Getting Ready for a Trip

The animals (and ourselves) are getting ready to move to New Zealand.



The amount of work to get them ready to go is amazing. The regulations for importing cats and dogs into New Zealand are very extensive and specific. When it's all said and done, this is by far the most expensive and stressful aspect of our move. Here's the rundown of their vet visits for the month before departure:

Visit 1: Within 30 days

Monday December 21^st – both pets

*Blood draw for rabies titre

*Blood draw for leptospirosis, ehrlichiosis and brucellosis (brucellosis must be a serum agglutination) (ONLY TOBI)

*Two heartworm tests (antigen and microfilaria) (ONLY TOBI)

*First fecal test

(we recommend direction submission to Kansas State to expediate the results, attached please find the Kansas State submission form)

Visit 2: Within 10 days

Wednesday January 6^th – both pets

*First worming with Praziquantel and Pyrantel

*Blood draw for Babesia (ONLY TOBI) (we recommend direct submission to Texas A&M to save time as Antech or Idexx will take an additional day or two to get to the sample to the testing lab)

Visit 3: Within 4 days

Thursday January 14^th

*Flea/tick

*Worming with ivermectin (see Certificate A (attached) for other types of acceptable wormers)

*Second fecal test

*Second worming with Praziquantel and Pyrantel

*Exit Exam

*Sign off on Certificate A

Friday January 15^th

Departure!

In addition, they require and import permit and a courier to ship them. Once they arrive, they'll be in quarantine for 30 days. One week to go, cross your fingers that it all works out as planned!

Tobi Update

Quick update on Tobi, I haven't posted in a little while. A month and a half or so ago, she started losing hair like crazy and her skin got really pink. After a lot of baths, we realized it was the flea shampoo that was irritating her. So we switched back to Trader Joes Tea Tree shampoo, and within days she was way better.
We also switched her food, mostly for selfish reasons involving $80 a bag, but she got really stinky. She's better now, so we think it might be something else she ate, but nonetheless we ordered another bag of her old food which we know is good for her. We'll mix them together for a while, and see how that goes.
And that's the update!

Tobi at the Creek

Tobi at the Creek from Morgan Loomis on Vimeo.

We took Tobi to the creek in downtown San Luis Obispo, and she decided to start a rock collection. She waded in and intently patroled until she saw an especially appealing stone, and then she would stick her whole head under the water to grab it, holding her breath for several seconds while blowing bubbles out of her nose. She carried each one triumphantly to a pile on the shore, and then returned for another. By the time we left she had about a dozen rocks in her collection, and at least as many adoring fans.

Mouth Surgury!

During a checkup a while ago, the vet found a growth on Tobi's gums. Once we were aware of it, we noticed that when she was playing she would accidently bite it and make it bleed, so we knew it had to go. So she went into surgury yesterday, and everything went good. The vet tech said it's the only dog she's seen who slept through an IV insertion. Snoring, no less. When we picked her up she was as spry and happy as ever, as if nothing had happened. Here's a suitably gross before and after picture of her gums:

The growth is that strawberry looking thing in the center of the top picture. And below, it's totally gone! Tada!

Tobi's Pills

Tobi's daily pill regimen has gotten complicated enough that we got a little weekly pill case for her:

And here's a legacy of her old and current medications:

Tobi in Slow Motion

We got a fun new camera, and tested it out on Tobi:

Tobi Running Slow Motion from Morgan Loomis on Vimeo.

Tobi's Toy in Slow Motion from Morgan Loomis on Vimeo.

Dermatology Report

So tobi had a recheck with the dermatologist, and her little cyst wasn't going away as nicely as they'd hoped, despite the new antibiotics. Now, at this point, she's been on some sort of antibiotics almost non-stop for a long time. We've literally been giving her between one and 6 pills a day for over six months. So the doctor did a culture, and found out that Tobi has grown resistant to many types of antibiotics. For your reading pleasure, here's the printout:



Oh, and also she still has staph. So they gave her a big bottle of people-sized doses of Clindamycin, which should hopefully fix that.