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Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 28 2004

Last night was another cold one with the lows in the 20s

     Luckily the sun is shining brightly this morning, and the highs are supposed to reach the 50s. The forecast says tonight's low will be in the upper 30s, thank goodness! The dogs will be comfortable in their hay-filled dog houses inside their plywood box shelters.

Today is heartworm pill day

     Once a month each dog gets the appropriate pill for his or her weight classification. Juana oversees the feeders who very carefully make sure that each dog receives and swallows his or her pill.

We'll be picking up Jordan and Baby Girl this afternoon

     We called the clinic, and they said these two Black Labs are ready to come home after having had their new arrivals checkup plus their spay and neuter surgeries.

 

Erin's vet visit report from last evening ...

Champ, Big Boy and Rudy visit Brian Reeves, DVM Tuesday afternoon

Rudy, Champ and Big Boy are not responding to conventional treatment, so we make
the long trip to Tyler (Texas) for some of Dr. Reeves' "Alternative Therapies."

   Champ

     Tina and I brought Champ in first, and the doctor said his weight looked good. This was Champ's third visit for acupuncture treatments for his kidney disease. Normal protocol for acupuncture treatments is three times, so this time Dr. Reeve's took blood tests so we can see if there's been improvement. On the electronic acupuncture machine (which makes funny noises that make Champ cock his head) the readings came out much better this time than last time, so this sounds hopeful!

Champ, receiving his acupuncture treatment

   Big Boy

     Big Boy had his third acupuncture treatment next. We asked Dr. Reeves if we could/should continue with the vitamin and herb supplements we were using to ward off seizures. He said yes. And then we wondered if we should continue with the phenobarbital. He said that the dosage was pretty low, and that he thought it'd be fine to continue it.

Big Boy being examined by Dr. Reeves during his December visit.

   Rudy

     Rudy, a year old Lab/Doberman mix used to weigh 65 pounds and now weighs only 39 pounds, and we haven't been able to determine what is wrong with him. Dr. Reeves first did a stool enzyme test. It came out okay. Next he checked for hookworms and although we thought this test came out negative a couple of weeks ago at our local vet's clinic, the test results were now positive! Tina and I both learned what hookworm eggs look like under the microscope! The doctor gave enough doses of pyrantel for Rudy and his two kennel mates, Brother Benny and Momma Rosie. We're hoping that hookworm infestation is all that is wrong with Rudy. We're feeding him three times a day right now, adding a little peanut butter as Consuelo suggested, which is what she uses to help her cancer patients gain weight.

Rudy back in November when he was inside with a hurt leg.

Dr. Reeves suggests we get our own microscope

     Dr. Reeves has been trying to find us a good, yet inexpensive microscope, so we can check for parasites ourselves. This visit he had pictures of three microscopes that a lady is selling. All are $450. He's going to ask her to bring him the best one, and he'll check it out to see if it's adequate to fill our needs. We'll check out budget and see if the shelter can afford to buy one at this time. It would save around $15 every time we need to check for worms!

Dr. Reeves gave us some photos of microscopes with prices.

Scales for weighing the dogs

     We told the doctor that we were also looking for some scales because Dr. Morton had suggested that one way to really watch what was going on with the dog's health would be to weigh each dog at least once a month. Dr. Reeve's had an old scale that he wanted to donate! It needs a little adjustment, but still works. Thank you Dr. Reeves!

Toby checks out the scales donated by Dr. Reeves.

     We would still like to buy a digital platform scale to be able to weigh the very large dogs. Maybe there is one on ebay that we could find.

Heartworm tests for these three fellas

     Since Champ, Rudy and Big Boy hadn't had a heartworm check in a year or more, the doctor did an occult test on all the dogs.

The vet bill

     Dr. Reeves gave us discounts on all his work, the supplements, and on all the tests. Still our bill was $363.70. We made another appointment in two weeks for acupuncture on our dogs with bad arthritis. Poor Toby's hind legs are going wonky underneath him. The acupuncture may also help his chronic skin problems, which are much worse in the summer time than winter, but maybe we can ward off the terrible summer scratching and hair loss by doing something now. We hope we can financially keep up these vet visits, as it feels very good to be able to do all we can for the dogs we have in our care.