Monthly Archive:: May 2014
Big Thing, Small Package
How could something so small inspire a love so big? As Willie dozes on my lap I run my fingers through his shaggy coat, my hands over his small body. I count his ribs, I study the various textures of his snout, and I test all the ways his little joints move. Willie is completely
Category: Dog
Play Date
Friends joined us for lunch yesterday and brought along their little rescue mutt, a Jack Russell terrier mix named Mr. Chips. We’d been looking forward to this play date for weeks – meeting the charming and portable Mr. Chips had, after all, led directly to our deciding to adopt Willie. As I set the table
Category: Dog
One in a Million
I didn’t know it was possible to be so in love, to be so smitten — so besotted — with a dog. But my affection for our little rescue mutt, Willie, grows by the day. His attachment to me is clear – he thinks I’m a rock star — but while his instincts about me
Category: Dog
The Beat Goes On
On my twice-daily walks with Willie I strive to maintain a brisk and consistent pace. The first few days were pretty taxing on me – especially walking uphill – but I’ve acclimated to this new routine we share and look forward to these walks almost as much as Willie. Almost. But even when I’m not
Category: Dog
Long Story Short
Willie was placed on a course of the antibiotic doxycycline and a monthly dose of immiticide, or heartworm preventive. He had no arsenic injection and required no period of confinement because this treatment eliminated any complications from dead worms breaking apart and traveling through Willie’s circulatory or respiratory systems. And while I still wasn’t comfortable
Category: Dog
The Doctor Will See You Now
I never intended to be this earnest or specific, never expected to offer any advice whatsoever about dogs, but my rescue mutt and I are going through something in real time that I think is worth sharing. Willie has been diagnosed with parasitic heartworms – a highly preventable, dangerous, and potentially fatal infection. And I
Category: Dog
Continuing Ed
So — no doubt about it — Willie has heartworms, and the news is heartbreaking and frightening. How many worms? How big are they? There’s no way to know without an expensive echocardiogram – or an autopsy — but one things is certain: Willie needs to be treated, and soon. I know the Internet will
Category: Dog
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
Willie’s been “off his feed” the past few days. I’ve seen this before – a day here or there in which he seems his usual happy and energetic self, yet has no interest in eating. It’s alarming because it seems so unnatural (A dog that doesn’t want food?), and yet I try to convince myself
Category: Dog
Charcoal Junkie
I walk into the small pet supply store with Willie on a short lead, still searching for a simple black sweater to replace the one he lost a few weeks back on our very first off-lead walk in the woods. The pretty young sales clerk shows me a line of canine outerwear but I’m distracted
Category: Dog