Worms

Yesterday we learned about worms. When we first got Emme and took her to the vet’s, she saw an associate of Dr. Howard, a woman vet whose name we didn’t learn. Because Emme had just been wormed by the breeder before we picked her up, the vet gave us a second dose of worm medicine to give to Emme in two weeks. She said that all puppies are born with worms (who knew) and that they worm them every two weeks until they are 16 weeks old. When we returned for Emme’s puppy shot at the end of the month, we saw Dr. Howard and he didn’t say anything about worming. Later I wondered if it was an oversight and if I needed to pick up worm medicine to give to Emme before her next visit to the vet’s at the end of the month. I called the office yesterday and talked to Dr. Howard. He said to bring in a stool sample to test for worms and if she did not have any, no worm medicine would be necessary. So Ken went outside to the Buehler’s bag that held the latest deposits and retrieved one little doodle. He put it in a plastic and I took it to the vet’s. After a 10 minute “flotation” test (I don’t think I want to know what they were floating) we found out that Emme did not have worms present so no more medicine was necessary. I like this approach. Worm medicine must be poison in some way if it kills the worms, so I like not putting it in Emme’s system if it is not necessary.

Emme and Rudy had a better day yesterday, less contention over toys. Or maybe I was just more patient. There were actually a few times in the afternoon and evening, when each was laying quietly on the carpet while Ken and I were reading. That didn’t last too long, but it is a beginning.