Saturday, February 5, 2011

Tales of a Dogsitter – Preparation H or Witch Hazel?






“Witch hazel helps to shrink and contract blood vessels back to normal size, hence its use as the active ingredient in many Hemorrhoid medications.”


I have to preference this with a story about an earlier email I received. I mentioned to my friend in Sedona that my next chronicle was going to be about hemorrhoid maintenance. She emailed me that when she saw the chronicle “Tightass” she was sure I was referring to having to insert hemorrhoid meds into the butt of a client dog. It wasn’t until she started reading “tightass” that she realized it was a totally unrelated story. When I read her email describing her first impression I was laughing so hard that my roommate even asked me what was so funny. You are a hoot, KK. Thanks for making me laugh so hard. And now. . . for the rest of the story, the hemorrhoid one that is. . . . Incidentally, no insertion was necessary. ☺

Winston, an adorable mini-schnauzer was dropped off at Tails-by-the-Bay for a long weekend stay. Packed in his overnight bag along with his special diet of chicken, rice & peas and with his gourmet cereal treats, I noticed a bottle of witch hazel with cotton balls. Hmmm. . . interesting.

The owners explained that Winston had recently been taken to the vet for a little problem he was having, and they were advised to use witch hazel or Preparation H on cotton balls. They opted to try the witch hazel treatment first. Ahhh, so he has a hemorrhoid? Something like that, they said.

They politely asked if I could monitor this hemorrhoid and maybe, just maybe. . . . if I didn’t mind, . . could I put some witch hazel on the hemorrhoid a couple times a day??? Well sure, I mean -- why not? We aim to please here at TBTB. Tell me what exactly needs to be done?

They said Winston didn’t mind the treatment at all; in fact he really liked the extra attention. All I had to do was soak the cotton ball with the witch hazel and then rub it directly onto his anus. Ah, really? Supposedly that would make him strain a little and the hemmoride would pop right out, making it easy to massage. Well, OK, sounds easy enough.

I didn’t know quite what to expect from Winston, but I put him on the table before bed, got out the witch hazel, soaked a cotton ball and started the process by lifting his stubby little tail and applying it to the area in question. No problem, so far so good. He didn’t move away, he patiently waited as I completed the task and even strained a little. I couldn’t see anything but apparently what I was doing worked. Over the next few days Winston and I practiced hemorrhoid maintenance at least twice a day. The parents were right, he did like it and it was no problem at all. I'm sure he even told them he truly enjoyed the extra Winnie attention!

After Winston went home, I had to laugh because I knew this was another tale for the dogsitter. Never a dull moment at TBTB Dog Camp, but definitely some challenging ones! It’s all about learning “the way of the dog.”

Woof! Woof!

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