Heartworm and Lungworm

I was really happy to move out here for various reasons, one of which is there are no skunks and no porcupines.  The westies have had encounters with both these animals and its not fun.  If you have dogs, I'm sure you know what I mean.  The other thing they don't have in Cape Breton is heartworm.  I was really happy to learn that as I don't like giving them poison.  However, it turns out they have lungworm which is transmitted by foxes and the dogs get it by eating grass.  What dog doesn't eat grass during the summer.  A study conducted in Cape Breton by the Charlottetown Veterinary College showed that 75% of dogs were infected.  And guess what, we have a resident fox.  He is not shy at all and the barking westies have no effect on him whatsoever.  So we are doing lungworm protection as well as tick protection.

Lupins grow wild all over Cape Breton, especially on hillsides and the sides of ditches, usually facing south.  We have one lupin plant.  Clearly we will have to plant some more.  We cannot have a blog called Lupins and Roses and have only one plant in our yard.


A few days ago I spotted a very interesting piece of driftwood at the beach.  It would not fit in the car so we went back today with the pickup truck.  It will eventually be integrated into the landscaping