Kemah has a super-awesome vet in Austin. She really understood our needs to gather supplies for worst-case-scenarios while out at sea or in remote anchorages. She worked with us to put together a basic – and comprehensive – medical kit for our salty dog focusing on antibiotics, anti-itch, anti-anxiety and re-hydration.

We have been very fortunate that K hasn’t used much from his kit, but we’re sure glad he’s had the following items, you know, just in case:

• Heartguard – This is a must for any dog owner on land or at sea. We use this every month to protect him from mosquito-bourn heartworms. This can be difficult to obtain without an annual test for heartworms. But, since our vet is super-great, she’s made sure we’re stocked up.
• Alprazolam – aka “Xanax”, an anti-anxiety. It’s proved useful for tropical thunderstorms, as needed.

he can be a bit of a weenie sometimes

• Cephalexin – Antibiotics we’ve used to help with some skin problems caused from a food allergy (we think)
• Tramadol – Pain relief
• Hydroxyzine – Antihistamine
• Clotrimazole – Antifungal cream
• Cerenia tablets – nausea meds for dogs
• Metronidazol – Antibiotic specifically for bacterial infections
• Prednisone – Anti-immflamatory
• Normosol-R– big bag of saline multiple electrolyte injection + needles and drips for the bag
• Vet bond – basically superglue for any clean cuts
• Oatmeal shampoo – We use this every week to 10 days, as needed to clean and condition his salty-dog skin and hair.
• Canned pumpkin – OK, so this might seem weird to have in a “medical kit” but it’s great for bulking up dog’s stools when they have diarrhea. Plus, it’s sweet, so they always want to eat it. Get some.

You might notice that missing from this list is a pest-control med. Well, that’s because Kemah does not go to shore much and because of his short-bordering-on-non-existent coat (it’s more like a windbreaker) he has never had a problem with fleas and ticks so we don’t have a need for products like Frontline. If your salty dog (or cat) does have a tendency to get pulgas or other pests, I’d recommend you bring a stash with you as it can be hard to find in the islands.

We’ve been very lucky that Kemah has not had any major health problems on board. We had read that saltwater gives dogs diarrhea – and it does – but, luckily, we haven’t had a ton of problems with that. On his first saltwater shore leave in Florida, Kemah quickly learned that saltwater tastes bad – like “blech!” shake-your-doggie-face bad! He will inevitably ingest some saltwater while swimming and his stools will be looser because of it. But, we haven’t had any major problems with that (he just goes on the bow after swimming before coming inside). Easy peesy.

Also, regarding saltwater swimming: we were concerned about the effect seawater would have on his skin given his love of daily swims. So, in the beginning, we religiously washed him off (with shampoo and fresh water) after each dip. But, after talking to other cruisers with salty dogs, and experimenting with our own (cue FrankenKemah) we’ve found that he’s fine if we don’t bathe him after a swim. We still do, however, like to rinse him with fresh water after swimming – but it’s merely my selfish strategy to keep salt-spray off our nice new cushion covers.

Finally, K did have quite a battle on board with some sort of allergy that was presenting like a skin infection. He got all scabby and then his hair started to fall out in patches 🙁

our sick little leopard

After consulting with our vet, it became clear he was having an allergic reaction to something in his environment or in his food. We treated with antibiotics for weeks and the symptoms would go away . . . only to come back again. After several months or trial and error AND moving several countries, we think we’ve finally kicked his rash with his new home-made dog food. Such.a.prince.

Interested in how K adjusted to his new life aboard? Click here to read about his this old dog learned some new tricks!

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