First, He could NOT feel anything alarming with Audrey's hips. He said since he couldn't, there is no need to x-ray them now, just to be sure, because we wouldn't do anything differently at this point anyways. He said we are already keeping her at an ideal weight and giving her glucosamine, so unless she starts having obvious symptoms, it's good.

Her back knee is what he said was a problem. It's "slipping", and since it has never been like this before, she has hurt it somehow. Very likely could have happened when my daughter was passed out on the floor and total strangers in the house freaked her out. I really wonder if during that extreme tension there was a fight between the dogs. That would help to explain why she's so freaked out and royally pi@@ed off at them. The hurt knee would also explain why she's been spending so much time in her crate, and add to the fact that she is super cranky to them too.

As far as the raw diet goes, not a single issue. He didn't say anything at all except she looks great and it's obviously working good for her! Yay!

When I told him I did not want her to get the bordatella vaccine, he said that was perfectly OK by him. I told him I wanted to do the titer test, instead of the parvo/distemper/parainfluenze vaccine, and I didn't want the ratio test, I wanted the levels test, and the lab they use doesn't do it. He looked and said they do have an account with the lab that does do it, but it's was late Friday afternoon and there was no one to talk to, so he is going to check into exactly what they need to do the test and I'll take her back next week to get the blood drawn. They'll do the heartworm test then also. I then asked him what to look for as far as her getting sick from parvo or distemper. He said, honestly, in 10 years he has only seen ONE case of distemper, and it was a dog that was never vaccinated. Parvo is what they see, in fact starting in a week or two they'll see it almost daily. BUT, and this is what I found MOST interesting, he said that since she HAS been vaccinated, if she did get it it would most likely be mild, AND he rarely, if ever sees a dog over a year old with parvo at all. Hmmmmm..... he said about 15 months is the max age he sees, the oldest was 2, and again that dog had never been vaccinated. So now I wonder, do we need the titer test for distemper at all? Probably not. Parvo? Maybe.....

As far as heartworm meds, he said he does not have any personal experience with any alternatives to the chemical ones, but if I was interested he gave me the name of 2 vet hospitals close by who would know about it. I plan to call them Monday am. He said he would NOT go past 45 days with the ivermectin, it's too risky, and that he felt it was very safe and has no problems using it on his own dogs. As much as I hate the fact that it is poison in my dog, I am not willing to risk doing nothing at all. So I did get 3 pills, and unless the vets in Charlotte can show me comparable results with an alternative, I'll start giving it to her every 45 days.

On an overall health note, she weighs 41 pounds, same as in Nov when she was spayed, so that's really good she's maintaining her weight. And she is missing EIGHT teeth! WTH? He said it's actually very common. Sure would explain why she had such a hard time chewing that hunk of chicken! She has a mild entropian, which is why her eye runs so much and causes tear stains, but again not bad enough to warrant surgery.

Cathy
when she first came home