Health Concerns for Werewolves

Werewolves don’t have as many weaknesses as humans or vampires, but they do have weaknesses all the same, and while some of these are easily recalled to the mind, no one thinks of the most important health concerns for werewolves. It’s time to start applying a bit more logic to the werewolf scene, so that shapeshifters everywhere can lead happy, healthy lives, regardless of their perspective on maiming and devouring humankind.

Ticks & Fleas

If you prefer to transform outdoors, and run through the wilderness with your wolf brethren, you’re going to encounter fleas, and ticks, from other animals, and probably from constantly brushing against trees to mark your territory. You don’t have to douse your body in harsh chemicals either. There are a variety of methods safe to use on human skin, including the very simply lemon flea and tick repellent. Just boil some water, pour into over a lemon cut into quarters in a bowl or jug, let it sit overnight, and use it all over your body before and after transformation. Remember, allowing a flea and tick infestation on the skin can cause a variety of nasty bacterial infections, not to mention various socially awkward situations.

Intestinal Parasites

Eat raw food, and it comes with the territory; tape worms, round-worms, hook-worms, and all manner or other disgusting little things are crawling through whatever raw meat you might end up scarfing down during a romp through the wilderness. Treatment should be a combination of human and canine medication; try one or the other first, and see what works best. Now that your DNA has mutated, some medicines will have different effects on your body, so be careful when self-medicating. Prevention is easy enough; eat well before your transformation on the full moon, and if you retain any human consciousness at all in your wolf form, abstain from hunting!

Rabies

If you haven’t had your rabies shots, then you should get vaccinated today; you never know what you might run into in your wolf form, and being a werewolf is hard enough without having to suffer the indignity of being a rabid werewolf. Again, this is a preventable health issue; you can decline your moonlit hunt by eating before you change, or by getting vaccinated.