For those of you who do not know, Rooty is a wirehair fox terrier. He is left-handed. He sleeps with his eyes open, with his legs straight up in the air. He absolutely will not come when he is called, I have to turn on a dustbuster or leaf blower when I want him. He also goes to McDonald's at least twice a day, where he hangs out of the window and is made-over by his "ladies" -- much to the horror of everyone behind us in the drive-thru line.Rooty went to the doggie specialist yesterday. He loves going to the vet, any vet. There are people, doggies, kitties, and children's toys there, all of his favorite things. He has been going to his regular vet a lot lately, to have blood tests, about every two weeks or so. Some of the blood test results have been out of the normal range, and have fluctuated widely, although he has never actually been sick (wacky yes, but not sick).
At the doggie specialist, they shaved his tummy and did an ultra-sound of his liver. He has one, and it is miraculously not full of squeaky-toy debris. So, his liver is fine, and he really, really, really loves having his tummy tickled where they shaved the hair. He also had some additional blood work done and that also turned out fine. He has to go back in two months for a follow-up blood test but the bottom line is that whatever was causing the fluctuations in all of those other tests was either something that I was doing to him (hydrocortisone spray for itchy spots) or something he was doing to himself (drinking water in the yard containing blue-green algae perhaps).
I am sharing all of this because most people do not know that there are doggie specialists. Just like people-doctor specialists, they have had years of extra training in specific fields. Charlie was the dog that I had before Rooty. He had cancer, bad. We started treatment at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois, then switched to the doggie specialist in St. Louis. Dogs tolerate chemotherapy very well and Charlie lived about ten times longer than the original prognosis, and then died in his sleep.
Don't give up until your pet does. There are people out there who can help.
10 comments:
I know I would never give up on Fred. His Vet has ALOT of my money (from his bladder problems), but the way I look at it is he is worth it. He is my only (cat) child.
Scott -- I edited your first comment to correct the typo and then deleted the second comment --
-- there was only one cat in the waiting room but Rooty did not see it -- they used to have a cat that stayed in the waiting room, Charlie loved to nudge him with his nose -- needless to say, it was a Kittie that was not easily intimidated :)
Scott - The way that's worded, it looks like your vet has bladder problems that are caused by a lot of your money... :)
Fred's vet pees when he sees Scott's money...Stan pees when he sees an interesting UPC code
Stan--I guess it does :)
[NOTE: Scott's reply to Stan arrived after I posted my reply to Stan, so it is logically out of sequence. Scott's reply to Stan is in code; decoded it mean "If I were in Portland I would hit you in the head with a 2 x 4." Scott and Stan were roommates before Scott took a job at a penal colony in Washington state. Jim]
Getting pet insurance isn't a bad idea, but buyer beware. It can get very expensive to treat dogs, I'm sure it's not any cheaper when you go to a specialist.
I hope all turns out well for Rooty.
Phoenix -- Rooty, of course, most needs collision insurance because he keeps colliding with the bunny that has decided to live by our front door!
-- pet insurance is probably a good idea, I always assumed it was like an extended warranty on a car and would not cover the things most likely to break so I never signed up, it might be a question to post on stlbloggers.com
"Stan pees when he sees an interesting UPC code"
But only when I squint, because then the little bars resemble multiple semicolons.
Jim -
So glad to see you back! I hope Rooty's OK!
he's fine, he has to do to the doggie dentist next week, I haven't told him yet (just a cleaning)
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