To the Vet

I took Pie to the vet this morning. Dx is demodex which is a problem because a healthy adult dog should not get demodex. It means her immune system is suppressed. I had the vet draw blood to send to Dr. Dodds for thyroid testing. Pie has been low in the past but treatment was not recommended due to her not showing clinical signs. But since then I have learned that not all clinical signs are the typical overweight and poor coat type signs. Pie may or may not be showing some of the less typical signs. I am wondering if a bad thyroid leads to a suppressed immune system which leads to the demodex? Dr. Dodds will let me know because even though she is the best know thyroid specialist in the country, she takes the time to send you a personalized consultation of your results. She also answers emails sent to her clinic herself. I should hear about the thyroid later this week.

Later in the day I took Pants to the vet for a blood draw for allergy testing. I need to find out what foods she is allergic to. Her licking/chewing has gotten very bad again. I would have also liked to have tested for inhalant allergies but the testing is very expensive and I did not want to pay for both at this time. It will take 7-10 days to get results from the allergy panel.

After that Dottie and I practiced some more running contacts and general agility. I think her overall effort on the board was marginally better today.

I took today off after working this weekend. I think I would have liked to sleep in longer since I stayed up too late last night, but I had to get up to go to my first vet appointment. Even though I didn't want to get up, I was happy my alarm went off because I was having a horrible dream about a June Bug invasion. It was very, very bad. After thinking about it, the best way to describe it is like the newer Mummy movies with the beetles that swarm and eat people. Luckily these bugs were not eating but they were swarming for sure. I will be happy to never have a dream like that again!

General Agility Video from today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNeBPrRQrAA&feature=related

Running Contact Video from today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntWvteiYcqs