The Joys of Pet Ownership

Queasy stomach? Sympathy puker? STOP!!! Skip this entry.

The reason the dog was in the skunk trap was food...ham sandwich meat that had been sitting out in the sun for several days. When she started throwing up yesterday, we assumed upset stomach due to rotten meat. And when she whined last night at 2a.m. I assumed spoiled dog who didn't want to be locked up in her kennel overnight.

This morning I was informed that she had been sick again outside, and upon further investigation I found that she had also been sick in her kennel. I pulled out her pad and saw what looked like a piece of string approximately three inches long. My brain started putting two and two together, and I decided to take a closer look. The "sausage links" gave it away. Yep, it was a tapeworm (identified at vet's office). Let me say that brushing your teeth after using a toothpick to pick a tape worm out of dog vomit...well, I wasn't sure I was going to hold down my breakfast.

I am VERY glad that I decided to poke through her vomit. I think tapeworms are usually found in the intestines not the stomach. Poor dog must have quite the infection. I'm also glad that I happened to buy freshly ground hamburger at the grocery store. After trying to pry her jaws open, I found that putting humongously large pills in small hamburger ball works much better. It became a game of let's catch the raw hamburger mom is tossing to me. Ah, it's so fun having pets. ;)

BTW, I'll never look at a string of pearls the same way.

We didn't catch a skunk but.....

We didn't catch a skunk, but we did catch a DOG!

Pepe LePew was so cute until...

The cutest little skunk has apparently chosen our backyard to hang out in. Well, I thought he was really cute until he decided to sleep under our bedroom window. And apparently something was sprayed tonight. Phew! There is nothing like the smell of burnt rubber greeting you when you open the back door.

Do you think I was inspired to buy a fresh new bottle of Skunk-off last week? The cat (1/2 blind) actually went up to said skunk and sniffed it. I guess he thought it was another cat. Luckily the skunk chose to hiss and not spray.