Small dogs

About a week ago (perhaps two?) we got a letter from the dog-licensing bureau, that Gracie was due to have her license renewed, and reminded us that she'd need proof of her rabies shot.

So -We scheduled an appointment for Friday, yesterday, at 10:30 with her Veterinarian, Dr. Kyle to give her the shot.

As an afterthought, we brought Gracie's folder with us.

This folder has her shot record, copies of veterinarian visits, and anything else that needed recording.

For Ex: Paul had written notes about times when she'd been bitten by a tick.

Well, as we drove to the Vet's office, perhaps a 12 minute trip, Gracie sat on my lap.

And low and behold I found two ticks attached to her. There was one attached: just about an inch above her eye - hiding in her fur, (I told Paul about that one, and he tried to see it while driving. Not a good idea. I didn't mention the second which was on her belly. Til we got there.)

We couldn't have been going anywhere else that would have befitted
the situation more, and we congratulated each other on the good timing.

We got to there, weighed her - exactly 5 pounds! Yeah! She gained an ounce or two!

The receptionist wanted to know the reason we made the appointment. Rabies shot?
She said Gracie didn't need it - she'd had one in June. Good for three years. Oh? We checked her file, and sure enough -there was her tag was indeed taped to the inside of her folder.

You're thinking - why wasn't it on her regular collar? The reason: it was too big and cumbersome for her small neck.

Good heavens. As they say - short-term memory is the first to go! But - good timing for tick-removal!

Dr. Kyle, is a young Vet. And very gentle, knowledgeable, positive. He talked at great length about ticks, and the high prevalence of lyme disease in this area (Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York State) for dogs and people.

He would remove the ticks and then he wanted to give Gracie a heart-worm blood test, because one section of the test shows whether a dog has developed anti-bodies for lyme disease. Some dogs do develop the anti-bodies and some don't. If she did, she would only get some antibiotics, if she hadn't developed them, he would vaccinate her with a new serum to protect her. So we agreed.

He took her into what he called their "hospital section" and got the blood sample. And removed the ticks.

We waited a short time in the waiting room for the test results. It was negative.

So - she didn't produce the needed antibodies. We gave him permission to innoculate her.

He also suggested medication to prevent ticks from attaching. Gracie has had bad reactions to flea medication put on her neck, which was how this medication needed to be applied. Obviously, we didn't want to go that route if it was at all possible. So he suggested a tick collar, which we got for her. Even being the smallest - it was 25 inches. (The majority was cut off, of course.)

On the way home, Gracie became lethargic. And when we got home, I thought she'd yelped when the site of her stomach tick was accidently touched. BUT - Paul was also checking the smoke/gas alarms and putting new batteries in them, and that noise was similar to her yelp, so I made the assumption that what I heard was the coincidental noise. She was trembling. Was she upset about the alarm? BUT even after the alarms were fixed she kept trembling -She was trembling last night and this morning also. Her tail was completely uncurled. She was so sad and unhappy.

We took the tick collar off her this morning, and waited to see if that was her problem. She continued being uncomfortable. And she yelped again. We called the vet. Too late. They were closed. We called their emergency number and this Vet said it was okay to give her some pediatric benadryl.

To make a long story short. She's slowly acting better on her own. We haven't given her the benedryl yet, but it's here in case she needs it. Also - it's recommended for when she flies with us in December so she'll sleep and not bother the passengers around us.

When little dogs get sick, it's hard to ignore the symptoms because there's a very small window of time when they can get very sick.