MRSA

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MSRA)

Well, this explains a lot. The vet called today and she said one of the cultures on the material surgically removed from our dog, Baron, grew a bit of MRSA. As much as we paid for all this, it should have grown a synthetic gem stone.

Antibiotic resistant staph bacteria, MRSA, pronounced mersa. She thinks she got it all, the "fistula tract," but we need to be vigilant.

This stuff is found in people, it is contagious, usually associated with the skin but when it enters the system it can be fatal. It has developed resistance to the normal antibiotics, so really hard to treat and when we gave him the normal stuff for a month (over a month now), it was ineffective. Often called the super bug.

Fortunately, Baron is a healthy organism. Not over weight, regular exercise, lots of sleep (trust me on that one), and most importantly, showered with affection. Elements of a long and happy life. Seriously, a healthy immune system is essential for our resistance to MRSA, and we hope his is as good as we think it is. So far, so good.

Since our house appears to be the scene of a murder (I said it looks like somebody lost a knife fight), we need to be cautious because we have been exposed. Most of it has been cleaned up by now, but we will continue to do some cleaning. I can only speculate, but I will bet that when we let him swim in the lake, he poked himself with a stick or something and the bacteria entered into the wound.

If you don't know how attached we are to that 11-year old golden retriever, you haven't been paying attention. We had almost convinced ourselves that the sore that was not healing was hemangiosarcoma, a common cancer in goldens. In that case, we were looking at 60-72 days. Losing an adored pet is so hard, and we know he is getting older.

Ducked a bullet this time. This time...