Challenges with Puppies

My puppy when I've first got him

You’ve just seen the main culprit of my frequent tardiness for this month. Born on the 3rd week of November, Pepper is now 9 weeks and 4 days old (or 2 months and 6 days old). I’ve got him last January 5, a very special number even before he became my pet.

Current challenges that I’m experiencing:

Ill Looking Eyes
Should I be worried in the change of his eyes? After I’ve dewormed him, I noticed that he looks like fresh from sleep every lunch time. It’s been 1 week but his eyes are still like that. However, that contradicts with his high energy level every morning and afternoon whenever he sees me. He still wags his tail.

• Is his eyes normal? Permanent? Or just a part of his growth?
• Is that a side effect of deworming? Or the effect of deworming product I’ve used?
• Did I do something wrong when I’ve dewormed him?
• Will it change?
• Is mange involved?
• Should I ask a vet? Go there?
• Will I continue deworming him next week?
• Did I miss something?
• Is he really feeling well? Or there’s something wrong internally?
• Is it okay to leave him like that? Just ignore it?
• Will he get better on his own?

His sad eyes after a few weeks

Mange
My sister keeps on telling me that I shouldn’t give a disease its name unless a doctor confirms it. She’s a nurse. There’s a doctor for animals but I don’t really like when they just administer drugs without explaining or telling stories. Just like in computers, I hate it when most technicians suggest reformatting a computer when the problem was really just minor and can be fixed if people have patience (the easiest solution and easiest way for money). That’s a shortcut in life, but it doesn’t really kill the root cause of problems.

At first, I ignored him scratching. I thought it was just normal because he previously has lice. I bathed him twice with an anti-lice treatment but he didn’t stopped scratching even after his skin was cleared of lice. I thought it was just the eggs that hatched, his old lice wound or it’s just normal in dogs. I should have prioritized searching about a puppy that still scratches his skin! I’ve tried checking his skin daily. Later on, there’s a distinct doggy smell in his skin, which my cousin said it’s normal. But I am bothered whenever Pepper feeds milk from our female adult dog that has mange (galis). Since Pepper smells like he has mange, even if the effect was still not apparent in his skin that time, I can’t wait to give him a bath but I have to observe him yet for deworming side effects. I was also hesitant because his eyes has this “just awoken” or “I’m ill” appearance after deworming him.

Boiled madre de cacao for dogs's mange

Just this Sunday, I gave him a natural madre cacao bath. That was the only time where some of his fur in his back has shed. Some of her skin turned pinkish (or could be the effect of madre cacao?). Yesterday, I bathed him again and his chest, stomach and thigh became pinkish. My search about mange is still ongoing. For now, I’ll just stick on giving him an every other day bath.

Now that I have a dog, it became my eye-opener of what “galis” truly is. I’m no longer grossed on the thought of human being infected with dog’s mange but mange will remain embarrassing for less knowledgeable people. Not all mange is contagious. Our pets are our responsibility and the state of their health reflects us owner.

My Puppy is Biting Me
Someone told me to cut the tip of my puppy’s teeth using a nail cutter. Due to finding that practice strange and my soft heartedness, I don’t have the guts to follow it. She said that you can also use a nail file or it can be done in pet shops. I’d rather let guys do that for me (hello bf!), if only he is here.

His teeth? It’s as if it keeps on getting sharper instead of being dull. I can no longer count how many times he had bitten me. There was even this old wives tail that the bite of puppy is even more dangerous than the adult dog and to not underestimate puppy’s rabies. We should really be careful not to let little children play with them without an adult’s supervision.

Pepper play-biting with our other adult puppy dog.

Pepper’s bites leaves a small dent but haven’t caused bleeding so far. Just imagine a needle or a blade; just a slight contact can cause a tear in the skin. It quite hurts (mahapdi siya). I should avoid teaching him tricks when he’s hyper as he can accidentally bite my hand when I’m handing him his treats. This already happened to me once. He also plays a tug of war in my skirts and jeans. It’s really a must to come up with an idea to distract him.

Those biting incidents stress me and drain the energy out of me. That made me realize I don’t like to die yet, or at least not to die that way. Going to the hospital because of rabies is a nuisance as well as the process and the payment for it. I don’t like going to hospitals. I’ve already been bitten by our neighbour’s dog when I was just a toddler.