A Stinky Boy

     **Disclaimer: I briefly talk about diarrhea and worms. I apologize if it grosses anyone out.**

        The first few days of having Copper were a nightmare because not only was he being crazy but I was beginning to really find out that he was not taken care of very well by the people I bought him from.  I noticed that he had little, red bug bites all over his stomach and he was absolutely filthy when I picked him up from the owners.  When we had got home that day, I gave him a bath and the water had turned a dark gray color from the amount of dirt he was covered in and there were fleas floating around as well.  I was so angry at how poorly he had been taken care of but, I guess that happens sometimes when you get a puppy from Internet strangers.  As if it wasn't already bad enough, he also began having severe diarrhea which can be a sign of parvo in puppies and could potentially put his life at risk. 

    I had contacted the owners to ask if he had any of his shots yet, including parvo, and the woman told me that they had done the vaccination themselves with a store bought shot shortly before selling the puppies. This situation was so serious because our family dog had gotten sick with parvo when she was a puppy and she almost didn't survive.  Also, because these people did the vaccine themselves I was worried that he could have some type of infection.  I quickly scheduled for him to be seen at the vet to get tested for any possible infections or viruses. 

Copper at the vet

     At his appointment, the vet did bloodwork on him and ran some other tests and the results were both good and bad.  The vet told me that Copper did not have parvo but he did have a "medley of intestinal worms."  He was given medication to flush the worms out and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing his life wasn't in danger but I knew that we had some rough weeks ahead of us.  

    

    The next couple of weeks were pretty gross to say the least.  I was given the task of monitoring his bowel movements to make sure the medication was working and getting rid of the worms.  It was probably the grossest thing I had dealt with in a while so, I won't go into detail.  Slowly, he got better and would end up receiving the rest of his necessary vaccines for his age.  

    I wish that I would've done more research on the amount of vaccines that puppies should receive so that I could've maybe been more prepared.  Overtime, it also got very expensive having to take him to the vet to get them all done.  However, I'm very thankful for this experience because I was able to make sure Copper was healthy and well taken care of.  Lesson learned.