maysblog

I have been a mother for a little over nine months now. Like other mothers, my baby has meant the world to me, even though she’s kept me up all night from time to time, made all kinds of messes, and driven me half crazy. My baby is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Luka, and yesterday, like other parents, I had to take my baby to the doctor—in this case, the Bee Creek Veterinary Hospital. I had taken Luka to visit her grandparents’ place in Glen Rose; my parents live on twenty acres, so Luka had free rein to be a country dog for a week. When we got back to College Station, she seemed fine. A few days later, though, I was brushing her and found something small and dark on her skin. My parents constantly have to fight against ticks on their dogs in Glen Rose, so that’s what I thought it was. Much to my dismay, it was a strange scab-like skin thing; over the next couple of days, the scabs started to spread over her body. Needless to say, I was worried.

It turns out that Luka is completely fine. She had staph dermatitis, a skin condition that could have been caused by any number of things. Dr. Stiles said that since Luka didn’t have any fleas, it was probably caused by something she laid down in at my parent’s place. She prescribed some penicillin—hopefully, my baby girl will get better soon.

I felt awful for Luka; yesterday’s vet visit was rough. Not only did she get checked out for her skin condition, but she also got her last puppy shot and microchipped. If you have an animal, I highly recommend microchipping this member of your family. It is inexpensive, painless, and can mean the difference between losing your pet forever and reuniting with him or her within a few days should something happen. As much as I wanted Luka to have this security measure, I was a little concerned when Dr. Stiles brought out the syringe that is used to place the microchip between the shoulder blades. This thing was huge! Luka took it like a champ, though; she didn’t even make a noise. I think I was more concerned and scared about the whole vet visit than she was.

So now my pet is safe, properly vaccinated, and on medication that will make her better soon. Now that I’m done with worrying about her (at the moment), I can be free to worry about other things…like scheduling classes at the University of Edinburgh, my difficulty starting the literature review portion of my research, or moving out of College Station, for instance. But there’s plenty of time to explain all those worries later—for now, the most pressing one is taken care of, and I can enjoy the rest of my summer in the States with my healthy pet.