Dr. Laura

It's been two and a half weeks since we picked Roscoe & Flash up from the Humane Society. At the time, Roscoe was covered in ticks, and, we were informed, had worms -- here, give him this medicine the next couple of days and he'll be fine.

And for about a week, he was.

Last Sunday, he didn't eat. Or Monday, or Tuesday or ... well, on Thursday we got him to eat some dog food with some wet dog food on top, but we came home to find he's vomited it all up, all over the house. And the same on Friday. And on Saturday. So Saturday night I made him some white rice, and on Sunday we gave it to  him with some canned chicken. He ate it all, and managed to hold it down, and he's been doing good with the eating and not puking since then.

But all the not eating and the puking and -- well, there were some problems at the other end, too -- worried me, and rather than let another week go by, HB and I decided it was time for Roscoe to visit Dr. Laura.

Dr. Laura is one of two vets in the BVI, the other being employed by the veterinary division of the BVI government. Dr. Laura, though, is the only one that really maintains what might be called a private veterinary practice, and even that is awfully limited. See, her main clinic is in St. John, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she comes to Tortola to help care for the pets of the BVI. Tuesdays are for exams; Thursdays are for surgeries. So if your dog has a problem on Wednesday, you better hope it's not serious.

At any rate, Dr. Laura took a look at Roscoe. Ran some tests. Dr. Laura figured he probably was having a relapse of worms, which he was, but she's pretty thorough, and also found that Roscoe has canine tick fever. Thankfully, he's still in the early stages of tick fever, and can be treated with pills for a month.

I don't think Flash and Roscoe will be going back to the Humane Society.

But if you're in the BVI, and need a vet, go see Dr. Laura. She's in the bright pink building, just down the road from the West End ferry terminal.