Holy Cow! I'm In Hospital

September 1, 2007. Renee arrived last night and I was so happy to see her after a week, that I almost wiggled my bum right off. That was in-between scratching that pesky itch though. Renee helped me scratch my itch and discovered I was bleeding from a cut on the top of my head. I don’t know how I got that though. Did I run into the motor from the boat? Did I bang it on the picnic table? Oh well, back to greeting Renee.

After she got here we went out to see Caitlin and Matias new home and to visit with Shelby again. She is just so darn cute. She was much braver tonight, coming close to me and playing. Of course that was when I wasn’t scratching that pesky itch. After meeting Matias sisters and his parents, it was time to come home.

There I jumped into bed to cuddle with Tom and Renee, well; I did after I deal with this pesky itch. I scratched and I chewed and got Renee and Tom to scratch me too. Finally I fell asleep.

In the morning we were getting ready to go for a run on the park, but I stopped again to scratch that pesky itch. I must have scratched too much though, because the next thing you know, my face was bleeding. At this point, plans were suddenly changed. Into the truck we went and took a ride.

We ended up at the vet, where I got a quick checkup. The vet looked at me and said that I could possibly have a food allergy and recommended that I stop eating my new food. Darn, I really like that too. I have gained ten full pounds this summer and I now weigh just less than 75 pounds.

The vet also said that it could very well be “hot spots” caused by swimming in the lake. He wouldn’t know for sure, until he had a chance to shave the itchy spots and examine me more closely. He did say that it was for sure, not fleas. This means that I have to stay here until about 6:00 PM and have a snooze.

Well, the next thing you know I was being led away from Tom and Renee into the operating room, where I got a little injection and now I am getting so very tired. So I put my head down and was just beginning to contemplate what was going on, when shjdcb ,mm, zzzzzzzzzzz…

Before I knew it, I was awake and there were Tom and Renee to pick me up and take me home. Hey, what the heck is this cone thing wrapped around my head? Why do I feel more of a breeze on my head? What did they do to me?

It’s a good thing I can’t look in a mirror, because I think I look pretty silly right now. Apparently I got shaved in several spots, like the top of my head, my legs, my butt and a spot we won’t mention. Oh yes, and my big wet beard is gone too.

Thankfully, the diagnosis, while bad, was nowhere near as bad as it could be. I didn’t suffer from “hot spots” as feared, just a massive infestation of fleas. Apparently, the fleas in the Vancouver area have reached “epic” proportions this year. I didn’t have them until I came home and apparently my “Revolution” flea treatment did nothing to even slow them down.

Grand Pappy Frank’s cat Mystery is completely infested with them and also needed at visit to the vet. The neighbours 4 cats are similarly affected, even young Shelby has them. Not much can be done at this point other than to wait for them to die out in the winter.

I ended up on anti-biotics to deal with my, self inflicted wounds and prevent infection. The vet also gave me a treatment of Capstar to kill all the fleas on me and then he put me on “Advantage” flea treatment to see if it will work better than the “Revolution”. My embarrassment doesn’t end here though, on Tuesday I have to make a trip to the groomers where I will be getting a puppy cut. Oh, the shame!