Prozac

No, not for me, but thats not a bad idea...I'll ponder that. Anyway, we have managed our week stuck inside caring for Nikki. She is fine, you would never know her sister kicked her butt a week ago. She is running around, jumping, being her usual self. The drain was removed (I am so lucky my sister in law is a vet tech) on Tuesday and now its just an open hole. Gross. You would think they would stitch it back up but nope. The things I've learned...We are still stuck inside for another week to make sure she doesn't lick the hole too much-I can't watch her every minute-and just generally to make sure Shelby doesn't lick her. Good Times. Last night was the first night I slept in my own bed instead of the couch. I decided I was done and if she wanted to stay up licking herself all night then I was fine with that, she could deal w/ infection if she wanted. I just needed some sleep. Today is her last day of antibiotics which is a plus for me because its not fun to stick pills down a dogs throat, no matter how much you love them. On to prozac...

The vet my sister in law works for, and also our vet by association, did some research for us on companion animals that fight, etc. Turns out its super common in female dogs, and that males are more likely to fight another dog out of their home territory, and its usually another male. Someone mentioned the 7 yr itch as a joke, and I do think we might be having a switch in dominance and maybe Nikki isn't ready to let he top dog post go, though she is getting older, has arthritis, and is much smaller. Can't blame a girl for trying!

Shelby has some long standing issues that I've mentioned before. She eats anything we leave out, has separation anxiety, and barks if a car drives down the street--to name a few. Because we have accepted this and modified our life around it, we have created a high maintenance dog. The weirdest part is that the dogs don't usually hang out together during the day. Shelby likes to sleep on our bed, and Nikki follows me around. They don't even sleep together anymore. From the night we brought Ryan home from the hospital, Nikki decided that she didn't want to sleep in our room anymore. Now she sleeps on the couch. So, they are separate a lot, but if Shelby realizes she is alone she freaks out. I've had to take Nikki to the vet before and had her loaded in the car and heard terrible noises coming from the house, along w/ banging on the front door. I looked in the window and Shelby was throwing herself at the door. She just can't be alone in the house.

With all of these issues and the research the vet did on companion agression, the vet recommended we give Shelby some prozac to see if it can take the edge off, relax her a bit. If it works, it should also help if (God forbid) another fight were to happen. She should be able to stop herself, or at least be able to be stopped, instead of locking herself into fight mode. Oh, and hopefully stop the obsessive licking...I just feel weird giving my dog prozac. If it works I'll be stoked.