Rosie Roo

[bunn]

I am taking Rosie Roo to the vet tomorrow.I am worried that she is still so very nervous, her reactions to other dogs seemed to be getting worse, and there had been some incidents where she has reacted by barking and growling at people too. Her hair was coming out in handfuls, she has bald thighs and she is often reluctant to eat. When she does eat, I have to be careful she doesn't eat too much in case she is sick. I weighed her 21st May, and she was 20.3Kg then, but I think she's lost some weight since then.

Of course, since I made the appointment, she has stopped shedding, is eating more happily and hasn't been sick once. None the less, I'm thinking of asking for a thyroid function test. She's not overweight (anything but!) and sighthounds tend to have low thyroid figures anyway, but some of the symptoms seem to point in that direction. Behaviour in particular, but also energy: she does sleep a lot - on the other hand, she is a lurcher, they have a reputation for sleep! Skin looks healthy enough, although she has black blotches on her tummy. She does feel the cold - but then she has very little hair and is thin as a rake.

Well, I shall have to see what the vet thinks.


Sometimes, Rosie Roo spurns my home made liver cake.  But not today.

This was when the liver cake had just come out of the oven and was warm and smelled of garlic. She does have an appetite sometimes...

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I hope something useful comes from this.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Me too!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Hope she soon improves.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Well, in reaction to my making the appointment she seems to have determined to improve out of sheer contrariness. But I am hoping for a more permanent sort of improvement...

[seascribe.livejournal.com]

Aww, what good cute wiggle dogs. I hope things go well at the vet!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Rather to my surprise, she let the vet take her blood without screaming, leaping, hitting the roof or squirting her anal glands everywhere.

I suspect the vet now thinks I am one of those neurotic pet-owners who overstate everything, but hey. He has sent the blood off for tests so we shall see. If they come back clear, at least I'll know she's naturally contrary rather than ill :-D

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

What a worry! I hope poor Rosie was just temporarily under the weather, and recovers her confidence as she feels better.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I'm almost hoping that the tests WILL come back with something - if she does have hypothyroidism, that's cheap and easy to treat, and would be SO much easier than trying to work through the behavioural stuff where I just don't seem to be having much luck! Indeed, where if anything, things seem to be getting worse.

It would be great to be able to maybe go away for a weekend too, and leave her with a dogsitter, but the combination of dog aggression and reluctance to eat makes that a worry. We had an excellent dogsitter we used to use, but she has a border collie bitch of her own and I'm pretty sure that would send Rosie into hysterics. Plus, I would love to be able to foster again, but I don't feel I can really do that with Rosie as she is.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

Hope the vet is helpful!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It was one of those slightly awkward conversations, where I was trying really hard to ask advice and not to tell him his job, but at the same time, trying to cover the mileage of all the breed-specific research I'd just read and he hadn't :-D

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

Oh well, sometimes these things have to be done :) At least the blood tests will settle the matter one way or another.