Hi all,
Well, I wasn't looking forward to the bath thing. Milo is extremely squirmy to begin with, but I was left no choice, as he still has giardia, and I don't think any groomer would take him, nor do I blame them. Then I sort of freaked out when I caught him playing with a little bit of his feces in his bed after he had pooped on his potty, but some leftover stuff must have stuck to his butt and fallen into his bed when he jumped in. I don't remember exactly, but I think I caught him licking it or something, I almost fainted LOL (not really, but almost
)
I'm not sure if he has been doing this and that is why his giardia is not clearing up, (he might be reinfecting himself) or if this is the first time. This is definitely the first time I saw him do this. I'm hoping this was a one time only thing and he was playing with it and licking it out of curiosity.
Nonetheless, bath time needed to happen and it did not go well. I tried so hard to be very gentle, poured luke warm water gently on him from a cup and talked softly to him, gave him treats, tried to cut out mats that were just too tangled, etc. He screamed the whole time. He would not keep still for one second, tried to jump out of the sink, and screamed as if I were tearing him limb from limb. I tried to stop for a while but he was wet and full of soap, and he was shivering and I didn't want him to catch pneumonia.
To make it short-it was a living nightmare!!! For both of us. I never ever got to his tangled knotted belly hair, and ended up cutting out chunks of mats on his back and front legs and underarms that I probably could have gotten out gently, if he would have held still. I could have teased them out without any trauma whatsoever, but his constant jumping around and wildness made it impossible and ended up making it painful i'm sure- because he was pulling in the other direction.
We stopped for awhile, I gave him treats, but he was not having it. I'm just not sure what I did wrong. It was so traumatic, I never want to bathe or brush him again. The slightest tug or pull on the hair if the brush or comb meets a knot-- he just jumps to high heaven, (and I know many time there was no pain at all, as I never even put any pressure on the brush at all) and I never even pulled on the tangle, the comb or slicker just meets the tangle and it's over for him! I can't hold it at the root to brush out with the slicker or pin brush because he won't hold still. We are both still recovering. I'm worried this is going to be a BIG problem.
