Slogging Through Till Beach Time

I'm just muddling along till vacation ... nine days to beach!!! Woo-hoo!! Cannot wait.

The insulation work is getting done this weekend. I hope to finish painting the dining room then, too, so more pictures soon. Otherwise, just trying to get everything done to go on vacation. I've been buried at work, and trying to get all that caught up. And there are certain projects I want to get done here before we go (like the dining room; and planting the azaleas I bought a month ago ... I'm such a bad gardner).

Speaking of planting, I'd better get it done soon ... it's freaking freezing this morning, only 49 degrees ... at this rate we're going to have frost soon, and if I don't get them in the ground and let them get stabilized, they're not going to survive. May already be too late.

Well, my out-front gardening scheme kind of fell apart this year, anyway. I was disappointed I didn't make more progress, but ... there was a lot to do around here this year, and we did get a lot done, so I can't really be too upset about it. When the winter blahs hit in January, that will give me plenty to do, planning out the gardens a little better. That's one of the things that held me up ... not really knowing what I wanted to do.

I know we want to move the front steps and install a front walkway, and that's also something that held me up ... because the plantings need to be based around that walkway, but without it being in place, it was hard to know what to do or get started. My goal is to get that walkway project done next spring, and then I can start the re-landscaping in earnest.

Oh, in other important news: Tyler has had an allergy problem most of his life that would cause him to, off and on throughout the year, scratch and chew on himself to the point of craziness - he'd have raw sores on his body, he'd keep us all up half the night with his snorfling and chewing, it was always pretty awful. I'd tried everything I could think of - Benadryl, Pet-Ease (a sort of mild, herbal pet valium), different medications and lotions and sprays. A few years ago I even took him to an allergy vet about an hour away, and spent about $400 for a consultation with her, to no avail ... she had nothing to suggest other than the Benadryl (which never worked). Some people had suggested an 'allergy diet,' but it turned out he was basically already eating that - things like rice and chicken.

For a long time I thought it was fleas, but we'd find no fleas on him (confirmed by his groomer), so I began to figure it wasn't just that.

He hadn't had this problem since we moved in, but it ramped up again in the last few weeks. I was getting desperate - I hadn't had a full night's sleep for weeks. He generally sleeps in our bed, and when he starts chewing and slurping and snorfling, it always wakes me up - and this would go on for hours at night! I tried moving him to his doggie bed on the floor, but it didn't help, it still woke me up. A couple of nights, in desperation, I put him out of the room entirely, but I always hate to do that - since he's always slept with us, it seems like punishing him, and it's not his fault, plus he's miserable enough from the itching, without adding insult to injury.

So anyway, I was at the local health food store the other day, and remembered they had a pet section, and decided to go see what was new over there. I ran onto their homeopathic display (not new, but I'd never considered it before), and thought, "Hey ...". I found a homeopathic remedy made by Newton Homeopathics for Pets, called "Itchy Skin" - and decided to try it.

Most of you are probably familiar with homeopathic remedies, but in a nutshell, it's an all-natural remedy made by extreme diffusions or distillations of different substances, to the point where there's almost none of the original active ingredient left, but more just the 'essence' of it. They're totally safe, as there's not enough of anything in it to hurt anyone. While I have a deep respect for any natural and holistic treatment, I was always a little skeptcial of homeopathic remedies like this. I know a lot of people use them with good results, but ... I just couldn't put much faith in them. And I'd personally tried a few, which never seemed to work.

But for $14, I thought, what the heck.

It works! It's the first thing I've ever tried on Tyler that actually works, but it does indeed work. Three drops of the liquid in his mouth, and in minutes he's stopped itching, chewing, etc. It's totally astounding. I give him a dose in the morning, and one when I get home, and one before bed. Although the directions say you can give a dose every 15 minutes until it works, I've never had to give more than one.

I don't know how the one in the morning works throughout the day, because I'm not here - but I know I haven't come home to find any more sores or raw spots on Tyler. Throughout the evening it'll seem to start wearing off in a few hours. But when we give him the dose before bed, that's it for the night - he either doesn't chew or scratch at all once we go to bed, or he might have one or two very brief episodes which quickly stop, and then we're good for the night.

I used to think that even if they worked on people, some of it might be just 'headology' as Granny Weatherwax would call it ... but it can't be that with Tyler, as he has no clue what I'm giving him, so he's not expecting or hoping for any result.

I'm totally amazed, and very grateful. And wishing I'd have tried this years ago.

Update: After I posted this, I wondered if I'd described the manufacture of homeopathic remedies correctly (it's been a long while since I read up on this topic), so I went and did a little research on Wikipedia. I had it pretty right - it's dilution and 'succussion' (tapping or hitting), not distillation. And often, depending on the degree of dilution, there is none of the original substance remaining in the preparation. Although they are generally harmless (because of the dilution), occasionally a toxic reaction occurs, either in the much lower dilutions (where some of the original substance may still be present) or in incorrectly manufactured products.

One interesting note that I read was a section on veterinary homeopathy, which said that it was generally considered unproven and unfounded, but also that 'placebos' used on pets often had the effect of making the owners believe that some cure had taken place. Well, that's fine for something that an owner wouldn't know whether it was cured or not (like an internal condition). But when I physically see that my dog is no longer scratching and chewing, it's kind of hard to call that a 'placebo effect' - or if that's what it is, hell, I'll take it!

I'm still unsure about homeopathic remedies in general, but all I know is that so far, this has worked - I have no idea how, but as I said - I'll take it.