Bach's shots

(Previous here.)


Bach got his second heartworm shot today so he wasn't feeling too well when I saw him this afternoon. The staff let him stay in the supervisor's office where it's quieter and a bit cooler. He lifted his head up when I came in the room but that's a far cry from the usual butt wagging greets he likes to give people.

The next few days will be critical and he'll have to be kept very calm, going out for only washroom breaks and then after that, for another four weeks, he'll still have to be kept on minimal exercise. At the end of the four weeks, Bach will get another two shots and then it's another two weeks of no exertion and then finally, if he survives all this, he'll get to go home - and, yup, it looks like he'll have a home to go to.

By the time this is all done, Bach will have been at TAS for almost 5 months. That's a long time to be locked up. It's a good thing Bach's got such an easy-going personality because a lot of other dogs would be kind of screwed up by all that confinement time. While the TAS facilities are pretty good when it comes to animal shelters, it's not that nice to be spending 5 months there. Ideally, there would be a well run, well facilitated humane organization in the city working in partnership with TAS who could take in longer term dogs like Bach and give them a more comfortable environment in which to convalesce.

Let's see how long it takes us to get there. In the meanwhile, Bach's going to be chillin'.

Bach remembers me ...

... or maybe he's just being his usual lovely self with everyone he meets. He seems a bit thinner than before his trip up to TAS north for the duration of the city strike and he's blown his winter coat so he looks a little bit shaggier but otherwise, it looks like he's doing okay. Well, he's just as quick to flop down and ask for belly rubs anyway.




It turns out that while he was away, he was put on some kind of larvacide to kill off any heartworm larvae floating around in his bloodstream as well as some antibiotics to kill off associated bacteria that live off the heartworm. Or something like that. It's a little confusing and I'm not sure I have the facts straight but what it means it that he hasn't started his heartworm shots yet. That's going to be Wednesday.

I also didn't realize how much of a risk factor there is associated with this shot. I know he has to stay fairly immobilized for several weeks but it's the first day or so immediately afterward that is especially risky. If the drug kills too many worms all at once or if his heart is too weak, he could die as the worms die, detach themselves and clog up some artery.

TAS isn't going to send him out to anyone until he's survived his first shot at least (there are two more in six weeks). After all the time Bach's spent locked up, he'd better survive this.

More on Bach here.