mucous or pus or whatever you want to call it over the last couple of days. Believe me - it got WORSE. If you know me and my OCD, it hasn't been easy! But I've shocked myself this week. I love this little dude so much that it hasn't phased me. I just want him to feel better.

I think the part of this story that is the most upsetting to me is that I specifically asked Petco to leave his ears alone. Since we acquired Coconut, I have read up on his breed daily along with my girls so that we can learn together the best way to take care of him and teach him. The first time we had him groomed, the lady did a fantastic job. She was careful with him because she knew that puppies are impressionable and she wanted him to have a pleasurable experience and not upset him. When I went to pick him up, she told me that he did not like his ear hair plucked out so she didn't do it because she did not want to traumatize him. I REALLY appreciated that. She believed that he didn't like it because he had never had it done and just wasn't used to it and she recommended that the vet try. Two weeks later, we had the vet try and they decided the same thing - to not pluck his ears cause it upset him. She inspected them closely and said she does not see any infection or any signs of infection and that he just needed to be "de-sensitized" to it. She recommended touching his ears, cleaning them out daily and always making sure they are dry and whenever he gets neutered around 7 months that they would just clean the hair out of his ears then. He had NEVER had a problem with me or the kids messing with his ears before and he has been a super healthy puppy. The vet appointment was 2 weeks ago. Dorris Wedding wedding dresses in peach color

Then this past sunday we take him to Petco for his grooming. I tell them the back story of his ears and what the last groomer said about her experience with him and ear plucking. I specifically said to not pluck the hair from his ears, but instead to wipe them clean on the inside and make sure they are dry. When I picked him up, I was COMPLETELY SHOCKED to hear the guy tell me that they were able to pluck one ear and not the other. Coconut was so tired that he didn't want to be bothered so I was unable to get a good look. And when we got home that evening he pretty much slept all evening and into the next morning.

Monday morning I noticed he was acting weird. He kept flipping his ears and twitching his neck. You could tell something was bothering him. And I kept smelling an odor (I have a superhuman sense of smell and can usually smell things before others and people typically think I'm crazy....until they smell it too. LOL) He wouldn't let anyone touch his ears and it was making me nervous. My gut feeling told me something wasn't right. But since Petco did clean one of his ears out, we just thought that maybe he wasn't use to it and needed some time.

But Tuesday morning the smell was stronger. I talked to Christina Hernandez (the groomer that I SHOULD HAVE GONE TO) on Facebook and she described the smell of an ear infection for me since I have never had a dog that had one. Once she said that it will smell "sour or rotten" I KNEW that he needed to go see the vet immediately.

So, I was shocked to see this picture and learn that this was why he was acting so strange. It brought all us girls to tears. The vet wants him on these meds for 2 weeks and then they want to see him again to see if they can figure out what caused the infection. The ear was so inflamed when she saw him Tuesday that she couldn't swab it or get a good look inside it to see if there was damage. The medications make him act different. He isn't as energetic and playful (of course - he is still in pain). And the pain medication makes him cry CONTINUOUSLY until I pick him up and hold him. I considered going in the attic to find a BABY CARRIER so that I could attach him to my frontside and be hands-free. LOL When I am holdng him is the only time that he is content. I have slept on the couch with him this week so that he wouldn't cry and keep Brandon up all night.

He wouldn't eat the first day he took his pain medication, so I was instructed to cook him something "tasty" like rice and egg or boiled chicken. Because of my already crazy week I hadn't been shopping so I whipped him up some organic jasmine rice cooked in organic beef broth that I had in the pantry and scrambled an egg in it. It took him a second to get use to it and he would only eat it if I fed him from my hand or a baby spoon. Seriously! LOL

Today I'm going to start him on the probiotic that we all take. I planned on doing it from the beginning because I heard that giving his breed a good probiotic helps with a sensitive tummy as well as the eye drainage that can cause tear stains. After being on all these meds this week, I know he is going to need Probio5 more than ever. Puppies need a good immune system too.

I'll keep ya'll updated on what we find out or if we find out WHY this happened. Some people say it could have been an allergy to something at petco, or dirty equipment, or he could have already had an issue and then they activitated it. But, all I know is the vet had checked his ears a week before and they looked healthy. And we had zero problems before taking him to Petco. So, common sense and learning from experience says....Don't use PETCO. And so far, I've learned to go with my GUT.