We spend a lot of time at the vet.

How thick is YOUR chart at the vet's office?

This Saturday we had to take Russ and Bailey to the vet.  Sometimes I feel like we spend half our weekends there and it's a running joke that we own some of the bricks in their new building.  I know my way around the entire building, including the back rooms, the kennel out back, and the old building that is now used for surgeries and hospitalizations!  They don't ask my name when we walk in the door and I don't have to spell my last name every time I call anymore.  The techs know Bailey by sight and most of them like her and are excited to see her when we visit.  They have seen her tricks and she usually behaves well for her tests and such (as long as the treat bag is in the picture).

And it's partially because of all of this that I was devastated when I found out that our primary vet is moving.  And not just across town or to the next city over...  she's moving to Texas.  That's very, very far away and it makes me sad.  She was with us through most of Chase's illness and even mailed us a trinket box after he died with a beautiful letter.  And she has been with us through Bailey's mystery illnesses and Monkey's daily vomiting before he was diagnosed (when I was ready to give up and drop him off at the animal shelter) and when Isabelle had to have surgery for her mystery lump.  She has been there for all of it over the last few years, and there has been plenty.

Anyhow.  Russ was ill a few weeks ago with vomiting and bloody diarrhea.  He was a sick guy and ended up spending the night at the clinic.  Since his white blood cells were low and he had never been tested, Dr D decided to test him for feline leukemia.  At this point I trust her judgment and basically approve any test she wants to run.  She knows our financial limitations and she has never pushed us to do anything outrageously expensive.  So if she thinks this is a test that needs to be run, we'll run it.  And it came back "faintly positive."  When she told me my stomach dropped and I felt ill.  None of our cats have ever been vaccinated because they have always been inside only.  There hasn't been a need for it.  But it appeared as though somehow someone had introduced this horrid virus into our home.  I'll go ahead and skip to the good part...  Russ tested feline leukemia negative this time.  We redid the in-house test, which Dr D says has the highest sensitivity.  It was negative.  I was still prepared to send the blood sample off to the lab for confirmation but she said she didn't think we needed to.  I finally allowed myself to believe the good news and I was SO relieved. This means we don't have to test and vaccinate all of the cats right now.  However...  I had him vaccinated.  And as each of the cats come due for their shots in the coming year I will have each of them tested and vaccinated.  For my own peace of mind.

So then it was Bailey's turn!  Quite frankly I had made up a reason for her to go in and see Dr D and play dead one last time because I knew that Dr D wanted to see her and say goodbye.  So I made an appointment to have her anal glands expressed.  (Turned out she really needed this done anyway, so...  good thing.)  But in the last week she has started limping!  I kept assuring her that she just needed to hang in there for the week and Dr D would make her all better.

(At one point Dr D left us in the room while she went to check on something and I pulled out my iPhone and started snapping pictures of the xrays.  Of course!)

So Dr D was impressed that I could tell her exactly where the problem was and what it felt like.  Even though I didn't know the name of the ailment (and can't remember it now), she said most people can't describe that particular issue to her.  (Or maybe most patients' parents...  I don't think ANY of her patients actually talk to her.)  But an xray showed she has arthritis and a "bone spur" that we're not really sure about.  She's going to consult with one of the other doctors about the xrays this week (he was on vacation last week) and they're going to give me a call.  In the mean time, we've effectively adjusted Bailey's estimated age from three years old to five years old because she has arthritis.  And she's on pain meds to help with the pain and we're supposed to attempt to keep her relatively calm.  HA!  Any of you who have met Bailey know that's not an easy feat.

So this means that Bailey will not be starting any sort of agility training.  We had hoped to get her involved in something now that her respiratory issues appear to be resolved.  (And as an added bonus to the elbow xrays we also got to check out her lungs and heart - and they're clear!)  She really needs some sort of stimulus.  She has taken to herding my shoes when I leave them out.  She moves them to her favorite spot on the landing.  She's also very rigid with her schedule and she's always working us - guarding us.  It means she's often not as cuddly as I'd like.  I just feel really bad that she's such a smart dog who would really enjoy a better job than what we're giving her at the moment but she'll never really be able to fully live up to her potential because of physical constraints. It makes me sad for her.  And I'm going to have to come up with a new game besides herding mommy's shoes...  at least she only chews on the strappy ones - anything other than sandals and flip flops are safe from destruction.

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