A Sunday Swim

I have gotten out of the habit of taking Morey swimming so one Sunday after church I decided to stop by the off leash swim area. There were lots of dogs there that day and Morey eagerly plunged into the water with the labs, Rottweilers, goldens and terriers. When he has his ball he almost ignores the other dogs (unless they take his ball and then he just follows them around until they drop it). It was really hot so while Morey was cooling off in the water I was roasting on the shore. I had brought water for myself but Morey was drinking from the river- which isn't clean enough for people to swim in so probably not safe to drink either.

Morey would swim and fetch until he dropped but I was starting to overheat so I called him back to me and we returned to the coolness of the air conditioned car. He then got a bath once we got home and after being outside for only a few minutes afterward he was almost completely dry. I guess there are some advantages to the heat??

The next day Morey's poop was on the soft side and later in the afternoon at work he kept standing by the door of my office and looking up at me. That isn't normal so I asked him if he needed to "hurry". He practically bolted out the door and once I put his vest on him he pretty much ran down the hallway to the elevator. Once we got outside I could see why he had needed to go out so urgently. I immediately called his vet and asked to stop by to pick up some GI food - which is excellent at plugging things up. I told them what had happened and when I mentioned swimming/drinking from the river they said if the food didn't do the trick I should bring him in to be tested for Giardia, a parsasite that causes diarrhea and is often found in contaminated water.

Two cans of food later and things were still on the messy side so I called to make an appointment with the vet. I brought in a stool sample that they sent away for testing. The vet started Morey on two antibiotics and a probiotic and gave me more canned food for him. $300 later, that turned out to be a very expensive swimming trip!