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For the last three years I have been bringing my dogs to Costa Rica for the winter. Never had problems with the old dog, but my 4 year old cattle dog has been beleaguered with one problem after another beginning with the unavailability of a high-end ORGANIC kibble. All the other dog foods in Costa Rica have corn in them which Blue is allergic to. But then my vet started carrying California Naturals and Innova (without corn), but he was allergic to those too so now I have to cook homemade dog food. Then came the bout of parasites from flies laying eggs on his food, so now he has to be fed after it gets dark, and if he doesn´t eat it all it goes in the fridge immediately. Then there have been the run of the mill skin problems, for which he had to take antihistiminicas and cortisone. And on and on and on, but the kicker was this latest incident of his shaking his head and scratching behind his left ear. Took him to the vet who said he probably had a little inflammation and gave me some drops. Two days into the 5-day treatment, Blue shook his head and out flew a 1.5″ worm which I wrapped up and dashed off to the vet who told me it was a butterly larvae!! Who knew such a thing could happen, and who knew that bringing a relatively carefree dog to Costa Rica could become a fulltime job of cooking for, caring for, and taking to the vet! And it´s just not MY dog — I´ve met about a dozen people who´ve all had similar problems, minus the butterfly in the ear, so be prepared to all kinds of things to happen to your dog when you bring them to the tropics!
What an amzing story Maravilla.
We used to have similar problems growing up in West Africa… The clothes would be washed and put on the line outside to dry and often flies would lay their eggs in the warm, damp cloth…
This meant that unless the clothes were ironed them really well, there was a risk that you would end up with a maggot growing in your back which was not attractive…
Thankfully my Mum was always on the ball but we saw many friends at the swimming pool for example who had big red lumps in their back waiting for something to burst through… The good news is that apart from being “Yeech! Gross!” There was very little danger of an infection or any problems as long as you cleaned the wound properly after it emerged…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comWell now let me tell you another story! The attorney that sits near me went to Costa Rica last year early before I did in May. It was an aunt’s 65th, so the family gathered somewhere on the Pacific for this celebration. They were all over that part of Costa Rica for a week or so. He returns to work, reports a great trip, yada, yada! But he has the sniffles, can seem to shake them after about a week back. His doctor doesn’t have a clue, but only to blame it on excessive pollen in Portland, their usual comments when they can figure anything out with your nose in our neck of the woods. Well about two months pass, he now is having extremely bad pain in his nose which leads to a semi-emergency trip to his doctor, then into a surgeon down the hall because they discover a huge boil in his nose and don’t know why? It doesn’t like cancer, it doesn’t look like this and that, yada, yada. So the surgeon arranges day surgery for the next day to lance this boil-looking growth to see what is what. So the attorney gets knocked out the next morning, wakes up the surgeon is smiling. The doctor says to him you are not going to believe this but look, showing him a small dish, in it was larvae of some type they found when the lanced the boil object in his nose. To date he has not heard back from the state of Oregon lab that agreed to try to identify what it is.
Well the attorney and his wife plan a vacation back in Costa Rica and he is saying that will not only sleep surrounded by netting, but he plans to have his wife make him a netting mask to cover his face. This is an absolutely true story, my sympathies are with your poor dog!
Thanks,
Tom on a budget in Portland, Oregongeez, those are even worse stories than my poor Blue´s. I did forget another hazard or two — one, is some kind of beetle in the cockroach family that emits a toxin if a dog sniffs around the beetle. Well, sure enough Blue must have done that because his right lower lip looked like a bright red cauliflower. I gave him some Benedryl the night i discovered that and then took him to the vet who always reiterates, “It´s the tropics” with each visit. He gave me some iodine spray, which didn´t make Blue happy at all. Two weeks later and his lip is still all crusty and gnarly looking. Then there are the bufo toads, which can be lethal for a dog. in fact, my neighbor´s dog died from one last year. Thanfully he doesn´t have much interest in the toads, but i can´t trust him to leave him outside at night for even a second!!! As my vet always says, it´s the tropics. Just as the ear thing is coming to a close, i have now discovered a lump with a scab on it behind the ear that had the larvae. After reading your two accounts of bot flies, worms in the skin, and god only knows what else, I have to take him to the vet again — third time this week. maybe it was just a wound from him scratching behind that ear, but i daren´t take a chance. Sheesh. Taking care of a dog in this country is a full time job!!!!! And i´m worn out1
Where in Costa Rica are you living? We have two toy schnauzers that we want to bring to Costa Rica. After hearing your troubles, I have some real concerns.Is your dogs in a pen?
Thanks,
Denise T.I have two dogs that I love dearly. It is very hard to leave them home when I spend time in Costa Rica…but for their own good – they stay in the states. I have a wonderful friend that looks forward to dog sitting them in her home. I weighed the pros and cons for bring them to the beautiful country of Costa Rica but thought that the risk out weighed the benefits. If I ever move there on a full time basis, of course then it is a different issue and they will be with me from the start. When I am in Costa Rica, I make sure there are dogs around that can give me my dog fix.
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