Sep 25, 2010
Mexico travel and dogs!
As long as we have travelled to Mexico we have brought 2 doxies with us. In fact we lost our first dog at Mr. Moro's in Playa Los Glorias years ago. We had been visiting a Mexican friend at his home and the dogs were wondering about his fenced yard off leash. He had assured us it was quite safe but moments later he took off at a trot to the back area and quickly came back stating everything was okay. About 5 hours later Cloii woke up screaming and convulsing and within 20 minutes she died. I still cry for her. Was it rat poison? The Mexican said no but we suspect it was. It was a tough lesson to learn. Now we are super watchful on the beach.
Acapulco was the source of much excitement. Caeli decided to kiss one the huge toads that hung around and often swam in our pool. The day she kissed the frog she began foaming at the mouth, we threw her into the pool and washed her mouth out. Colin ran to borrow a cell phone to call our vet here in Kelowna who said to just keep syringing out her mouth to get the poison out. After an hour or so we stopped but could see that the one side of her mouth was burnt. Lesson learned to keep the frogs away. She was very good at hunting them under the vegetation so she was only allowed out under supervision. The next year Caeli decided to taste a tarantula. Fortunately I heard her yelp and saw her become almost paralyzed before my eyes and her respiratory system shut down. I screamed for Colin and we headed to the local vet in the tiny hamlet. He injected her with stimulate to get her heart going again. It was a filthy place but he did save her life. Did you know that tarantulas live in small holes at the base of palm trees? Now you do.
It is difficult to prepare for all emergencies while on the road but I do bring a first aid basket just for the dogs. That way when something happens i can just call our vet and she will diagnose & prescribe over the phone. Actually I am getting pretty good at it myself. Did you know that if your pet gets bitten by a spider and has a reaction, ie eye swelling shut just give them a 24 hour Claritin. If the swelling it still there in 20-30 minutes then its time to head to a vet.
Here in Kelowna we don't have our dogs on any flea or tick medication but we do while on the road. Fortunately we are able to order these meds online and pick them up in the US saving ourselves a huge amount of money. After much research we decided to put the girls on K9advantix which is similar to Frontline or Revolution and is a liquid applied to the base of the neck monthly. I actually called the lab and spoke to a Dr. who steered us towards the K9advantix as it covered more types of ticks then the other brands. It also works against mosquitoes & biting flies. Our vet also has the girls on Interceptor, a small tablet, also taken monthly as a broad spectrum parasiticide. A six month supply of both medications for one dog is approximately 93.00USD. You can often find sales and free shipping.
The last thing we do is have the vet see them the last week before we leave for their annual physical and any shots due and she fills out this huge International Travel Form. We are good to go.
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We found a vet in Mexico, he looks after a number of the other campers pets in our RV park as well. While we still use our vet here, the prices for Kasey’s medication and vet care down there are less than half of what we pay up here and the care is excellent. The only negative comment is that the vet thinks Kasey is too obese, he’s used all those thin Mexican dogs.