THE SKINNY ON SUMMER & SKIN

I’m always surprised at how much humans and dogs have in common. For example, humans wear dog tags; dogs wear dog tags. How cool is that? Did you know that humans and dogs both have skin problems? Seriously, what are the odds? It’s true though and Jet, my foster mom, says it is essential for humans and dogs to take care of their skin.

When Jet rescued me, no one would give me a hug. I had no hair. It fell out because of a certain type of mange called Demodicosis. My skin was brilliant red and hurt all the time. If you haven’t seen this type of affliction (word of the day), here’s a photo of a little guy with Demodicosis:

PetPlace.com explains Demodicosis as red mange or "demodex". It’s a common skin disease of dogs caused by a microscopic mite called demodex canis. These mites are part of the normal flora of the skin, and are present in small numbers, so the disease is not contagious. As soon as Jet found this out, she hugged me a lot. I can’t tell you how good it felt to be loved on after living on the streets for so long.

Red mange is usually caused because a dog has either been ill, under a great deal of stress or recently experienced a stressful event. I can honestly tell you that living on the streets was very stressful.

Now, my fur is back and I’m so happy and healthy. First, the vet gave Jet some very special medicated shampoo for me. In one treatment, I was a new dog. The pain, swelling and redness virtually disappeared. The other treatment can take longer (months sometimes) but at least the discomfort was gone and my hair started growing back. (Take a look at my new fur in the photo below.)

Now lets talk about human skin problems. There’s this pinkish stuff called Rosacea that some of your parents may have to deal with, there’s also red skin from burns and brown spots from age. – Hard to believe humans can have all these colors on one body.

Jet says that most humans can protect or prevent these problems with special treatments and good sunscreen EVERY day, all day. She says this is REALLY important year round but humans must be especially careful in the summer when they spend more time outdoors. My foster mom is also pretty keen on a magical cream she discovered called Recovery Cream by Hanna Isul.

http://www.hannaisul.com/ec/detail.php?pid=5&db_cid=0&db_ctname=&db_ccname=&db_csname=&page=1

Never in her life has she found anything with such power to keep skin healthier and younger. Jet says she wished she owned stock in the cream company. I thought stock was for ranches where horses live so I’m a little confused by her statement but since she has such good skin, the sunscreen and recovery cream she uses must really be good.

This brings me to the lesson of the day… We appreciate it when humans take care of our skin. And, we get more hugs when you do and nothing is better than a hug from someone who loves you. On the other hand, humans need to take better care of their own skin so both dog and parent can look great and be healthy together.

Okay, here’s the question of the day from Etch who asked: I want to be a famous writer like you. I’m a gifted poet (see evidence below) and I was wondering if you could advise me on how to perhaps get my own column or publish my first book. Intellectually, I’m smarter than most of my kind so I find humans much more interesting. I’m sure you understand. Therefore my targeted reader will be humans, not dogs. One of my best poems below… Please advise at your earliest convenience.

Roses are red.
Violets are blue
Dogs really dig me
I know you will too.

Dear Etch:

Since you have such an amazing capacity to learn and use big words, I have a new one for you: narcissist. I think that’s all I’m going to say in response to your note. As for your poem, my foster mom Jet has always been loving but blunt. I’ll give it a try but forgive me if I don’t quite measure up to Jet’s standards. Okay, here it goes: “You have no talent.”


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