Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

WEDNESDAY APRIL 7 2004

Erin's Vet Visit Report ...

A van load of dogs and pups went to see Dr. Reeves yesterday afternoon

    Thelma & Louise

      Thelma and Louise saw Dr. Reeves for more vaccinations today and they received the holistic "after-vaccination" Thuja doses. [Photo to come] They will be ready for new homes soon. We are calling folks back who earlier expressed interest in adopting these pups, and we're re-doing phone interviews, including what Renate advised about how Chow/Akita mixes most probably won't have the docile personalities of Labs or Retrievers when they grow up.

    Holly & Grace

      Holly and Grace are old enough for Rabies vaccinations. Their baby canine teeth are falling out, indicating they're between four and five months old. Dr. Reeves gave them their shots and Thuja and another 'after-Rabies' remedy. [Photos to come]

    Katie

      Katie had a good day Monday, and has been having many good days recently, being very perky and walking around quite briskly in the park. But, today (maybe because of the cooler, rainy weather) she was a lot slower. Dr. Reeves took Katie's temperature and heart rate, and looked at her lovingly. "She sure is an inspiration to us all," he said. He did the pulsing therapy [photos] and networking on her, and he did the eye therapy too. Katie's eye is getting better, but now seems to have infection, so Dr. Reeves gave us an eye ointment to put in three times a day. He showed Tina the angle to try to get it on her eye without her nipping at the caregiver! [Pictures of Katie wanting to nip Tina or Dr. Reeves during the eye ointment treatment.]

      The doctor gave us a good herbal pain killer and other supplements for her slow movement. What he was concerned about the most (because of the odor from her breath) was that her kidneys might be failing, but because Katie's eating well, the doctor thought maybe her kidneys are okay. He said to put garlic salt on her food (a couple of shakes, like we would salt our food... if we were to salt our food) to help her want to drink, in case her kidneys are going bad. He offered Katie some filtered water, but neither Dr. Reeves nor Tina could make Sassy Katie want to drink. [Photo] Dr. Reeves told us to ask Dr. Morton to check Katie's blood work, especially for kidney function because she is getting so old. He also said that sometimes when you start all these treatments, the animal gets a real big lift of energy, and everything seems to be going fine, but then, they fall low again. When will we know if it's time, I asked the doctor. You just don't want to let her suffer, he said. So, we'll see how she's doing over the next few days. Maybe she'll be perky enough to go get blood work done before her next visit next week.

    Trixie

      The doctor then had time to do two hip diagnoses, one for Trixie and one for Nikki. Trixie needs the ACL surgery--the same surgery football players have after they get hit on the knee from the side and tear their ACLs. The doctor could hear the bone on bone while doing the examination. He normally charges $750 for this surgery but will do it for $550 for Straydog Inc. The x-rays would be done at the same time, so that the dog wouldn't have to be under anesthetic more than once. [Bill, the editor: This price is just a little more than half what we've been paying for this operation in Dallas. Being a little concerned with the experience Dr. Reeves might have had with this type of surgery, Erin asked something about experience as politely as she could, and Dr. Reeves, who's 62, said he's been a practicing DVM since he was 21 years old. How's that possible? Erin wondered. Dr. Reeves said he knew he wanted to be a vet at age 10, he finished high school at age 16, and he did his undergraduate work and finished veterinary medical school in just five years, graduating and beginning veterinary practice at age 21. Wow! Dr. Reeves also spent some time working with the late Norman Ralston, DVM, a very progressive veterinarian of great renown, whom Pat and I met and took several dogs to back in the late 1980s.]

    Nikki

      Nikki was too tense to have the doctor come to an accurate diagnosis. She just couldn't let herself relax. Dr. Reeves thinks there is a problem either "here or here" he said, pointing to her knee and then further up on her hip bone. We would have to get x-rays done on Nikki too for a more thorough diagnosis. I mentioned hearing about 'femoral head removal surgery', and the doctor said that that very well might be what Nikki could benefit from. This is less expensive surgery than the ACL surgery, he said.

      Our total bill for today's work plus supplements and meds was $124--not too bad!

      Thank you again, Dr. Reeves.

No further updates yet from Billy Lawson

      I, Bill Arnold, want to thank very much those who have sent donations to help Billy take care of these two rescued dogs. We received here at Straydog a credit card donation of $200 yesterday for Willow and Abby, which we'll forward to Kindness Small Animal Hospital.

The printed newsletters and envelopes are ready to pick up

      I just heard from the printing company that everything's ready, and right after I post this update, I'll be heading for Dallas to pick up the printed materials so we can commence the mailing.