May 2, 2007 It's SPRINGTIME!

May 2, 2007

It’s SPRINGTIME!

Yes it’s that wonderful time of year, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, everything is green and beautiful and we have our lovely spring rains. Our dogs are eager to play outside and go after all the new little bunnies, squirrels, and other creatures and some dogs love to DIG in the ground for them!

Well this means only ONE thing; you open your door to a dirty, wet, smelly dog! Most people can manage to wipe off Fido’s paws as he comes in the door or towel him off after his romp in the wet grass. In extreme cases Fido may need a bath, no problem, pop him into the tub and scrub him down. Unfortunately if Fido has a longer coat you may then discover something you hadn’t notice before this bath; matted hair.

You dig out your grooming tools, find the dog brush and brush away but you notice that those matts are not coming out or you have managed to brush the entire top coat OVER the matts so they are now less noticeable. Hmmm, better call the groomer you say to yourself. You dial your groomer and you get her answering machine, so you leave her a message. She calls you back but you aren’t home so she leaves you a message to call her back. This scenario goes on for a few days. Meanwhile, Fido continues to go outside and play in the mud and comes back inside and after toweling him off you notice something else. Tiny little ticks embedded in Fido’s skin! Uh oh! Well what did you expect? It IS mushroom season in Indiana now.

You head for your vet and pick up some Frontline Plus for fleas and ticks, you figured it was so cold out last week you wouldn’t need it before now. Au contraire! Haven’t you learned yet that there is one thing you can count on in Indiana that is the weather changing all year long, balmy and sunny one day, rainy and cold the next, snowing the next day, 74 degrees the next. When you do your laundry you discover shorts and tanks, sweaters, coveralls, mittens, hats and bathing suits.

Your groomer finally manages to reach you but she’s booked up for the next month! Wow! You didn’t have that much trouble getting an appointment in the winter, why is she so busy now? Why? She is busy because it is spring and all the dogs are shedding their winter coats, getting filthy and hot! You asked to be put on her cancellation list just in case she gets some time to squeeze you in. So you apply your Frontline Plus to Fido and a week later the phone rings and it’s your groomer calling to tell you that she had a cancellation for TODAY and she can get you in. Whew! What a relief, Fido’s odor was really beginning to get to you and all that hair to wipe off day after day was wearing you out washing all those towels. You look outside and it’s raining. If you get Fido all cleaned up today he’ll just go outside and mess himself all up again. You briefly consider not taking that open appointment, but then look at poor Fido and his long matted hair and decide that it’s the best thing for him, besides can you stand him another 3 weeks?

Fido gets groomed, looks great, smells great, and now thanks to you getting Frontline Plus he has no more ticks. The moral of this story is, we live in Indiana. If there is anything consistent about Indiana it’s the weathers inconsistency. So what’s a person to do? My advice is this: stay on a schedule all year round for grooming appointments, flea and tick control, (yes even in the winter!) and heartworm medication then you won’t be caught off guard by the sudden emergence of long matted hair, fleas and ticks, and groomers who are too busy to squeeze you in. If you pretend it’s spring all year round you’ll always have a clean, parasite-free pet, and it’s really time to put your New Year’s resolution into effect about getting organized. Get out your calendar now, make your appointments, stock up on your pets’ flea and tick control, and take Fido for a walk in the woods and start looking for mushrooms!