First Vet Trip

Of course I had to take pictures of him and post them to Facebook as soon as I got him on our gated back deck. I shouldn’t have to be the only one to be sad over him, I thought. All of the comments concluded that I should indeed keep him. Sold! After some extensive discussion, his name was RD (Rez Dog). A highly original suggestion made by a neighbour and good friend.

At that time, I did not have experience with taking in a stray puppy. He looked healthy enough except for his obvious malnutrition and constant itching. I tried to ignore the fact that if I parted his dirty fur and looked at his skin, I could see what appeared to be dandruff and the occasional tiny insect. So, off to the vet we went. Sounds simple enough, except the nearest vet is a good 3 hours from Norway House in Thompson, Manitoba. Two of which are gravel road. Nevertheless, we packed up my Jeep a few days later and took off. Most of the three days leading up to this was spent bathing and feeding him. He seemed pretty docile, sitting in the position he had taken when I first met him, in my lap with his face shoved into the crease my bent knee made.  He was easy to “potty train”, and I didn’t think about it at the time, but looking back I think it was a desire to please and not be abandoned again. He was trying to impress us.

By this time I had internet diagnosed him like any good mother of a sick child does. I had come up with cheyletiella dermatitis, a type of mange characterized by the appearance of dandruff. And like any good health care professional who listens to Dr. Mom’s diagnosis, the vet looked  at me with eyebrows raised and said “ummmm, ok” while going back to his examination. Low and behold, my diagnosis was wrong. Turned out to be canine lice, which I didn’t think sounded any better but turned out to be easy to get rid of and not contagious to us or the cats. Other than that he was declared a healthy 10 lb. husky/possibly part wolf pup. As we left the exam room, the vet told RD to go and enjoy the rest of his life, as the hard part was now over for him :).

Not much else interesting happened that day except our Jeep had some troubles and we had to take it to the dealer for repair. It was raining and the women working in the showroom invited us in for shelter. I was hesitant as we had an animal with us. They laughed at my shyness and spent the next half an hour fawning over him as he sat proudly in my arms, still as a statue. He acted like he had always done this, his former life all but forgotten.

Pit stop at Pisew Falls on the way to the vet.