Got Worms?

Worms. There is a lot of discussion at my clinic about worms. Heartworms, hookworm, roundworms, tapeworms, and that's only the ones I can remember. These are not the kind of worms you eat, or the kind that you see wriggling from fishhooks, and although worms are animals, we don't treat sick worms here. Mostly my parents and their helpers are forever trying to get rid of the worms. There may be some misconception that we dogs, and maybe the cats as well but I certainly don't speak for them, enjoy worms. I agree they appear tasty, but when I did have them I don't remember enjoying it.

I don't know if I've actually ever seen a worm. I've seen Shakespeare, and he supposed to have worms living in his heart. And I guess that's a pretty important thing because everyone seems to watch him extra closely, especially when he coughs. But I don't think he's ever seen his worms either. Mother keeps some worms in clear jars under the sink. I think she brings them out to show the people that visit the clinic, just to watch their smiling faces change quickly into looks of fascinated disgust.

Sweet Sally must enjoy worms as well. One of our newer visitors, Bambi, a black puppy who's already twice as big as me and only nine weeks old came in with some worm problems. According to our resident puppy expert, Bea, nine weeks means Bambi was still a baby. Bea was a working mom and had already licked all her babies good-bye by that age. Bambi's family had gotten her from a far off land called Virginia. She was to be the new addition to the family of four – two parents, and two young people. Bambi's new mother was deathly afraid of worms and had even passed on several pups locally just to avoid any of the worms. But Bambi was at the clinic last week with a big round belly, and brown nuggets that looked more like a mud puddle. “She has the trifecta” Vonnie announced, “roundworms, hookworms and giardia”. I thought Bambi's new mom was going to bring up her kibbles when she heard the news. Instead the new dad had stepped in, and got all the information from Vonnie on how to treat the new puppy with some yummy white sauce. Well, now it was a week later and Bambi's mom was visiting the clinic again, with the worried look on her face and more brown nuggets in a bag. At least this time they looked like nuggets. “I'm still seeing worms” she said, clearly exasperated, “are my kids going to get these?”. Usually the white sauce takes care of all kinds of worms, and sometimes you see them for a day or so, but not for a whole week. This is when Sweet Sally stepped in, and I knew the worms had met their match. Sure enough, Sally tore apart the nuggets, found one of the stringy critters, pulled it, rolled it, smashed it and washed it and then announced “this is a piece of carpet”. And just like that, problem solved, and I heard a collective sigh of relief go through the clinic. Although, I was upset that I missed my chance to see a real worm up close, I was happy that Bambi's family was safe. So everyone got to sleep easy that night, and I started to wonder, just how do you get infected with “carpet”.

Heartworms. That's why Shakespeare was here today. Heartworms. Neither he nor I knew what that meant. I'd heard mother talk about heartworms daily at the clinic but still had no idea what they were, or how they were related to Shakespeare.
Whatever they were, they had Vonnie quite upset. She had adopted Shakespeare about 4 months ago. Prior to him living with Vonnie, Shakespeare had lived a wild life in the outdoors not far from here. He was always coming in the clinic trying to spread his scent all over my territory. He used to look so strange too; big fluffy black head and bald along the back. He had so many little bugs crawling on him that you could here their heart beats louder than the dogs'.
It was all Vonnie could do not to steal him on those earlier visits. Mother doesn't realize that many of her helpers confide in me. One look at my face and out it all comes. They just know that I will be able to help. And wouldn't you know it, but next visit, there he was, being handed over to Vonnie. Shakespeare's parents couldn't keep him anymore, and they knew that the little black dog would find a perfect home with Vonnie.
Of course, Vonnie agreed out of blind love and then began the work of nursing him back to health. This process started with her taking nugget and red syrup samples. Shakespeare took it like a dog though, and didn't cry once. “Hookworms AND Heartworms” was all we heard the rest of the day. Vonnie couldn't stop barking and howling about hookworms and heartworms. Again, I wasn't sure what it meant, but I knew it wasn't good.
Worst of all, I was worried that whatever it was, Shakespeare was going to give it to me! Bea assured me that her and I were both safe. “We take a brown yummy once a month and we're protected.” she said. I couldn't understand why, if it was that easy to avoid whatever it was that made Vonnie so upset, every dog didn't do it. According to Bea, “It's up to your people. They have to know to give it to you. That's why dogs bring their people here to the clinic, to learn about that stuff.” Sometimes the sheer volume of information Bea has astounds me.
So, today Shakespeare was being treated for heartworms. He'd already been on the humming table for heart pictures and now was the day of his pinch.
I watched as he got the poke with the metal stick. He cried a little but then he didn't fall asleep. In fact, all day long he just yelled at Vonnie to pet him, and to take him outside and to feed him and to brush him... I don't think he stopped yelling all day! It took everything I had not to join in. As we were leaving for the night, Shakespeare said his back was sore, but all in all, he felt fine. I'm glad Shakespeare got to get rid of his heartworms, and that he found a happy new home with Vonnie. I just wish that his treatment had cured him of his voice too.