One Sick Pup.

It's been quite a week for all of us.

Poor Ahri is really taking advantage of her 30 day pet insurance...and thank goodness we have it.  After going to the vet in regards to my concern of her odd urinary habits, she was seen, and a urinalysis was submitted along with blood-work to rule out anything major.  As it turns out, she has two types of crystals in her urine that point to a UTI, though no bacteria was yet observed. The vet felt confident a UTI was likely the cause though, and put her on 2 weeks of amoxicillan in hopes of that clearing things up.

Little did we know, that was actually the least of her problems.  After another several days, I noticed Ahri itching uncontrollably, and saw little red bumps on her, along with little black spots. WONDERFUL.  I immediately guessed fleas, and treated her (and the other two dogs) with frontline I happily had on hand.  Fortunately, this seemed to do the trick and most itching stopped within another day or so. We also started a cleaning/sanitizing regiment that should keep them at bay. So, problems over?

Not even close.

I took Ahri to daycare, only to get a call an hour after leaving her that she had pooed, and that multiple segmented worm bits were found in her stool, indicating a likely tapeworm.  She of course needed to be removed asap from daycare, and was away from all the other dogs.  I had to leave work early to get both her and the sample to the vet (this vet, whom I've unfortunately lost all faith in over this processes since they are apparently incapable of doing ANYTHING in-house...urine, fecal, heart worm test, or otherwise).  I explained the situation to them, but they refused to give any medication until the fecal results came back from the lab two days later.

TWO DAYS?! It was quite clear to me that the dog has a tapeworm, and would make sense with my flea analysis.  SO, for Ahri's sake of comfort, I stopped at the petstore and grabbed OTC fenbenzole (sp?), and paid a ridiculous $25 for what would give me two doses (it's $10 on amazon >:( ) just to get her started.  Two days later, we get her results back, and apparently the tech decided to only swab the sample and ignored my indication of BIG WORM BITS were in that sample.  Just the same, she came back positive for Giardia.  OH, GREAT. THAT THING THAT'S INSANELY CONTAGIOUS?! LOVELY.

It even has an evil face.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), Ahri pooed again at home with more worm bits showing up, so we were able to convince the vet staff that she also needed treatment for tapeworm, in addition to the giardia.  We get medication for both and start her right away on a 5 day regiment (which is actually 7, since I gave her two doses of the same stuff (fenbenzole)over the weekend...I've learned you usually can't overly de-worm).

Naturally, a day later, Ferguson EXPLODES overnight, all over the kitchen and laundry room.  So, since Giardia is so ridiculously contagious, we're assuming he's got it too.  Only since our wallets are wiped from spending nearly $500 on Ahri and her treatment (since we should in theory get reimbursed for her treatments, per the fine print of her 30 day pet insurance trial), we just go ahead and order 4 rounds (two rounds for each greyhound) of fenbenzole in the assumption that this is his issue, and will likely treat Winry as well as soon as it arrives tomorrow.  Getting it overnighted from amazon is only $60, when Ahri's was $50 alone for one dog.  So, at least there is some savings in there, somewhere.

In any case, the greyhounds' treatment arrives tomorrow, and Ahri finishes her treatment tomorrow evening.  The dogs are being ultimately confined to downstairs (where the hard, easy to sanitize floor is), all poo in the yard has been cleaned with the area dowsed in a vinegar/detergent/hot water solution.  All poo is being removed immediately, and the subsequent spot sprayed down with ammonia.  All toys and bowls are being washed daily with hot water and detergent, or run in a high temp dishwasher for those that can handle it.  Ahri's crate is being wiped down with disinfectant every day.  High end probiotic is arriving Friday, along with diatomaceous earth that can be sprinkled in all of the areas, on dogs, in their water, and fed with food to keep away any future infestations of any parasites.  The dogs are getting baths on their last days of treatment, and behinds wiped with babywipes after use in the meantime.  Floors are to be swiftered every evening for the next two weeks.

NO MORE PARASITES, PLEASE!!!!!

The worst part is, I have no idea when Ahri can go back to daycare.  Her fecal won't be re-checked for three weeks, as it can supposedly take quite a long time for giardia to no longer show up in stools, even if none of it is "live"...or sometimes it can come up negative even when still present.  It sounds like a huge headache, but I resent the fact that my pup can't use her valuable time as an adolescent to socialize with others like her :'(.  Perhaps I can call the vet and ask, but I'm thinking the answer will be no sooner than that "cleared" stool sample, despite all our treatments.

It's all been such a headache.  I just can't wait for it to be over -_-.

And to think, our biggest concern was originally just her abnormal peeing, or then just a tapeworm.  I only WISH it was just a tapeworm.  *Sighs*.