Of Mites and partys!

It has been a while since we posted.    I was concerned about how to treat a sensitive subject.    You see, when Nala went in for her heart worm treatment several weeks ago, Bella and I had begun scratching.   Somehow the three of us had acquired mites.    Since the heartworm treatment is a similar, but much stronger, medication than the mite medication, Nala could not take both.    Bella and I were put on a weekly medicine that will kill off the mites, it goes on once a week for 5 weeks, so that the eggs and future generations are killed as well.  But Nala only had one heartworm treatment and she reinfected with mites, but due to the stress on her from the heartworm treatment they were hesitant to put her on the follow up medications until she was a little stronger.   

Monday Nala went in to the vet's office where she was supposed to be kept overnight so she could be closely monitored when she received her mite medication.    She was not happy, she did not like being confined, but she made the best of it.    Her trip to the vet included a major grooming.    Her coat was very matted, she had been scheduled for grooming several times, but her treatments required a recovery time and grooming kept being postponed.   This time she had her coat combed out very well, so that the mites would have few hiding places.    She says she likes her new spring look!

When she came home on Tuesday, she was very stiff from all the stress, but she was feeling better because her coat was clean.   She made her rounds, checking out every corner to make sure her home was just as she had left it, then she had a serious nap.   This morning she is feeling much better, and is walking without any wobble.   She still has a weekly mite treatment for four more weeks, but she will get her meds here, no tiring trip to the vet.    So once again, Nala has faced adversity and overcome.

Meanwhile, Bella and I have stopped scratching, we have several more weeks of meds as well, but hopefully by the time we are done, they will all be killed off.

But this raises another terrible situation.   This weekend is the first Golden Retriever Rescue dog party of the season.    Hundreds of Golden Retrievers will be gathering for the Spring Fling.   But Bella, Nala and I are quarantined.    We can't even have play dates with our cousins until our cycle is complete.    Our cousins family do not even pet us when they stop by, just in case we still have mites.   We can't go to the groomer, we can't go to the dog park, we can't even go shopping at the pet shop.    In four years, we have not missed a single dog event.    In four years I have been there to demonstrate my prowess at ball fetching, and I have proven that they were wrong when they said I would not live to play this long.    Woe is me, and woe is Bella.   Nala says she is quite happy to stay home and nap.   But Bella and I are very upset that we can't go.  

Bummer.

Mogley G. Retriever