Short trip to Mark Twain Lake

This last weekend we decided to go to Mark Twain Lake. It is a Corp. of Engineers Park in Northeast Missouri. We were in Ray Behrens campground.

Nice site, but where are the flamingos!

There they are ... why weren't they out?

While exploring on Saturday morning Cindy was able to get this shot of two turkey vultures.

Later on Saturday morning we drove into Perry to walk around the antique shops and eat at the Hootenanny Cafe. It is a good lunch spot but does have a limited menu.

After we ate we went back to the campground to laze around for awhile. At the campground we noticed that Ditka was biting and scratching at a spot on his back. I was keeping an eye on Ditka when I noticed a worm sticking out of his back. I got Cindy's attention and she got a tissue for me. With the tissue I gently pulled the worm from his back. It was white and about four inches long. Like a thin piece of spaghetti. Ditka had been acting rather lethargic and now finding the worm ... It really put a damper on the weekend.

We were worried about Ditka and if we should be concerned for Sox and ourselves. We packed up to head back home (50 miles) hoping our neighbor the veterinarian was home. When we got home we could tell that Jim and Jan were gone for the weekend. So Ditka was relegated to the garage till Monday morning.

Monday morning off to the vet we go. After examining Ditka, Jim told me that in 29 years of practicing veterinarian medicine he had never run into this before! From my description of the worm, he was able to show me an actual size picture of the worm and we identified it as a round worm. The oddity is that roundworms are intestinal parasites.

Jim spent quite awhile looking through various books and even looking at some of his college notes. He knew of a short fat worm that is some times found in the skin of dogs, but no long, thin worms. He did not find anything in his books or notes. So after he cleaned the wound he gave us some antibiotics and sent us on our way. He did tell me that we should not worry about Sox or us getting infected with worms.

Strange things happen!

KP