Mindy is really having a lousy day! Her diarrhea was much worse this morning, so I took her to the vet as soon as I got home from teaching kindergarten. At the vet's office, she had her swollen bottom poked and prodded, had a stool sample analized, got another injection with a HUGE needle, and was force-fed more medicine. The vet said that she has Giardiasis. I googled it as soon as I got home, and it turns out that it is all my fault.
Giardiasis is a bowel infection that you can get by drinking water that hasn't been properly treated. It causes really bad diarrhea, among other symptoms. For some reason, it never occurred to me that if the tap water here isn't safe for me to drink, I shouldn't be giving it to my dog. I feel pretty stupid and really guilty right now. But, luckily the infection isn't serious, and with the medication, Mindy should be fine in a few days. From now on, I'll only be giving her bottled water. It's not much of an added expence; a two liter bottle of water sells for less than 50 cents here.
There was one piece of good news from the vet: when he checked Mindy's ears, he informed me that I am doing an excellent job of keeping them clean. That made me feel like a slightly less horrible pet owner. Poor little puppy!
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