More Maddie news

Today, I got a call from the vet who told me that something had come back positive in Maddie's heartworm test. My immediate thought was that she had heartworms which is very, very bad since the medicine to treat that condition is one of those that tries to kill the heartworms without killing the dog. But it turns out that she tested positive for Lyme disease. That doesn't mean that she has Lyme disease, but that she has evidence of the nasty little critters in her blood. I did pluck a few ticks off of her over the summer, so I suppose that's not inconceivable. Luckily, it doesn't sound like Lyme disease is a big deal in dogs, unlike with people. The disease can be similarly difficult to diagnose, but the vet's opinion was that it was worth putting her on a round of antibiotics given this positive test rather than doing additional, more accurate tests. Those antibiotics tend to clear up the disease in dogs (again, unlike for people) over a few weeks.

This may explain why Maddie has seemed a bit stiff lately. I chalked that stiffness up to her advancing age, but I suppose that it could be Lyme disease although she hasn't shown any of the severe symptoms associated with the disease (e.g. extreme lameness.) Hopefully, this treatment will help her recover some of her verve and vigor. Not that she's really lost it since she still loves to play ball (although we don't play frisbee anymore, leaving that pastime to poseurs at the dog park who Maddie would've put to shame in her prime.) But she has been taking more time going up the stairs and jumping into the car and onto the bed.

As for the kids, Teddy has started to display a disturbing tendency to cry inconsolably right around the time that I get home from work and start cooking dinner. We'll see if it continues at which point my dedicated readers can expect a full deconstruction of this behavior.