The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Moral question about bugs

At what point in Parker's cat-like tormenting of a junebug should I take the insect away from him? Apparently they're not very tasty, and they seem to fight back.

I never thought I'd actually have these kinds of questions before I got the dog. Odd.

Not-so-bad butt

I forgot to mention how Parker is feeling. The antibiotics (only one of which had to be re-inserted in his food after he spat it out) seem to have done their job. Of course, on the way to visit his friends Sam and Hershey last night, he got to eat his dinner a second time. (Yeah, ew.)

Here's the problem: there is no effective way to keep him from eating rabbit poop. He will get another crypto infection; and he'll have to be on heartworm pills year-round to prevent hookworm. He's not likely to grow out of it, either. But at least now that it looks almost certainly like parasitic infections and not something with his own plumbing, I can start re-introducing him to non-prescription dog food next week, and I don't need to worry as much about him eating sticks.

Finally, I promise, really I do, to post about other topics over the weekend.

How far we've come

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Loving v. Virginia, which established that the 14th Amendment prevents states from prohibiting inter-racial marriages. So I found it mildly amusing when my real-estate agent told me another agent had asked her "who lives in [your] building." That question isn't Kosher for the same reasons Virginia's miscegenation laws weren't.

Rabbits

I like rodents, generally. As a kid I had gerbils. My college roommate Sean's wife raises angora rabbits. They're fuzzy, small, and the subject of cartoons we all grew up with.

Rabbits, however, carry Cryptosporidium canis, a single-celled protozoan that causes bad butt. Parker, garbage dog that he is, finds rabbit poop as delicious as any other kind, and so he managed to give himself a lovely infection that has now cost me almost $100. (This figure includes the $10 the trainer charged me for cleaning up his dining room when Parker shared the experience with the entire day camp.)

You know, I feel bad for Parker, but I think somehow his life (and mine) would be more comfortable if he didn't eat rabbit poop. Now if only he had a working memory and could understand English...

Today's Daily Parker

I need a caption for this:

Possibly, "I am never drinking again..."

Parker is at day camp today, but he's not feeling great. I'm waiting to hear back from the vet on what, exactly, he ate last week. Our money is on rabbit poop, again.

Why there is no TDP or ParkerCam today

I'm visiting my Ps, nowhere near Parker:

Also, some sad news. Reggie, the Aussie standing just behind my dad in the photo above, has lung cancer. He's over 12 years old, and he isn't in any pain right now, but it's only a matter of time. They're totally spoiling him for his last few months: last night, he got about a quarter of dad's steak, for example.