Post Grooming Experience

Question
My Maltese had several mats, so we unfortunately resorted to shaving her to start over. It has been four days and she is still acting very uncomfortable.  She will only take a few steps before sitting down and biting at her butt. She is at the point now where she panics if she has to walk without being able to sit down on some type of cloth/blanket.  She seems to be extremely uncomfortable but her skin does not look irritated or red. The vet said he didn't notice any major problems and gave her a cortisone shot yesterday.  That has yet to help.  Any ideas what could have happened?


Answer
It could be that she was shaved just a tish too short around her vulva or anal area... or up onto her tail. You might try putting something like baby powder, aloe gel, or zinc oxide cream (diaper rash cream) on those areas if she doesn't try to lick it off as you don't want her ingesting any of it.

Contact the groomer and let him/her know what has happened. They need to know that she was shaved too short; some dogs are much more sensitive to close shaving than others, and you want to make sure that they groom her with a longer blade in the future.