Pet Names and Tapeworms

Today I got to start off my day by finding worms in the feces of one of our dogs. What a wonderful way to start the morning...not! I had to move both of them into Isolation once I got the fecal tested and made sure they were going to be treated. One of my favorite dogs, Asima, happened to be one of the unlucky ones to have the worms. Throughout the day I've been giving her the special treatment and giving her lots of love every time sneak back to Iso (I'm going to have a post dedicated just about her later). After a fecal (exam), we found that it was tapeworms that they are infected with which look like long, thin grains of rice embedded in the poop. I honestly can't look at rice or noddles the same anymore...although that doesn't stop me from eating it ;)

Tapeworms are transmitted to the animal when they accidentally ingest a flea that has tapeworm larvae. Luckily it doesn't make them sick and is not contagious to other dogs, and it's fairly easy to treat with some anti parasite medication.  I have the privilege of giving them the medication in the morning along with the other dog meds :) I've seen a bunch of other parasites and worms since I've been here, such as hookworms and roundworms, but I'll write about those next time I see them again.

Her name is what???

One of the things I can't get over at the shelter is pet names...I have seen some of the funniest and quirkiest names since working here and it never gets old! I read an article on Vetstreet that had the "Top 10 Trendiest Pet Names" as well as as the least trendiest and I posted the pictures here to share. Interestingly enough I have seen every single one of those names used (the trendy ones) at the shelter, and some I have seen multiple times. While the ones on the least trendiest list I have seen only a handful of those names used.

It seems to me that people have been going from those common pet names such as "Lucky" or "Tigger" to more short and cute names like "Lulu" and "Thor". It's fun to see the large variety of names the animals come in with! We keep the names the animals come in with although there have been times when we do get those that cross the line and we have to rename. We had one puppy that had the unfortunate name of "Stoner" and another that had the nickname "B.A.", which stood for Bad Ass.

One of the names that has been growing in popularity in cats AND in dogs that has made all of us get confused at the shelter is....BELLA! Oh my goodness has this name been driving me crazy! We had at one point around 5 dogs named Bella and 4 cats all with the same name. Can you imagine how confusing it would get when someone would ask about a dog named Bella when there were like 5 others? I get it Twilight, you have grown into a cult like movement that everyone has become obsessed with but this is getting ridiculous!


Anyways, now to end with post with pictures of puppies! These Doberman Pinscher mixed pups got adopted yesterday but I wanted to share these pics anyways. We also got 2 pitbull and 2 other terrier mix puppies today, so I'll probably post pictures of them tomorrow if I can snag pictures of them.