w w w . S t r a y d o g. o r g U p d a t e
POSTED EVERY DAY AT NOON CENTRAL TIME U.S.A.
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

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

WEDNESDAY APRIL 28 2004

Rocky may need another blood transfusion if his platelets count is too low

     We arrived at Dr. Reeves' clinic in Tyler (exactly 50.3 miles from Straydog) at just a little after two yesterday afternoon. A medical courier arrived right after we did, but Dr. Reeves didn't have enough time to draw blood from Rocky so that the courier could take Rocky's blood to the lab right then, so the results (including the platelets count) won't get back to Dr. Reeves till sometime this morning. If the platelets count is too low (which will mean that Rocky is not producing his own platelets), Dr. Reeves will bring in another one of his own dogs to give Rocky a second transfusion, and that's why Rocky has to spend the night at the clinic. I asked Dr. Reeves if all dogs have the same blood type, and he said no, and that's why he has to use a second dog (other than Nick, Rocky's original blood donor), because Rocky will have already started to produce antibodies to combat the foreign cells of Nick's blood. (The various blood types of canine blood sounded very complicated.)

     The doctor explained that if Rocky is producing his own platelets, he may at least pull through this episode, which may mean that Rocky's illness is tick disease, for which Rocky has been taking medication. If it is tick disease Rocky may recover completely.

Bill and Rocky in Dr. Reeves examination room

     Rocky's underlying problem could, however, be a cancer somewhere in his internal organs, so Dr. Reeves made an appointment for this Friday at 8:00 a.m. with another clinic in Tyler that has sonogram equipment and more sophisticated x-ray equipment. (I am scheduled to meet Dr. Reeves at his clinic at 7:30 Friday morning to pick up Rocky and take him to the other clinic.) I asked what we could do if there is a cancer somewhere, and Dr. Reeves said that surgery might be an option depending on what they find. We'll have to wait.

Foxy, Laura and Jeannie are heartworm free!

     We haven't written about this before, because we were afraid that if the new homeopathic remedy (that Erin found on the Internet) didn't work, we would be in trouble with the vets and with you our readers. But it DID work, thank God, and Dr. Reeves is looking forward to sharing this new protocol with other veterinarians. (Erin will write a complete explanation tomorrow of what natural remedies we used to cure the heartworm disease in these three dogs.)

Dr. Reeves draws blood from Foxy's arm to check for heartworm.

Dr. Reeves looks for heartworms in Foxy's blood.

Thelma gets her eye checked, and it's okay

     Thelma has a scratch on her cornea that should present no problems for her.

Dr. Reeves checks Thelma's eye.

Old Sassy Katie is doing better ... again!

     As you'll remember, we were worried that this might be Katie's last visit to the doctor, but as we reported yesterday, she made a big comeback Monday, and yesterday at the doctor's office, she was her feisty old self, and after her acupuncture treatment, she looked like she felt like a puppy. So, Katie will be with us for a while longer, and we are all happy for her.

Katie barks for joy feeling invigorated by the acupuncture.

More photos taken at Dr. Reeves' clinic Tuesday