A worm by any other name is still a worm...right?

**Hazardous to Your Lunch Plans. Only read if you have an iron stomach.**
(Due to comments submitted by my cousin, I thought it might be prudent to add the warning for those who have queasy stomachs.)

Well, according to the vet's office...no. lol I've been looking after one of my brother's kennel pups, whom I've taken to calling Molly. (I figure if she's going to respond to something, Molly is better than "You little stinker".) Technically, her name will be whatever her new owners call her, but Molly will suffice for now. I took her because, at 8-10 weeks, she needed to start the process of housetraining if there's to be any hope of her successfully becoming a house pet. We've been having issues...actually, lots of issues...with indoor pottying. She just doesn't quite get it that she needs to HOLD her pee til we get outside. There are nights where she has to "go" every 5 minutes. *sigh* Usually there isn't even a sign that she has to go, but...I have seen a few encouraging signs, such as her running to the door and just looking at me. I tend to take both of the dogs out at that point otherwise I run the risk of Sadie the Houdini escaping the house. I can trust Molly to run loose (thus far, although she's been getting a little too close to the road for my comfort during her tail-on-fire sprints), but Sadie...oh no...she's a go-getter and the minute she senses freedom...zoom! She's out the door and running.

Anyhow, I had noticed last week during an oops, I-messed-in-the-living-room episode that Molly's stools looked a little weird. I couldn't recall at any point where I had eaten rice and dropped any...definitely not as much that I saw in the stool. I considered that it might be worms, but none of it was moving so I decided to keep an eye out for further signs before calling the vet. (I did call my brother to warn him that it was a possibility.) A week went by...nothing and then it was Labor Day weekend and the vet's office is closed for the holidays...there they were. Nasty little wiggly things....ewww! I still get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it. I left a message for the vet on Monday requesting that they call me back with information. Tuesday passed by and nada. So I called again today and hit the jackpot. They informed me that my description indicated that the pup had tapeworms. Ok, so I'm thinking meds for Molly, Sadie, possibly Maia, depending on her exposure and myself (animals can transmit worms to humans...ewww, I know). I didn't know how they could be transferred, but I wasn't taking any chances. If they licked me, it got washed with soap and water very quickly. lol However, the vet's office said tapeworms were not transferable between animals. They could only be acquired from a flea bite and/or eating on a dead animal. Hallelujah! I would only have to medicate the pup. I called my bro to let inform of this critical piece of information so he could check his other dogs (just in case - can't be too careful in the breeding/kennel business). Personally, I suspect she was munching on a carcass in the backyard. The neighbor cats are always in my yard so who knows what gets dragged up here. Sadie vomited "dead animal" smelling stuff twice this weekend (on the new sofa - ick!) so I'm pretty certain that's the source. I'm watching Sadie pretty carefully so hopefully she won't develop worms too.

Now, because I wouldn't be anywhere in the vicinity of my vet's office within the next week (have wedding obligations to fulfill in my role of only-bridesmaid-within-1600-miles-of-the-bride - I enjoy it though), I asked if the vet could fax a prescription to a vet's office closer to my work. They said any vet should give it to me if I asked. Ha! Yeah right! The vet office I stopped at gave me a lot of attitude. So, I did a partial Pollyanna thing and said "Oh, my vet said it shouldn't be a problem." Push came to shove, they called my vet's office to confirm, then gave me the medication. Now, since I got my way I decided to go ahead and get some dog food and puppy biscuits while there. Also, I've been wanting to get Maia declawed so I made an appointment for her in November. By the time I left I was being treated a little better. I don't know yet if I'll keep the declaw appointment but...we won't tell them that quite yet.

Molly has since been given the first of two dosages of medication for her tapeworms. She'll get the 2nd one in two weeks, but I'm a little leery of what I'll find in her stools over the coming week. I can handle dead worms, but please...don't let them be moving....*shudder* Ewww!