Tick Fever

We were right to be worried about ticks. Despite regular Frontline applications, constant grooming and total obsessing about ticks, it looks as if our dog, Jessie, has contracted Lyme's Disease. The symptoms started to show yesterday after our walk when she couldn't jump into the back of the car. I knew it was serious when I put a piece of bread in the boot and she still couldn't get into the car. She seemed not so much lame, but stiff, and there was no obvious reason why, nor any particular clatter that we could remember that might have caused stiffness.

One trip to the vet, 3 injections, 2 thermometers up her bottom and instructions to get a urine sample later we are wondering how we are going to cope with the ticks. We are not even into the tick season proper yet; everyone says it is going to get worse. Already the boys are starting to look like they are beekeepers when we go on a walk as I take tick paranoia to new levels. But, I can not work out how Jessie is going to get her walk AND we are to remain tick free. There are ticks everywhere from the woods on the hills behind Tuzla (to be expected) to the more manicured central park of Slana Banja in the middle of town (more surprising).

In the meantime, Jessie is visibly improved after her vet trip and almost has a bounce in her step. Lyme Disease is a nasty disease but very treatable so fingers crossed that that is what it is. She has most of the symptoms, except for the one which involves not eating, neatly demonstrating that our tales of her food obsession are not exaggerated.

I spent an interesting morning trying to obtain a urine sample from a female dog whilst attempting to hold a form of conversation, in patchy Bosnian, with a neighbour curious to know what exactly I was doing. It can be difficult to maintain any form of dignity in these situations. The life of a mother, nothing but glamour.