Paws: Black & White

Posted on August 9, 2015 by treshabarger

Poor Abby. One morning her paw was swollen and she didn’t want to put any weight on it. We checked it out but couldn’t see anything. No sticker, no wound of any kind. The next morning it was even more swollen so off to the vet’s office we went. They had to put her under just a little bit to take x-rays, open it up, and clean it out. They didn’t find anything so we still don’t know what the problem was. We brought Abby home with her paw all wrapped up because they inserted a drain into the abscessed area and it needed to stay there five days.

All wrapped up with nowhere to go

Abby was really good-natured about it. Once the pain was gone she was bouncing around again. We protected the wrapping from the morning dew by adding an extra plastic layer. The wrapping and the plastic didn’t bother her any. We took her back to the vet to get the drain removed and all is well again. Happy Abby with normal paws.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Hands, Feet, or Paws

Serious Stuff

Posted on July 31, 2015 by treshabarger

I came home one day in late May to find a bat in a jar on the kitchen counter.

Before I got home, hubby noticed our dog, Abby, checking out something on the back porch in the middle of the afternoon. It turned out to be this bat. The “middle of the afternoon” is the bad part, as bats should not be out and about in the sunlight. If they are, it could be a sign of trouble.

You can look but don’t touch

Hubby called Abby away, put up the dogs, and captured the bat in the jar without touching it (very important). Abby was current on her vaccines but as a precaution we took her to the vet for a booster rabies shot. We also took the bat in a jar. The vet staff killed the bat and boxed it up for us to take to the health department. (The health department does not accept live bats for testing.) This was late Tuesday afternoon, so hubby took the boxed-up bat to the health department in Austin first thing Wednesday morning.

Thursday the health department calls us to report that the bat tested positive for rabies. Off we go, back to the vet, taking the other two dogs (also current on their vaccines) to get a booster rabies shot.

What we don’t know is if any of the dogs actually touched the bat. Hubby saw Abby looking at it, but who knows what when on before he discovered what she was investigating.

Protocol requires that the dogs be isolated. Our three dogs stayed home for 45 days and we kept Abby separate from the other two, as well. (If they hadn’t been current on their vaccines before finding the bat, it would have been a 90-day isolation time frame.)

I fretted a little. Rabies is serious stuff and there are no do-overs. It’s not like getting the flu where you can decide to go to the doctor after you’ve been feeling bad for a while. No, rabies is something you have to prevent. The woman at the health department answered all our questions and indicated that we (the humans) were not considered at risk or exposed as we hadn’t touched the bat at all.

Good news: The isolation period ended July 10th and all is well with all the dogs. We haven’t found any more bats, either.

Dusty’s Toys

Posted on June 23, 2015 by treshabarger

Dusty and some of his toys. Actually, these toys belong to all the dogs, but Clint and Dusty like them the most. Even when all these toys are in the living room, both Clint and Dusty will head for the big bowl where we store them in another room, bypassing all the available toys on the floor.

Some of Dusty’s toys

Throw The Ball: Fiction Friday

Posted on May 29, 2015 by treshabarger

Friday Fictioneer Challenge: Write a 100-word story based on the photo.
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Throw The Ball

Kneeling, Andy jimmied open the back door. As he turned the doorknob, he felt a nudge in his back. He froze. Slowly, he turned around.

The scrap metal dog greeted him, eyes glowing red, tail wagging. It dropped a ball at Andy’s feet, nudging it towards him. He picked it up and threw it. With lightning speed, the dog retrieved it. Andy threw the ball again, again, and again. Each time Andy ran for the fence to flee, the dog knocked him down.

As the scrap metal dog brought him the ball yet again, Andy realized he would never escape.
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To read other Friday Fictioneer stories based on this photo, select the smiley blue frog.