I Love You. Inside & Out.

Hello!  It has been a long month away from blogging.  What can I say, I have no excuses.  Life gets busy, but I'm guessing most people can say that for the last couple of weeks.  Anyhew...

Something that has taken a lot of our time this last month is our furry little marshmallow, Luna.  It feels like an audition in getting ready to be parents (no, no news like that, we'll be ready when we're ready!), so much time and energy (mental and physical).  It has been awhile since I've had a dog, and Laura has never had one, so we are a little rusty on what we are supposed to be doing.  Which means that we are due for a scare or two.... or many more than that.

The first week of having Luna she was very picky about her eating and drinking.  On Saturday, around 6PM, it had been about 24 hours of no eating and no drinking.  Kinda scary, right?  So, if we wanted her to see a vet, it was going to have to be a 24 hour emergency vet.  Opa!

Waiting rooms are not fun.  Not for people, not for pets.  I don't think doctors, nurses, vets, clowns, professional wrestlers, ents (Peter, this is who I would be from Lord of the Rings) or anyone else really likes a waiting room.  I shared the room with a family with four little kids are their gigantic dog.  After waiting about four hours, they got to go in.  The diagnosis was quick, and it was only a few minutes before all of the children could be heard on the other side of the locked door.  "I don't want her to die!!!  Why would you do this!?!?"

With a stomach full of knots and sympathy, Luna and I listened to this for about 45 minutes.  Sorry kids.  But finally, it was our turn.  Luna is such a mellow dog.  They took her temperature (rectally); her eyes widened, but she didn't even flinch.  They decided to do some x-rays and blood work to make sure that everything was going okay on the inside.

So, they found nothing.  Actually, that isn't true.  They discovered that her stomach and bladder were empty, and that she is gassy (Suzy, cue the fart putty).  Great.  Thank you very much super expensive emergency vet.  We got home after 1AM and she started eating and drinking immediately after 7 hours at the vet.  Victory?

Two days later, Monday, she had a little blood in her poop.  Laura called the vet that we haven't been to yet, and we dropped off a stool sample.  Turns out she had hookworms. 

We took her into the vet so she could be seen and get her medicine.  She also had an ear infection.  Two weeks of two different sets of drops in the ears twice a day.  Victory?

Our next surprise was that almost every time she went outside, we would find at least one tick on her.  Let me clarify... deer tick (Kate, does this make you miss Michigan?).

So, we started the debate of putting her on a tick protective product or not.  The place we got her from is terrific, but they are very against these products (and let you know about it).  With a whole host of horror stories about introducing toxic chemicals to your pooch and home, we were left weary about what the right decision was.  With days and hours of research and deliberation, we finally decided to use a  product prescribed by her vet.  We live in a very high density deer tick area, and almost everyone we talk to here has dealt with Lyme in their family (or at least that's how it seems).  We felt the benefits outweighed the risk, at least in our tick-phobic family.  If you disagree with this decision please don't tell me... this was a hard choice, but it has been made!

Through all the stress, struggles, and hard work, I know we wouldn't change a thing about our time with Luna Moonshadow. We deeply love our little, fuzzy, foxy-faced pooch.  She is healthy, we are happy, and we look forward to the challenges and joys or tomorrow.