Poor Levi

 Poor Levi started licking his hind paw a little obsessively.  I checked it out and he seemed to have a tiny abscess in between two of his paw pads.  The next day he had about licked the bottom right off his pads in his attempts to make it feel better.  I was worried about my poor doggie, so off we went to the vet.

They concurred.  A tiny abscess.  But they didn't do anything. I'd kind of thought they might lance it to relieve the pressure or something, but nope.  Didn't even wash the over-licked appendage. Just gave topical antibiotic, oral antibiotic and an oral anti-itch pill.  And a cone of shame.  Apparently the one we bought back when he was a mere 6 months old was no longer big enough to fit his burly neck.

Having a good time at the vet office.

Not so fun now.  He's hoping the door will open and he can escape. 

Fitted for his cone. 

And feeling quite depressed about the entire situation.

And now, some follow up.  The cone was demolished in under 3 hours.  Not because Levi even tried to break it, it was just that cheap and crappy. It disintegrated on contact when he ran into the side of his kennel.   

He licked his paw for the next two days and I think the abscess did it's thing, and he's been licking less and less.  He hasn't limped at all the last 2 days, and we took him on his usual Sunday walk and he was delighted.  No limping or discomfort at all. Yay!