Puppies and Fleas and Worms... Oh My!

I've written before about the low prices here in Cancun. This generally also applies to medical expenses (though you should have travel insurance) and veterinary care.

After we brought our new puppy (Diablo) home (see this post for more on that), a couple of days passed uneventfully, by which I mean "as uneventfully as possible for the owners of a new puppy."

Then, perhaps inevitably, we discovered that he had worms and fleas! I'll spare you the details of that gruesome symbiosis (unless you want to read about them here).


The previous owner had assured us that Diablo was "clean & healthy." (Of course, the previous owner was also homeless.) Despite the man's assurances that Diablo had also had his shots (nigh impossible for a dog of two months), we clearly needed to see a vet for a multitude of reasons.


We took Diablo to Animal World, a pet store & clinic in the strip mall near Domino's Pizza on Coba Avenue.

To date, we have had two visits (totaling 30+ minutes) & the following procedures:


- General physical examination
- Initial deworming
- Revolution heartworm treatment
- Nail clipping
- First round of shots (3-in-1, including parvo & distemper vaccines)


The total cost ran to just over 500 pesos (about $40). In Toronto, this would have cost about five times that amount. Amazing...


One last note:


This part of the story is kind of gross but too funny to let my embarrassment stop me from telling it. After we first saw a worm in Diablo's poop (a cm-long white tapeworm), we googled the heck out of "puppy + worms" & discovered that they are very common in puppies (as they are usually dormant in & passed on by their mothers) & that, though unlikely, hookworms can be passed on to humans.


Anyway, the next morning, I woke up & went to the bathroom to "make a desposit." When I looked down, I saw what looked like a skinny long white worm! Eeeeeeeek! In my hazy state, it took me a moment to recognize what I was seeing: it was just a shadowy meniscus in the toilet. (Don't you love that word? I knew high school chemistry would be good for something!)


"That was a relief," I thought to myself. In more ways than one...


Yep: I may have ants in my pants & clouds in my brain but, so far at least, I don't have worms...