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Straydog Inc., The Arnolds' Happy Home for Strays, a No-Kill Dog Shelter
P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, Texas 75147 * (903) 479-3497 * EMAIL: straydog@straydog.org

5 dogs went to the vet Tuesday

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

WEDNESDAY MARCH 10 2004

Erin and Tina took several dogs to see Dr. Reeves in Tyler Tuesday afternoon

Erin's report ...

   Sandy

     Tina was loading up the van with dogs who were going to see Dr. Reeves when suddenly Bobby announced over the walkie-talkie that Sandy's face was swollen. I rushed over to Sandy's kennel to look and saw that his eyes were almost shut and his face was indeed very swollen. We quickly loaded Sandy into the van too.

     We had scheduled a block of appointments with Dr. Reeves from 3:30 to 5:00, but during this time the doctor was also extremely busy with 'walk-in' clients.

     We brought Sandy into the reception area first, and Dr. Reeves came out and took just one look at the dog and asked, "Have you given Sandy 'apis'? It's good for wasp stings, insect bites." We didn't have any apis, so the doctor handed us three yellow pills and one pink one. Tina pilled Sandy as the doctor left the reception area to go back to his cat patient, and then Tina put Sandy back in the van.

   Katie

     The next dog we brought in was Old Sassy Katie. Tina told the doctor that she thought Katie had her ears perked up a lot of the time now and seemed to be okay. We all notice that her eye doesn't seem to be getting much better though. "I'd have you all come every day for a week for Katie's eye if you weren't so far away," Dr. Reeves said. "Let's give the eye another week, and if it doesn't get better, I'd like to cover it up with her third eyelid so it doesn't get infected."

     After a laser light treatment on Katie's eye, the doctor put five or six electro-acupuncture needles at special points on Katie and did several five-minute sessions of acupuncture.

Katie receives her acupuncture treatment

     Then, he did a therapy session called 'networking' on the old doggie, which he didn't charge us for. This was something new he had just learned at a veterinary conference last weekend. He touched Katie at one certain point on her spine and then watched her. She breathed harder. The doctor smiled and said "Let it all out, girl."  He did this several times and said that he would only do one point in this session, although there are six levels. Suddenly Katie barked four times, and we thought something was wrong, but again the doctor was smiling and said Katie was releasing tension.

     He asked us if we had heard of Adequan and said he thought this would help Katie too. I had heard that Old Jed's guardian is giving Jed Adequan for one of his arthritic legs. The doctor got us a bottle and the number of syringes that we would need. It is about $4.00 an injection and we will need to do eight injections over a period of three weeks, and then monthly boosters if needed.

   Toby

     Old Man Toby couldn't start his acupuncture today as we were running out of time. We re-did some blood work as the previous blood had coagulated by the time it arrived at the lab. Toby was a very good boy when he got his blood drawn again from Dr. Reeves.

Toby has some blood drawn.

   Rocky

     Rocky's lymph nodes are still swollen, even after last week's medicines, and Rocky was still coughing, so Dr. Reeves did an occult heartworm test to rule out heartworms, and Rocky passed the test, showing a negative result. We're going to give Rocky 'Lassix' for three days, worm him again at the seven-day mark and watch the little tumors on his neck. Rocky is on a cardiovascular supplement, and we can give him extra CoQ10 to help his heart too. (Rocky has heart disease, the doctor had told us last week.)

Rocky has some blood drawn.

   Teddy

     Dr. Reeves came out to the dog van to watch Teddy walk a little bit. We are concerned about his hips, and he's been favoring his left hind leg recently. Teddy was a good boy during his exam, and the doctor seemed to know right away what the problem was. He felt both back legs and showed us how the left leg didn't have muscle. Teddy has no cartilage in his knee. He has lost his ACL (arterial cruciate ligament) too. "What happened," I asked. "It's like being hit in the knee from the side in football. The player gets a ligament tear and it goes downhill," Dr. Reeves answered. "We could get into x-rays and surgery, but this may not help him much," the doctor said. "Let's try the Adequan and the homeopathic 'Zeel' for this condition right now. Teddy is handling the pain very well. Did you notice how he let me work his legs without any reaction?  He's also putting pressure on the leg which is a good sign. He's real strong, like your mother."

Dr. Reeves examines Teddy's leg.

Teddy looks up at Tina wanting her to take him home.

     Thank you, Doctor Reeves, for helping our dogs!