one hour and $75 later

**I forgot to mention in the original post that this isn't contagious to pets or humans. Those of you who have pet Frank or had your dogs around Frank recently need not worry.**

My poor, sad puppy! As you can see above, Frank is wearing the dreaded lampshade - or an Elizabethan collar as the label on the cone called it. Sure, try to make it sound like a fashion accessory! It doesn't make him hate it any less.

About 2 weeks ago I noticed Frank had a spot near his butt that looked a little reddish and the fur looked like it was falling out. There were also small black spots on the skin. Chip and I thought it was a mild skin irritation, or hot spot, and bought him some hydrocortisone cream to put on it. We did that for about a week, but nothing happened. Then it looked as if the spot was getting larger. Luckily Frank wasn't biting at it or scratching at it, so at least we knew it wasn't really bothering him. Since it didn't appear to be getting any better, I decided to take him to the vet.

The vet took a look at Frank and thought it could be one of two things. So she did a skin scraping so she could check it out under the microscope. It was quite a sight! Frank was already freaking out being at the vet with all the other dogs, but now the tech had pinned him down on his side while I held his head down and the vet took a scalpel and scraped his spot till it bled a little. Luckily he didn't yelp. It did bring back memories of a similar incident that happened to my guinea pig, Dusty. He had scarcoptic mites that caused him to itch until he bled. My mom and I took him to the vet and they did a similar scraping. I'll never forget the screams, yes screams, that came out of that tiny animal's mouth. You would think we were killing him!

Anyways, the vet looked at the skin under a microscope and diagnosed him with Demodex or Canine Demodectic Mange. It is a parasitic skin disease caused by microscopic mites that live under the surface of the skin. All dogs, and even some humans, have this mite on their skin. As long as the body's immune system is functioning properly, these mites cause no harm.

Apparently Frank has a "immature immune system" as the vet called it. His immune system isn't strong enough to keep these mites in check, so they can flare up and spread rapidly and erupt into an irritated patch. This immune system problem could be a temporary thing, something that he could grow out of, but there is a chance he won't and he could have flare-ups of this for the rest of his life. The immature immune system is a hereditary trait passed on by Frank's parents. So the other puppies in Frank's litter have this too. Apparently when this trait is discovered, the affected dog shouldn't be bred and the parents should not be bred together again. That was kind of sad. I have a defective dog :(

The vet gave us some ointment we are supposed to put on him and hopefully it will clear up the spots. We also have to put the cone on him so he won't lick off the ointment. The poor dog is like a statue when we put it on him! He just stands there paralyzed. It is kind of funny. The cone has to be a little longer since Frank has a long snout. Sometimes his upper lip gets stuck on it and it looks like he is smiling. It's hysterical! I laughed so hard I cried.

Anyways, so that is the current drama going on in our house. I know, I have the most exciting life!