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I know licking granulomas can be persistent problems and it seems each incident has it's own cure. I thought I'd share how I finally got rid of AJ's after a year and a half.
AJ was bunny hopping from an unknown cause in March, 2019. It went away after he was isolated from the other dogs and kept quiet. However, he developed licking granulomas out of boredom. I tried the usual things - bitter sprays, cones, bandages - to no avail. In fact, the cone made them worse because he'd rub the edge of the cone on the granulomas and they'd be bloody in the morning when I let him out of his cage.
The ones on his left leg responded to Vetalog injections and Tresaderm. The one on his right leg then got his full attention and he greatly enlarged it. In August, 2019, his custom made Bumas muzzle arrived and it stabilized, but it didn't heal. Whenever he got a chance, he'd rip off the bandages and start licking it. Even when training, if I didn't watch him for a few seconds, he'd start licking his leg.
I finally got results after July, 2020. He got another shot of Vetalog and a prescription for Gabapentin. A week or so later, I was at the sheep farm and was talking with the farmer about my frustrations with AJ. He gave me a package of dermal dressing he uses for sheep. Those dressings are also used for humans with bedsore ulcers. Every day I'd change the dressing by washing the granuloma with witch hazel, let it dry, put on a dressing and wrap it with 2" Vetwrap. AJ initially would pull the dressing off if it stuck out from under the bandage, but soon left it alone. He quickly got to the point he wouldn't chew off the bandage and I started trusting him without the muzzle when I couldn't always watch him.
Below are comparison photos. The top is sometime in July and below it is a few days ago. This is the difference in about two and a half months.
The downside is the Gabapentin affected AJ. I didn't notice any change in Obedience. But he stopped qualifying in Barn Hunt and in early September, walked over rats in a trial without noticing them. Driving home, I was thinking about what changed him from an aggressive ratter to being so passive. I realized it was the Gabapentin, so I took him off it immediately. It did it's job for two months, though, and gave him a chance to heal.
AJ was bunny hopping from an unknown cause in March, 2019. It went away after he was isolated from the other dogs and kept quiet. However, he developed licking granulomas out of boredom. I tried the usual things - bitter sprays, cones, bandages - to no avail. In fact, the cone made them worse because he'd rub the edge of the cone on the granulomas and they'd be bloody in the morning when I let him out of his cage.
The ones on his left leg responded to Vetalog injections and Tresaderm. The one on his right leg then got his full attention and he greatly enlarged it. In August, 2019, his custom made Bumas muzzle arrived and it stabilized, but it didn't heal. Whenever he got a chance, he'd rip off the bandages and start licking it. Even when training, if I didn't watch him for a few seconds, he'd start licking his leg.
I finally got results after July, 2020. He got another shot of Vetalog and a prescription for Gabapentin. A week or so later, I was at the sheep farm and was talking with the farmer about my frustrations with AJ. He gave me a package of dermal dressing he uses for sheep. Those dressings are also used for humans with bedsore ulcers. Every day I'd change the dressing by washing the granuloma with witch hazel, let it dry, put on a dressing and wrap it with 2" Vetwrap. AJ initially would pull the dressing off if it stuck out from under the bandage, but soon left it alone. He quickly got to the point he wouldn't chew off the bandage and I started trusting him without the muzzle when I couldn't always watch him.
Below are comparison photos. The top is sometime in July and below it is a few days ago. This is the difference in about two and a half months.
The downside is the Gabapentin affected AJ. I didn't notice any change in Obedience. But he stopped qualifying in Barn Hunt and in early September, walked over rats in a trial without noticing them. Driving home, I was thinking about what changed him from an aggressive ratter to being so passive. I realized it was the Gabapentin, so I took him off it immediately. It did it's job for two months, though, and gave him a chance to heal.