Tues 12th April: Beware the ticks are back

Poor little Candy has tick fever

 Before I forget I need to mention something important, and it's that along with the warm weather the ticks are back, and this year it seems with a vengeance.  I use good tick prevention for my Lamma dogs but even so have found ticks on a few of them, and have also had to pick the nymphs (small spider-like baby ticks) off my legs after getting back from the morning walks.  The newly-hatched ticklets climb to the top of high grass and wait for anything warm-blooded to pass, and dogs as well as humans are very appealing.  I should add that dog ticks can't live for long on human blood, but they do attach and stick around (literally) for a while.

 New mother dog Candy has tick fever, as well as young puppies Dulcie, Dougie and Demi.  In fact as is so often the case, the emergencies happen after-hours, and in this case it was Demi who had to be rushed to the nearest vet clinic after crashing when the pups got back from a visit to Acorn where babesia canis had earlier been diagnosed.  They had all been due to go back (to Acorn) on Wednesday but Demi needed extra and immediate help, and I'm very happy to say that the quick action by the foster parent means that the pup is already much better (you can follow the story on Instagram@why_i_foster). 

These pups have the less common babesia canis

I was hugely relieved to get the news that lost dog Shabby (previously Hazel) had been caught by our Tai Po team.  In fact Shabby walked into the trap just a few minutes after it had been set, and although I don't have the details yet I assume it was close to the kennels she escaped from.  Even though it was just a couple of days I would assume that Shabby will have attracted a fair number of ticks, so she'll need to be closely inspected.

Shabby went straight into the trap, phew!

I have another reason to be happy today, and that's the adoption of Opal, the young dog we needed to take back from her previous home.  She's such a wonderfully sweet girl, just like all of the Little White, small-eared, pink-nosed "breed".  We get so many adoption enquiries for shibas, and I wonder why anyone would want that a challenging dog like a shiba inu when there are so many like sweet and easy Opal waiting for homes. 

Opal has a new family