In Case You Were Wondering…

I’d like to tell you about my vet visit, but first I need to back up just a bit. A couple of weeks ago, after I started freaking out because I realized we had zombies living here, my peoples decided to try and help soothe my nerves a bit by giving me Melatonin twice a day. They knew the proper dosages because they researched the product back when they decided to start giving it to Leah during fireworks and thunderstorms, and they thought it would be a good experiment before taking me in for my vet visit so they could let my doctor know if it helped at all.

Fast forward a few weeks, and not only has my anxiety backed down to pre-Zombie levels, you know, back to the original circling behavior that I started when I thought Leah was only “coughing” – which was a pretty benign reaction in comparison to what I’ve been doing since I found out the truth. The other thing my peoples noticed is that I have not gotten sick since the day I returned from my vacation, and now they are thinking that the melatonin may have helped with that too. They even experimented with that too, by letting me drink as much as I wanted for three days before my visit, and although I wish they had given me something more tasty than plain old water, I did manage to keep it all down.

And after discussing all of the above with my vet yesterday, they are going to continue with the Melatonin for a bit and keep him updated as to my progress, but the vet said I may need something stronger if this continues. My peoples have also upped Leah’s Pepcid from once a day to twice a day, to try and stop her from scaring me so often. They had already tried it temporarily while Luke and Kayla were visiting to make sure not to add to my stress level while the house was so “tight” – and it worked well – so the vet said they can continue with the higher dosage. How exactly Pepcid prevents Zombie attacks, I’m really not sure, but I’m sure glad it seems to be helping.

Beside the Zombies, my peoples went over a few more things with my vet. I had two lumps re-checked, and they still appear to be Lipomas. I also have an intermittent limp in my hind end on my right side that started back in January, but when the examining vet checked it, it was so mild that she could hardly see it. From my gait in general, she suspected mild hip issues, which could cause a limp, but also said it could have been spinal or even knee related – and without knowing where to start x-raying, she decided to hold off and just prescribe some rest, and the limp went away…

But since that visit, my limp has come and gone several more times, and although my peoples just rest me for a few days and then I am good as new again, they did want to know what may be causing it. The plan is that when I go in next month for my echocardiogram and chest x-ray (to recheck the heart murmur I developed last year), my vet will also try to get x-rays of my hips and spine – if I behave. Otherwise, he said I may need to come back on a date when I can be sedated, because I can’t be sedated for the other tests. I’m usually good at the vet, so I’m going to try my best to hold still for him, that way I don’t need to be sedated and I can save my peoples some monies too. (See what a good boy I am?)

In the meantime, my vet told my peoples to try giving me supplements, so they ordered me Phycox, like Leah gets for her arthritic knee, but they ordered me the “HypoAllergenic” version, since I have so many allergies.

I also got my titers, my heartworm test, and my three year rabies shot, so hopefully (other than my aforementioned x-rays and echo) I can stay out of the vet’s office for a bit. It’s not that it’s so terrible there, but I’ve had several prostate exams over the years, and even when they don’t check that, they always want to stick a thermometer up my butt, and frankly, I’m tired of the intrusions.

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