Good news! Well, bad news and good news. First, the bad news: Orion had a tapeworm. I took him to Banfield, The Pet Hospital (which is located inside Petsmart) and according to the vet, he probably got it from a flea. It’s this big explanation about the parasite cycle, somewhere along the lines of, dog ingests flea = dog acquires tapeworm. (She explained it way better than that, but science is not my speciality, sorry.) She also saw remnants of fleas in his fur, and showed them to me. So she gave him meds on the spot to get rid of the worm as well as prescription stuff for the fleas. I went home and treated him with the flea meds (and Autumn for good measure!), so my babies should be ok. phew! They said to be on the lookout for worms with Autumn, but we haven’t seen any from her, so it’s possible that Orion got the worm for some reason and she didn’t. They just said to keep monitoring her but all should be well from here!

Getting Orion to the vet was a gigantic ordeal, though. That’s totally my fault, as I don’t take him in the car often, so when we get in the car, he freaks out. He was pretty scared during the ride but didn’t get carsick (yay!), and then when we got to Petsmart he was too busy sniffing the grass and dragging me around by his leash. I seriously need to train him on the leash. sigh. Bad dog mommy.

Anyway, to make a long story short, he’s going to be just fine and I’m going to make darn sure to put that flea treatment on him and Autumn every month, because yikes…tapeworms are icky. The vet showed us photos (my mom went with Orion and me) and ugh! Nasty little creatures. yeeeek.

While I was at it, I made an appointment for Autumn to go to Banfield next week since she is due for her vaccinations (Orion had those today too, poor doggy…it was a very long day for him). I was so exhausted but still had to work tonight, but that went well, so it was ok. Hurry up long weekend, because we all need it.

I came home from the vet with a pretty significant charge on my credit card thanks to the vet bill, but it was so worth it just to know that Orion will be all better very soon. I’m telling you, my dogs are my babies…I just feel so badly because I am not able to spend much time with them anymore since I started my second job. And the bitter irony is that I’m working that other job in order to be able to move out so the three of us can have our own place…but because of that, I hardly see them now during the day… I keep telling myself it’s temporary, but I feel so sad about it.

It’s late, I’m tired, it has been a long day and I don’t know if all this makes sense. oh, as a sidenote? The vet and nurse at Banfield were SO nice. That was the best experience I’ve ever had with a vet. They took their time checking out Orion, talking to my mom and me, and everything. sweet.

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