Parasites

Jack

It’s that time of year when we all have to give mom our poop. She collects it in little jars and puts our name on the jar. She makes it sound real fancy by saying she’s collecting a fecal sample. We all know it’s just a jar of poop.

She takes our poop to Dr. Brad to see if we have any hitchhikers in our bellies. Two years ago Codie and I got sick with giardia. We went to the emergency vet and both got IV fluids. Codie had to stay overnight because she was real weak.

Tess and I have been clean for the last year but this year Jack has little one cell critters swimming in his gut. Dr. Brad said Jack has coccidia. We didn’t know because Jack seems just fine and doesn’t have any symptoms.

Since Jack has a dry eye condition he can’t take the usual medicine to kill the coccidia. Dr. Brad knew of some medicine that will kill the bugs but not hurt Jack’s eyes. He had to order it from a compounding pharmacy in Arizona. I don’t remember the name but we’ll get it next week so I can bark about it then.

Here’s the funny thing. Dr. Brad told mom that Jack had caecal worms in his gut. They come from chickens and it proves that Jack has a taste for chicken poop. Dr. Brad said it’s no big deal for Jack because the worms don’t live in dogs, but it means our chickens have worms.

In case you haven’t guessed, this means lots of work for mom and dad. The chickens have to be wormed, Jack has to be treated, then Jack has to poop in the bottle again. Finally Tess and I have to give mom another poop sample to prove we didn’t get anything from Jack. If everything works out right all the worms and one cell critters will be long gone. Fun, huh. Glad all I have to do is keep on pooping. Gotta run!

Not Fair!

Ash

Betcha thought I wasn’t going to get my bark done today. I know it’s late in the day, but it took me this long to decide what to bark about.

It was a toss up between chicken stories and us dogs getting mad about mom and her motorcycle.

I’ll get to the chickens on another day. But since mom rode off and left us barking, Tess and Jack wanted me to tell everyone how left out we felt.

Mom has loved motorcycles since she was little. She got her first motorcycle when she was done with college. She bought it from some guy and then had to call her friend to ride it home for her because she didn’t know how to drive it.

Over the years mom rode lots of motorcycles. Her favorite is her old BMW she’s had for thirty years. She says it’s as smooth as a sewing machine when it’s tuned up right.

Most of the time mom drives the car so she can take us with her. But today she said the sunlight was perfect for an afternoon ride. So she asked dad to watch us and off she went by herself on her motorcycle.

Us dogs were awful mad that she would leave us. We carried on something terrible. Tess barked, Jack wailed and I howled. Mom looked at us in disbelief and then started laughing. She said if we kept it up she might not come home in time for our dinner. That really got to us so we complained even louder.

Mom came home about two hours later. None of us told her that as soon as she was out of sight we went and took a nice nap. We wanted her to feel guilty so she wouldn’t leave us again, but dad ratted us out. I hope it snows soon so mom can’t ride her motorcycle. Either that or she’ll have to get a sidecar and take us with her.

Anyway, we were plenty mad and we want everyone to know how badly we were treated. She better stay home with us tomorrow!

Jesse

Jesse

Since 1978 mom has always had an Australian Shepherd watching over her. It started with Jesse and continues with me today.

Jesse was mom’s first dog. There were family dogs when she was a kid, but Jesse was truly her dog. Oh boy was he ever.

Jess was the kind of dog who didn’t trust you until he got to know you. Once you were his friend, he’d give his life for you.

Mom and Jess used to travel together. When it was time for lunch she’d order some burgers and they’d sit on the curb and share.

I told you about the silly pet tricks she taught Jess. They were so tight they used to do everything together. If mom played softball, Jess was in the outfield with her. Time to go swimming, Jess thought so too.

One time mom was going backpacking with some friends and Jess had to stay home. The car was packed and everyone was ready to go. Mom couldn’t find Jess. She called and whistled and looked everywhere for him.

Finally she told her friends to go without her. She wouldn’t leave unless she found Jess. As she was taking her backpack out of the car she saw a speck of white. In the very back of the trunk nestled between the tents and gear, Jess had hidden himself so he could go too.

Jess reluctantly got out of the trunk. Mom was laughing and crying at the same time. She almost didn’t go on the trip because it was so hard to leave Jess behind.

Jess even went on the airplane with mom. He went to Illinois when mom’s dad was real sick and he went to a family reunion in Texas. That’s worth a bunch of stories. So stay tuned. Keep on reading my barks. I promised one a day for all September and I will keep my word. See ya!