A speed bump for Tequila

Not all news at the vet was good this afternoon.

First and foremost, she is not microchipped so we are not finding her owners that way. I thihnk that is all right since they clearly do not deserve her or she would not have been wandering on her own in the 100 degree heat like she was, she would not have already had a litter, and she would not have a ligature mark around her neck

There was some bad news though. Tequila had a light positive test result on her heartworm test, so she cannot be spayed yet. Poor kid. She weighs 81 pounds, and Kevin thinks she may be around two years old. Instead of doing the full on treatment for the heartworms, we decided to go with the easier course and start her on the preventative dose of ivomec--what horse farm does not have gallons of that laying around!

First, we are doing the three day panacur plan. Then a few days after that, we will do the first dose of ivomec. If she tolerates it well, we will plan to have her spayed shortly after labor day, then follow up with another dose of ivomec. In the third month, we will up the dose of ivomec in an effort to kill the adult heartworms, in conformity with the Australian study that says triple the dose will have that effect. We are going to slowly work up to that, though.

She also got all of her shots and has some new prednisone for her itching, and some cephalexin to knock out whatever that infection is that is causing her to itch--we cannot pinpoint anything, but it is worth a shot to give a broad spectrum antibiotic to address it.

She was a very good girl at the doctor even though she was scared. Kevin is fascinated by her eye, and thinks he may be able to do something with her third eyelid during her spay--we will just investigate and see what is shaking in there and if we can correct it. She can see though, as I suspected.

All in all, a mixed report.