Lucy, our dog, has heart worms.
We found this out, ironically, when we took her in to get her started on heart worm preventatives.
The vet thinks that she probably had very early stages of them, when we adopted her last Thanksgiving.
Given how far along her case was, it’s either this, or she was bitten by the VERY FIRST mosquito of the year, who coincidentally had whatever it is they have that can spread heart worms.
Anyhow –
The treatment for heart worms is pretty simple, really.
Here’s some poison, hopefully enough to kill the worms without harming the dog.
See you in four weeks or so for another dose, keep your dog from getting excited until then.
The last part’s very important. As the worms die off, you want to make sure that the dog doesn’t get too excited, too often, and run increased risk of worms entering blood stream, causing major problems.
Not only is it very important, it’s damn near impossible to achieve.
She’s a puppy. Puppies are pretty excitable….
She’s a big fan of squirrels, rabbits, other dogs, my neighbor, and the world’s full of these things.
It’s become a joke with us, upon returning from her short walks, short CALM walks, to talk about the walk in terms of the distractions and such that awaited us.
How was the walk?
Rabbit in the alley, and the guy was out in his yard with the beagle again.
Or
Two squirrels, and a cat in a picture window.
You get it.
The walk to beat, the one WAY out in front of all other walks, consisted of :
A rabbit
Two different dogs
A feral cat
And my neighbor, one of Lucy’s favorite humans, stopping in the middle of the road to chat with me as she drove past.
All within a block of our house.
It became so ridiculous that I had to laugh.
I honestly didn’t think that this walk could be beaten, in terms of stuff that can excite my dog to an unhealthy level. I mean, c’mon!!!
Until last night.
Until we stepped outside, and saw the guy roller-blading with THREE BIG FREAKIN’ DOGS ON LEASHES, running in front of him.
IS HE INSANE?
He stops at the corner, opposite us, and is catching his breath, petting the dogs, etc.
Lucy’s going nuts.
I drag her around the corner, and keep her walking, while turning around repeatedly to see what direction this guy’s going to go.
Duh. Of COURSE he chose to cross the street, and have the dogs run right down the middle of the road, past us. And OF COURSE they see Lucy, and start to pull him toward us, before he could correct them.
And OF COURSE Lucy’s lunging and straining at her leash, and barking, and whining.
Lucy, of course, is fine. No harm befell her from this outburst.
And the bar has been raised, possibly to a point that is truly impossible to beat.
