Hook and Ring and Tape, Oh My!

CAUTION: The following posting is NOT for the faint of heart. Or of stomach.

We've had our new dog for about a month now. She's absolutely lovely. Okay, she doesn't really like to follow commands (some of which she knows perfectly well if there is a treat involved). And she takes up rather an amazing amount of space in bed. And she is seriously good at giving guilt looks.

Overall, though, she's been amazing. She's gotten Christopher and me to start taking walks again. And she's never actually stolen anything off of any plates (even those on the coffee table).

But...

(You knew there was a "but" coming, didn't you? And, yes, this is where the squeamish-causing topic comes in.)

Today I was taking her out for her morning walk, and as I bent down to pick up the poo, I noticed that there seemed to be some white plastic in it. I was wondering what she might have eaten that could have turned out like that when I saw one of the pieces of white plastic move. Yes, move.

Closer look - as I tried not to flee - and I could tell that the two pieces of white plastic were two separate white... worms. Ewww. Worms. Live worms. And they were in her poop. And I put the poop into the plastic baggy as I do every walk, and kept going - equally freaked out and fascinated.

I spent a certain amount of time watching the white thingy move around in the baggy as I walked the rest of the way around the block. And then - since the trash was out by the street - I set the baggy on the ledge in the porch to be dealt with, later.

I called Christopher to tell him what I'd found. And he called the vet. And I ended up driving home at lunchtime to pick up the baggy and take it - now referred to as "the sample" - to the vet.

The young tech in the office looked at the computer where there was a note about Christopher's call, then looked at me and said "Oh, yeah, I see you think there might be some worms in the fecal matter. Once we test it, we'll let you know if it is positive."

I looked at her and said "Umm... I know there are worms. I saw them moving. You can see one right there."

She just looked at me, then kind of chuckled and said "Oh. Yeah. I see that. Okay... So we'll do some tests to see what, exactly, we have. But these look like tape worms." (turning to the person next to her) "Don't you think these look like tape worms?"

"Oh, yep, they look like rice, so that's my vote." (Rice? Why do things always have to look like rice? I like rice. But. Ewww.)

"Great. So we'll check this out once the doctor comes in and we'll see what we've got."

Christopher called me a couple of hours later to say that we actually had the full trifecta of dog worminess: tape worms, ring worms, and hook worms. Probably all picked up while she was at the kennel, and only now working their way through her system so that they're... ummm... obvious to the naked eye.

So after work I was back at the vet to pick up medicines and instructions to de-worm the dog. And then home to administer the first doses. The tape worms were a one-dose thing. The ring and hook worms get a single dose every two weeks until mid-November.

Oh. And then in the beginning of December we get to take another fecal sample to the vet to make sure the worms are gone.

Yeah. Life has changed a bit in the past month.