The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Once the heartworm is sorted Carbón will probably be in very good spirits and will have more energy.

That's the strange thing - he has zero symptoms. He has PLENTY of energy. Though who knows, maybe he will have even more after his heart worm treatment. In that case...watch out, world!

It's really an irony. Carbon is now officially a dog who is positive for Leish and heart worm, yet shows outward symptoms for neither.

Poor Carbón, too. I've never had to deal with heart worm first-hand, but obviously a fair number of the shelter dogs have it. It totally sucks, but at least it is treatable, and that treatment is relatively short-term and non-invasive, even though it will be utterly miserable.

Yes, definitely treatable and hopefully the echocardiogram today will give more of an idea of what we're up against. I started his antibiotics this morning and after some research have decided to order some of probiotics to add to the doctor's tummy protector tablets. He's currently got a cast-iron digestive system and I want to help keep it that way!

All this moving out must be exhausting, too, and taking up so much of your time.

I caught a very lucky break last evening when the latest place I reserved opened up for another six days. The flat owner asked if I wanted it and I probably made his head spin by how fast I answered "YES!!!" Six days may not sound like much but it saves us two more moves and means that we're now housed until 20 February. The last place is tiny and incredibly expensive, but it is in a nice part of the Regensburg new town, has an elevator and underground parking (invaluable if Carbon takes a turn for the worse) and is a short walk to a huge park and the river.

Makes me feel a little ill that for what I'm paying in Regensburg, I could have gotten a nice place in VENICE for Pete's sake, but you gotta do what you gotta do. It's a relief just to have lodging lined up for the next four weeks so I can get some other things done.

I wish there was some help I could offer. If there's anything that I can help with, do please let me know.

Thank you! May take you up on that and use your dog-training mind for new games and such if Carbon starts to go nuts without his daily free run.

I just wish you could be in a happy, comfy place with all the residency issues sorted and no vet or doctor visits for a long, long time.

Me too! That's why I said on @Natalie 's Long Term Goals thread that the only long term goal I can think of now is BOREDOM. Which I pretty much define as what you said above. Sweet, sweet boredom.

Give Carbon a loving hug from me and one for you.

Thank you from me and Carbon. That (again) goes for all the friends here sending us the good vibes.

 

[Aitch]

I've never had to deal with heart worm first-hand, but obviously a fair number of the shelter dogs have it. It totally sucks, but at least it is treatable, and that treatment is relatively short-term and non-invasive, even though it will be utterly miserable..

@snowbunny should I be getting Alex tested for heart worm? Or has he been tested? May be I'll just get him tested anyway.

Sorry Emily. I've hijacked your thread a bit with these questions.

 

[Natalie]

Hey Emily,
I'm just so so sorry for you and Carbon.

Neither of you deserve this, you should be galavanting around Europe in the Tardis together having lots of fun and meeting new doggie friends.
Just hoping you get some more positive news soon.xxx

 

[snowbunny]

@snowbunny should I be getting Alex tested for heart worm? Or has he been tested? May be I'll just get him tested anyway.

Sorry Emily. I've hijacked your thread a bit with these questions.

He was tested when I first took him to the vet. Tested for the tick-born diseases, Leish and heart worm. One of the other dogs I took at the same time had heart worm but Alex was clear

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

@snowbunny should I be getting Alex tested for heart worm? Or has he been tested? May be I'll just get him tested anyway.

Sorry Emily. I've hijacked your thread a bit with these questions.

I've looked back at the primer on heart worm I did for Bodeguero UK (posted in full under Carbon's new heart worm thread) and indeed, it would be a good idea to test Alex. Because of the heart worm lifecycle, they can test false negative for up to five months post-infection. So testing again 5-7 months post coming from Spain makes a lot of sense.

Not to scare you as it's highly unlikely that he is positive, but just one of those 'better safe than sorry' cases.

 

[snowbunny]

I just said the same on your new thread, @Emily_Babbelhund, having read your very useful information.

 

[Aitch]

Thank you ladies, I will get him tested and report back.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Thank you ladies, I will get him tested and report back.

Sounds good! But try not to worry - remember Alex came from a private shelter where he was given preventatives for months vs Carbon being in the perrera where they are given zip. Odds are very good that Alex will test negative.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Just got back from Carbon's heart ultrasound and there were no discernible signs of adult worms or heart enlargement - just normal young Labrador heart!

 

[snowbunny]

Well, that is some good news, at least

 

[Cath]

Great News Emily

 

[Boogie]

Phew!

 

[Selina27]

So pleased you have had some good news!

 

[jazzmynn]

Well, some good news indeed!!! I bet that’s a huge relief. So what happens now, a re-test?

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Well, some good news indeed!!! I bet that’s a huge relief. So what happens now, a re-test?

He just started the Doxycyclin today, so he'll still have that for two weeks and then be retested as planned. Seems lots of safeguards in place in the treatment protocol before we get to the big bad injection part of the program - and that's a good thing as it would be very bad to go through that unless he really, really needs it.

 

[Emily]

Well finally some good news. Hopefully things will start turning around for you now

 

[M.F.]

For a probiotic, why not make your own kefir?You can buy a bottle of kefir to use as a starter to add to full cream milk. I’m betting in Germany there must be tons of fermented foods. All good for local bacteria. And I’m sure much better than anything that comes in a squeeze tube or tablet (I can’t see how the latter works!). Snowie loves lapping up his homemade kefir every evening. It can be quite sharp, but he’s eaten worse things!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

For a probiotic, why not make your own kefir?You can buy a bottle of kefir to use as a starter to add to full cream milk. I’m betting in Germany there must be tons of fermented foods. All good for local bacteria. And I’m sure much better than anything that comes in a squeeze tube or tablet (I can’t see how the latter works!). Snowie loves lapping up his homemade kefir every evening. It can be quite sharp, but he’s eaten worse things!

From what I've read, the antibiotic he's on is in the tetracycline family so shouldn't be taken with milk products. Not sure if kefir qualifies as milk, but I think so? I couldn't make my own as with moving once a week it's problematic to transport items that spoil...though at -4C today, maybe that doesn't really make sense either. But you can just buy kefir outright, correct? Or is it better if you make it yourself?

I already add sauerkraut to his meals, which is fermented and good for digestion.

Florentero is magical stuff and worked wonders on Brogan and several foster dogs, but I must admit that I don't know why!

 

[M.F.]

Yup, moving with fermented products could be rather difficult, that is true! Our jar of kefir sometimes sprays as it opens, can be very fizzy!

Kefir is made from milk but the lactose (sugar) is meant to be eaten up by the bacteria. I wonder what happens with tetracycline and milk? Something to look up...

Sauerkraut if actually fermented (made the proper way) should be excellent. It’s the acid byproduct that’s really good for the gut—apparently makes a favorable environment for the good bacteria to thrive.

 

[M.F.]

From Wikipedia: tetracycline can:

• Be inactivated by Ca2+ ions, so are not to be taken with milk, yogurt, and other dairyproducts