Since the rise of the Internet, I find myself increasingly sticking up for vets. Online, there are now millions of amateur diagnosticians and medical authorities eager to tell people with animals what to do when there are troubles.

Vets go to school for six years, are almost invariably animal lovers, rarely make much money, put up with loads of crap from online experts and emotionally over invested pet owners, not to mention social media animal lunatics. I have found vets by far the best and most reliable source of medical support for my dogs.

They have helped my dogs in immeasurable ways – including saving Red’s life just a few weeks ago – and helping some leave the world with dignity and compassion. I am grateful to them and loyal to them.

I stand by them.I would not last an hour as a vet, i would be tossing people out left and right.

Yesterday was yet another example of why I appreciate them so much. Over the weekend all three of  my dogs started scratching, biting and licking themselves, their underbellys were turning red, they could not get comfortable, they were in true distress, gnawing at their tails and bodies.

I don’t know about others, but I can’t work or rest or sleep easily if my dogs are in distress, I’ve learned this years ago.

Monday morning, I called our vet, Dr. Suzanne Fariello of the Cambridge Valley Vet and she agreed to see us quickly. I brought Fate and Gus, thinking whatever they had, Red must also have. Since Red nearly died from tick bites this summer, I wanted to make sure I understood what it was.

It took Suzanne about a second to spot the flea droppings and traces.

She gave Fate and Gus a steroid shot, and prescribed three monthly doses of NexGard, a chewable adult flea killer, also a can of spray for the carpets and wooden floor spaces where the dogs often lie or sleep. By the time we got  home, Fate and Gus had stopped biting and scratching, and a few hours after his pill, Red was at ease again. It took me 15 minutes to spray the carpets (Maria fled to her Studio, she hates the spraying part) and this morning all three dogs are fine.

Maria and I have not had any bites, so it seems this minor dog crisis is over. I am so happy to be at work and able to concentrate this morning.

The downside, of course, was the bill – over $383.29. About half of that was the NexGard, $100 was office visit charges and the rest:  injections ($60)  and carpet and dog tick and flea sprays ($50.)  Our flea and tick collars, put on the dogs in May, are still good.

Up until this weekend, they worked beautifully, in a wicked tick season, there have been none on our dogs.

This is a lot of money to spend on fleas, my mother and father would never have dreamed of taking a dog to the vet for fleas, they hosed them down with disinfectant in the back yard. Our dogs always had bare patches from scratching, and were almost always scratching. It was just something everyone lived with.

Veterinary care, like human health care, is just getting too expensive, and the dogs who suffer most are those who never see a vet because their owners can’t afford to take them there. That is a genuine health crisis for dogs. One veterinary school survey found that 30 million pet owners in American say they will no longer take their dogs to veterinarians any  because they simply can’t afford to. That is a true crisis for cats and dogs, I hate to think of how many pay the price for that in suffering and death.

There’s not much mystery about the fleas, they are epidemic up here, given the heat and humidity and moisture. They are all over the donkeys and sheep and are overtaking even the most reliable collars and most sprays. They are all over almost everybody’s dogs. Up here, dogs spend a lot of time outside.

Life happens, there are no absolute guarantees.

As always, I wrote about the fleas, and was flooded with amateur diagnoses, testimonials, questions, interrogations and advice, some good, most bad. I do not make health decisions about my dogs based on anonymous diagnoses or advice from strangers on the Internet. I can’t think of a more callous form of abuse and irresponsibility.

Several people messaged me to assure me I am killing my dogs with toxic pills and shots  “You are killing your dogs with these toxins,” wrote Hilari Mouery Benfield, “how sad.”   She also suggested I was a poor dog owner for letting my dogs get fleas in the first place.

When she was challenged by a number of people, she huffed and puffed and said this was a public blog, she had the right to say whatever she wanted. That set me off. I told her I was not a public official and this was most definitely not a public place – no taxes. I urged her to get lost and I hope she doesn’t so I can ban her. That always makes me feel as if I did something good for the world by standing up to one more nasty person.

I have no regrets about my vet,  she is great.

I wish veterinary care were less expensive, but she has a lot of bills and loans to pay off.  Six years are a long time to be in school. I’m glad I had the money in the bank.

With all of the tick and other diseases around here this year, I also wanted to make sure it was fleas, and not something more serious. I am happy to be at my computer this morning, my three wonderful dogs sleeping peacefully and quietly at my feet. I am grateful to Suzanne Fariello once more for helping me resolve this quickly and completely – less than 24 hours.

People should make their own decisions, of course, and I am sure there are many home and holistic and other remedies that work for them. This is what works for me, and for my dogs.