
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 3, 1995                   TAG: 9505040012
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BEN BEAGLE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT DOG DISEASES

Here is the aged, semi-retired, semi-hysterical reporter waiting in the examining room at the animal clinic.

My dog has gone somewhere for tests and I'm alone.

I need something to read at times like this. I always forget to bring "Bleak House" with me.

There are pamphlets on this rack on the wall. I choose one titled "Worms and Your Dog." The cover has a healthy golden retriever playing with a healthy little girl.

Suddenly, I'm reading about heartworms, hookworms, roundworms and whipworms and I'm beginning to get sick.

I read that heartworms can be as long as 14 inches and that they feed in your dog's heart. You avoid this by giving your dog this big, expensive pill every month.

If you don't give your dog these pills, the worms restrict the flow of blood to the lungs, kidneys and liver - and pretty soon you're digging Old Blue's grave with a silver spade.

For reasons that should be obvious, I put the worm literature in my pocket. There's something about worms that makes me swimmy-headed, as we used to say in Radford.

I am soon reading about canine bladder stones - which could show up any any minute in my dog.

I also will not dwell here on canine bladder stones, except to say that they cause urinary blockage and soon you're out there giving Old Trafalgar a decent burial.

I certainly will not go into any of the symptoms here. If you have an interest in canine bladder stones, I'll send you a copy of the pamphlet in a plain brown envelope.

My dog has been away for a long time and I find myself thinking that all the doctors are now in a conference talking about whether she can survive open-heart surgery.

I also imagine that I feel my credit card twisting in my wallet pocket. Nerves, I guess.

I now choose a pamphlet about canine viral diarrhea - caused, as we examining-room veterans know - by coronavirus.

My dog comes back at this time and she doesn't have any of the diseases I've been reading about.

I know many of you are dying to know more about coronavirus. If so, go sit in your own examining room.

by CNB