How Did Dogs Survive

[Guest KsFrets]

It was the first of the month, and the M&M's got their frontline. Also the heartworm preventitive, and whatever else it kills. They get dental bones and specially balanced foods, and manacures and coat oils...and whatever else us hoomans can think of!

 

Yesterday Jan noticed another black speck crawling on Magnus, which turned out to be a dying tick, the 3rd we've caught on him this spring. And I couldn't help but wonder, how in the world a dog survived 100 years ago. Their ears would be eaten out by mites, as their heart would be destroyed by heartworms, with a collection of various nastyworms working on their stomache, as the fleas and ticks worked inward from the outside...while eating whatever they could find, probably whatever was left over from their hoomans.

 

I'm sure glad we live in the time we do, but also wonder if dogs were tougher back then, or the nastys were weaker, or if people had other methods of prevention or cures.

[GeorgeofNE]

Their lifespan was markedly shorter, just like people.

[Guest ArtysPeople]

I presume their lives were, to quote Hobbes, "nasty, brutish and short".

[Guest cendrine]

And they probably had fewer advocates, too. A dirty dog crawling with vermin would hardly be welcome on anyones's couch. Lots of folks still believe that a dog belongs outside for this reason. Come to think of it, I rarely handle anyone else's dog until I get a sense that they are properly cared for. An aquaintance of mine had two dogs who stayed outside all the time and were never washed or groomed. They were friendly but they STUNK to high heaven, a kind of yeasty, greasy, foul odour. I felt quite sorry for them but I definitely didn't want to get too close. The owners did not seem to want to extend more care than daily feeding. There are so many parasites and diseases that can be transmitted to humans or other dogs. I suppose this is an extension of my nursing education.

[Guest bonnebike]

There was an interesting show on a revisit to Chernobyl. They filmed wildlife in the "exclusion" zone. The noted that the wolves they've checked don't show an increase in cancer, probably because they don't live long enough for the extra radiation to have an effect.

[Greys4Us]

Well, as a professional archaeologist who studied and specialized in the prehistory of the NE USA for over 20 years, dogs were buried along side of many humans in prehistoric cultures. That is the good part. The bad part is that they all died very young (humans and dogs). I've excavated many many dog burials and many of them were modern (in people's back yards as the bulldozers came through to put in that new highway, gas pipeline, etc.).

 

I think that things are much better than they were even as far back as the fifties. But in some places in this country (and in other places in this world), dogs still don't stand much of a chance and are not thought of as something of value. If you saw the latest Oprah show about puppy mills, you will have learned that many people today think of a dog as a beast of burden and would be shocked at the thought of a dog being inside of a house.

 

Although we have come far in placing value in animals, we still have very far to go in some places to catch up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest KsFrets]

ARGGG!

I went for several years without so much as seeing a tick...this spring has been bad. Today after making this post, I dremeled M&M's nails. When I do this, I sit on the ground at their level, and very often my head is up against their side. Shortly after, I had an itch behind my right ear...which I scratched... and a half dead tick fell on my shoulder. That makes two I've had on me, and I'm pretty sure it came off one of the pups.

[Guest GiJenn51]

Ticks and fleas are super bad down here already.