Wednesday 30 July 2008

The Wriggling, Squiggling Worm Inside Devours From The Inside Out

Warning: This post is nasty. It's gross and horrible and if you're eating (or planning to eat soon) I recommend that you not read it. Seriously.

Raise your hand if you're a worm-free puppy!

I took Stella to the vet last night. I walked her there so that when we arrived she'd be tired and sweet. It didn't work. That was the first lesson of the night: Stella does not tire. Ever. The second lesson? When your vet mumbles something, instead of saying "uh, okay!", ASK HIM TO REPEAT HIMSELF. Otherwise, he might tell you to hold on to her and when you pull her close to you, he might give you a funny look (warning sign!) Then, he might put TWO FINGERS in her bum and EXPRESS HER ANAL GLANDS. Expressing anal glands is messy. You might be wearing a fleece hoodie and you might get anal gland juice all over it, making you want to throw said fleece hoodie out because, really - will it ever feel clean enough to wear again?

So he took a look at her poop and decided that she's not wormy right now but she does need to take de-worming medication. His reasoning is that because we take her to the dog park a lot, she's exposed to worms and needs the medication yearly to keep her healthy. I'm pretty sure the real reason is that he wants me to spend NINETY FREAKING DOLLARS every year on FIVE MEASLY PILLS.

Stella and I walked home in the rain, both feeling very sorry for ourselves. Stella was so upset that she ninja-death-rolled a mud puddle. And then I cried.

After her bath, Stella's cone went back on. She's not wormy but she does really like to lick her bum. She's got to wear the cone for a few days so her ass-wound has time to dry up and heal. She is not impressed by the situation.


I gave her the dewormy pills in some peanut butter and thought that was the end of it.

I went to bed early last night. Stella came with me because she was still upset about the cone situation. Normally she sleeps in her crate beside our bed but when she's upset I let her sleep with us. I am a sucker like that. When she's really upset, she likes to burrow down under the covers and sleep on my feet. So she's curled up on my feet (cone and all) and I'm drifting off to sleep when all of a sudden I feel something wet and nasty on my legs. Stella threw up in my bed. She threw up a lot. In my bed. On my legs. I put her in her crate, strip the bed, put the sheets in the washing machine with pretty much half a bottle of Nature's Miracle, make the bed, and crawl back in. At this point I will still manage 7 hours of sleep before I have to get up for work. But Stella's having none of it. She starts to puke in her crate. Shawn takes her outside and she has some disastrous results from her other end. We put her back in her (now clean) crate but by the time she was finished being ill it was 1:30 in the morning. Which means that I managed a whole 5 hours of sleep last night and my melty head? SO MUCH MORE MELTY THAN YESTERDAY.

I called the vet this morning and he said that as long as the puking started more than 3 hours after she took the pills (it did), the medication did get into her bloodstream and will be effective and yes, we do have to repeat this in 10 days. He also said that this reaction isn't uncommon in puppies, which would have been helpful to know yesterday when I freaking asked if there was any side effects. If I had known that there was a possibility of vomit, I wouldn't have effing slept with her IN MY BED.

Um, please can you take this cone off me? Please?

18 comments:

  1. Aw poor Stella! (poor you too!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. aw stella. glad she's doing better.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad you had that warning at the beginning! I was just finishing up my lunch, so I'm glad I waited to read. :) Hope these pills don't have the same effect on Stella the next time. Poor little thing. She looks so cute in the cone, though!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh poor Stella! Poor you, too!

    A pearl of wisdom that I learned the hard way: sometimes dogs get "stomach issues" after stressful events like going to the vet or being boarded. Sometimes these "stomach issues" happen on your new effing comforter! (But I'm not bitter...) ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awwww, sick Stella is so sad. But, how can you ever be mad at a face like that? Even if it is 1:30 in the morning???!!! If I were in your shoes, I'd end up taking it out on my fiance because I just couldn't get mad at the puppy. How bad is that?!

    ReplyDelete
  6. That night does not sound fun. I hope Stella is feeling better. And i hope you have at least 8 hours of sleep tonight!

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's a good thing Stella's so cute, hey?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jamie: I know, right? I am having such a pity party for myself today.

    Katelin: Thanks! I'm glad too. I hate it when she's crying.

    Sharon: I'm glad I went back and posted a warning! I wouldn't have wanted to read that post while eating :)

    Jane: I will definitely remember that for next time.

    Nilsa: I'm not going to lie - by the time we finally went to bed (the last time) we weren't speaking to each other.

    Lauren: I am seriously going to bed at 9pm tonight. I'm shooting for 10 hours sleep.

    Angella: I know!! Even when she was puking out one end and pooping out the other I couldn't be upset with her because she was looking at me with her sad eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh no!!! Poor Stella and poor mommy and daddy!!! Is she going to throw up like that with the second dose too???

    ReplyDelete
  10. Whoa. WHOA. Whoa.

    You just outdid all my nasty puppy posts about excrement. INCLUDING my post about that time Oprah gave me an unnatural obsessive fear of having worms, leading me to slip worm medication into the beverages of my loved ones.

    ReplyDelete
  11. we take our doggies to the groomer - they do that anal glands thing. i want no part of that. ever.

    and nature's miracle is truly a miracle.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Poor baby! Hope she's back to butt-licking enthusiasm soon.

    ReplyDelete
  13. aww i'm so sorry to hear puppy isn't feeling so hot. as you know, i can commiserate!

    also, anal gland expression. so not my favorite thing.

    and the creators of nature's miracle need to thank all puppy owners for their millions.

    ReplyDelete
  14. aww! but she's just so flippin cute... it's hard to realllly be upset, no? hope she's better!

    ReplyDelete
  15. oohhh poor puppy!!! but still the cutest puppy EVER!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. ahhh!!!! your stella is a puggle like my b!!!! and b does the same thing too! he burrows under the covers and sleeps there, usually on top of my legs, at the foot of the bed. its hilarious.

    i'm so happy to know that b isn't the only one that does that.

    just found your blog, and i heart. it. hillary with two ll's :)

    xo, bb

    ReplyDelete
  17. Poor little girl. And poor little Stella :)

    The double-end explosions are always the most lovely. Fidge had to wear her cone for a LONG time and she did her best puking while wearing the cone. I suppose it's similar to a hamster peeing while running around the house in one of those ball things. Hygenic to the Nth....

    I hope she's now on the mend and that she doesn't have to get anything expressed in the anal area again anytime soon.

    ReplyDelete