Some time ago, I posted on demodectic mange and mentioned that the treatment when I graduated in 1978 consisted of daily dipping with a stinky, poisonous insecticide. Today I found some in a cabinet. I guess I hadn’t really forgotten it was there (though the expiration date is 1986). It’s one of those things that […]
Category Archives: Parasites
Here is a flea emerging from its cocoon. I’d go through the whole flea life cycle, but these folks have done a lovely job for you. The point is that most of the flea’s life cycle takes place OFF the animal in the environment. Each flea lays hundreds of eggs each weak, and they fall […]
This is Star. She was just about to head out on the dog-show circuit with a professional handler when her owners noticed a small spot of hair loss on her lip. She surely looks great otherwise and really ready for the show ring. Unfortunately, those folks are really competitive and there is no point sending […]
This is the "before" picture I took today. I have high hopes that I’ll be showing you some much nicer "after" pictures in the coming weeks. "Lucky" is a stray dog who showed up about six weeks ago. The extremely nice man who adopted him tells me that he actually looks a little better after […]
I started to put this under "Strange Beliefs". People think that veterinarians know everything. Somewhere between the Encyclopedia Britannica and Google, the veterinarian was(is) the resource to rely on. I’ve been called at night by a person wanting to know if polar bears eat penguins or fish (polar bears=North pole, penguins=South pole — trick question; […]
When you are a Scout leader, you find that the boys tend to treat you as part of the scenery at times, not worrying too much about whether you are listening. Their conversations tend to be fairly candid. Incredibly, they believe that the relative privacy of a tent is also sound-proof. As a leader craving […]
If someone asked you for a worm pill, what would you give them? Sometimes I think of a little shop in Diagon Alley [if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, ask someone who is] and a wizened little old man pulls open a number of ancient wooden drawers. The first pill he hands you has […]
Everybody likes to save money. I know I do. On the other hand, "you get what you pay for" is one of those phrases that really hits home sometimes. If I didn’t know any better, I guess I might think that treating a dog for worms ought to be pretty simple. I might also think […]