Worst Parasitologist Evar!
I wake up today and notice that Hodag looks a bit uncomfortable. Then I notice that he has passed several sections of tapeworm. Now, here is the kicker, he is currently on preventative treatment against fleas! Fleas are the intermediate hosts for tapeworms, so if you prevent fleas, you ought to prevent tapeworms. Apparently, despite my best efforts,Hodag managed to become infected with a flea which was carring a tapeworm. The end result is that this afternoon I had to take him to the vet to get an anti-cestode shot. Today I feel like the worst parasitologist ever. If I can't even keep my cat from getting a parasite, how am I suppposed to keep people from getting them? Of course, I also feel like I should lose weight so when I bitch about the epidemic of American obesity and reccomend that people become more active I don't end up looking like the nurse who smokes.
posted by Nora at
4:28 PM
6 Comments:
Don't be so hard on yourself, Nora. For one, I'm sure Hodag has been eating (or been eaten by) stuff no human would touch. For another, if you knew everything about parasitology, you wouldn't need to be in grad school, would you?
I think benjamin's right...plus, the smoking nurse is usually kinda hot.
wow, not the ones I have seen, they are usually about 45, have dyed blond hair and smell like aniseptic... I want to see the ones you know
Heh. You're right...sarcasm is harder in print ;-p
logical error?
(fleas imply tapeworms) does not imply (no fleas implies no tapeworms)
Nora clarified with me:
It is the case that no fleas implies no tapeworms. This is because fleas are a necessary condition for tapeworms. They, and raw meat, are the only known carriers of feline tapeworms.
It is not the case that fleas imply tapeworms. Hodag can have fleas without having tapeworms. The lack of tapeworms, however, does not make Hodag less ichy.
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