Getting to the bottom of things with Tara

We made an unplanned trip to the veterinarian because Tara was having some problems. I thought perhaps she had intestinal worms because she was licking her back side and scooting across the floor. When I was a boy and our dogs got worms we didn't take them to the vet; my Dad would simply feed them cigarettes . The tobacco was a tried and true de-wormer remedy handed down from generation to generation.

As it turns out, the problem was not worms but a burst anal gland. Anal gland? I'd never heard of such a thing. It was no consolation when the vet said that this problem is unusual in a dog so young. It was also no consolation when he said that once a dog has this problem it can happen again.

So we left Tara at the clinic overnight so Dr. Johnson could repair the burst gland. And as long as Tara was anesthetized we had her teeth cleaned, also (don't ask why a dog has to be put under to clean its teeth).

Now Tara is back home, but she has a drain on her backside to allow healing from the inside out. Twice a day we have to wash her wound, clean the drain, and move it back and forth to promote healing. Needless to say, this is not something Tara enjoys. Nor is it something I enjoy, for that matter. I will spare you the details about what exactly I have to do to clean the drain and apply medicine, but will say that it takes two of us to hold Tara still enough for this to happen.

And Tara has to wear a cone to keep her from licking the gland as it heals. I don't have a photo of Tara, but here is a photo that gives a sense of what she is wearing. Tara HATES her cone. Twice she tore off the cone, but now seems resigned to wearing it. The healing will take 10-14 days if everything works well. In the meantime, I remove the cone when I let Tara outside to do her duty and when I take her for walks. Otherwise, this is her newest fashion accessory.