Surfice Dog

Please take a moment to watch this. It is inspirational and heartwarming.
Thanks to Carol for sending to me.

Doggie Wheel

Doggie Hamster Wheel

I was set on finding a treadmill for exercising my dogs until I saw this...

Dog Debacle

Lots of things have been going on with my dogs that I have not mentioned on my blog. The first was a HUGE dog fight about three weeks ago. It was all triggered over a pit bull tied up right next to my fence on the outside. The dog was sick and waiting for it's owner to take him to the vet. I didn't know the dog was sick or I would have taken him to the vet for the guy. After a few hours, my dogs snapped and when I let them out, they locked up on each other. The other dog died later that day at the vet. He had Ehrlichia.

I'd never heard of Ehrlichia before coming to Costa Rica. It's pretty common here with the ticks transmitting the disease. It's a sad state for a dog if left untreated. Usually, it goes undetected without blood test.

I got through that dog fight with major stitches on my sister dogs. It's all about nervous aggression and my boy, Max, always starts the fights by being aggressive to the nearest dog barking. The usual anti-inflammatory and antibiotics were administered to the sisters, Mela and Macha (as always, see dog fights). Yes, I watch Cesar Millan and he has really helped me with this problem and gaining control as THE PACK LEADER (me).

Two weeks later, again, another fight. I take the sisters in AGAIN for stitches and all is healing great when I notice one of the sisters, Mela, is leaking urine. Yesterday, I take her to the vet to remove the stitches and check the healing on both sisters and both dogs have a fever. The vet gets a blood sample, has it analyzed and it comes back EHRLICHIOSIS!! I was shocked. Yes, I had a tick infestation in my house about three months ago but resolved it almost immediately. I've been through THAT before and knew what to do to delouse my house. (previous posts) I did not consider checking their blood. What you don't know, CAN KILL your dog...
I only takes one infected tick.

I am telling you this so you know that if you have a dog, in Costa Rica, be sure to check once a year (during the hot months) by doing a blood test on your dog. Check out this site if you'd like more info. It is horrible in the final stages and I was very lucky to have caught it in time. Just one more reason I love my vet, Dr. Jose Manuel at Jaco Vet. Dr. Jose prescribed Imidofin 60mg, 2 tablets each for the girls and three pills for big Max. Repeat dosage in 15 days.

Photo is of baby ticks picked off my dogs at one sitting. I know, GROSS!!
Check your dog's blood. After reading some of the comments, I'd better get my blood checked TOO.
Little earthquake here in Hermosa - Wed. 11:25 a.m. my house was swaying.

UPDATE March 29th: This above treatment IS NOT ENOUGH!! Read the comments for the recommended treatment.