Love That Dirty Water

Although Boston isn't Elphie's home, she still loves dirty water. Her upset tummy has been connected to her love for lapping puddles. I brought her to the vet on Saturday and they called on Tuesday to give me the results of the stool culture: she tested positive for Giardia. I did a little research and learned that Giardia is "an infection of the small intestine caused by a microscopic organism (protozoa)" (definition courtesy of http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Apparently it affects both humans and animals, usually caught by drinking stagnant and/or dirty water. I'm told that people who drink the water from Half Dome without filtration suffer from this ailment. Ick. I also read that it is undetermined whether the infection can be transferred between species. With that being said, you can bet your booty that I'm washing my hands every time I take her for a walk! That does not sound fun. I've seen, first hand, what it can do to the body and I'm not going to be signing up for that. Luckily it is easily treated with a combination of medication in various forms. I was sent home with pills for the diarrhea, powder to act as a vitamin supplement and liquid to treat the infection. I'm hoping she'll start to feel like herself again really soon.

Elphie has an upset tummy, although you never would know it with the way she goes about her day. She's just a tad lazier than usual but for the most part she's rather peppy. We put her on a 24-hr fast on Sunday and have been and will be feeding her boiled chicken, rice and cottage cheese for the next couple of days to help regulate her system. By the way she scarfed her dinner down yesterday, it seems like she thinks it's the best food in the world. I bet she's going to be upset when we switch her back to her regular food.

Camp has been going well and each day Elphie acts like it's her very first day. She always comes home with a shining paw-gress report and we learn that she loves to play with toys (we could've told them that) and that she's the life of the party. She's always making friends and she rarely rests during break time. I'm a-OK with the latter because that means she's not a bother when she gets home. It makes for an easy evening for mom and dad.