[Booth]

Hello!

I just rescued a shorthair named Snow (a name change is pending) from a house where she was bought for some spoiled kids. The kids lost interest, and Snow, 1.5 year old sow, is infested with mites. She's lost a lot of hair and has some pretty good scabs.

I took her to my great vet Saturday and she said Snow would be OK eventually, gave her a shot, gave me some cortizone/steroid spray for the itching, cut her obscenely long nails, and is having me come back Aug. 4 for the second shot. Everything else is fine: her weight is good, teeth are good, gut and heart sounds are good.

We've been spraying her down with the stuff we got, and she does seem to be chewing and scratching less. NOW, I've already placed a call to my vet this morning, but she hasn't called me back yet, and I thought you all could help.

This morning, when I woke up, Snow had chewed a huge bloody bare spot in her rump. It's probably 1.5' long by 1' wide.
* Should I get her a cone, like for dogs, or should I get her some kind of body sock like Peter Gurney suggests, and how would I make it?
* Can I spray the bloody spot to stop the itching?
* Can I or should I apply Neosporin to prevent an infection?
* Is this going to get better? Should the mites be dying off by now, and this will subside?
* Is she still biting because of itching, but the guilty mites are dying, or even out of force of habit?

If my good vet (45 minutes away) doesn't call back during early afternoon hours, I'm going to take her to the emergency vet (around the corner). But, if you have ANY advice, I'd LOVE to hear it.

Thanks from Snow!