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Tami I am so sorry to hear the news. I hope you have good time left with your sweet Festus.

Y'all got out of here just in time. Gas prices bumped up over $4 in most places here the last few days. The pics of Jet & Ryan smooshed together sleeping in the car are priceless!

I'm sorry to hear you and poor Festus are going through this.

Mount Rushmore seems to have grown since I last saw it. I must've been a very large child. Glad you were able to get close enough that it was more than postage-stamp sized.

Safe travels guys, it was great seeing you on your way through. Next time ( ) I'll have entertainment planned a bit better. At least the cards won't be packed.

Sorry Trudy... But if it's any consolation, it's not raining here... yet.

Sorry to say it, but I see lots of rain in your path for today too. Good thing it's a short leg today!

Ask to have her thyroid function tested when you take her to see your vet. The skintag-like things sound odd, I'd definitely want a vet's opinion on them.

Oh Audrey, I am so so sorry for your loss...

18. Safe travels, we'll see y'all on Sunday! ETA: I bid low as I'm harboring hope that WalMart has not taken over the free world as yet...

Oh no, Festus! You guys are in my thoughts, Tams.

Goodbye, beautiful beloved sweetheart. I'm very sorry for your loss Hilda.

Chancy went through several acupuncture treatments for her LS. It always helped, sometimes more than others, but it never made her worse.

Beautiful baby boy. Love on him every second you can.

He's like that all the time. Unless you're a boxer or pitbull, or an evil swimming dog. GRRRR!

Well, test results are in. Tipper's kidneys appear to be fine. : So based on the last three years of bloodwork with fluctuating low albumin levels and other imbalances, doc suspects an intestinal mal-absorption issue. The diagnostic confirmation would be intestinal biopsies, but since Tip has no overt symptoms, doc felt that would be more aggressive than warranted. He suggested I could try a novel protein diet, and recheck Tip's albumin levels every 3-4 months. And in the meantime keep a close eye on Tip for signs of pitting edema. I will plan to schedule his dental for the next albumin recheck in August or so. I still find it odd that an intestinal mal-absorption issue would not manifest as diarrhea. Tip's stools have been normal all along. Thanks again everyone, for caring about my booboo, my nearly perfect boy.

Thanks for asking about my Tipper. The visit went well, better than expected. We're waiting on the Creatinine and BUN results (tomorrow), but the other blood value imbalances were less off today than last week. Still not right, but less scary. Tomorrow's results should tell us if he's having a kidney problem. Doc said we should take a "wait & watch" approach to Tip's wobbliness episode from Sunday night. Tip's ears appear normal, no visible bulging or irregularity of the drums, etc. Doc felt that if that episode had been a stroke, or even a vestibular symptom, it's very odd that it lasted under five minutes and had no noticeable lingering after-effects. He said a normal vestibular disease flare-up (my words, not his. I'm paraphrasing to the best of my memory), would have lasted hours or even days... So we don't have any answers, as usual. But if Tip's kidneys appear compromised, we can certainly take steps to treat him for that. Diet changes and Enalapril, for starters... Tipper still acts totally normal, and has had no signs of reoccurance of that head-tilt or wobbles. Hope it stays that way, cuz that was scary!

We have an appointment for tomorrow morning. The vet's booked solid, but will work us in.

There has been a minor increase in drinking over the past month or so (food change was about six months ago). I decreased his glucosamine as I'd heard that too much can lead to kidney probs. That did seem to help a bit. No, haven't tried filtered water, as our city water has always been pretty palatable. I drink it myself. Edited to add-- Tipper just turned ten in April.

Tipper eats Eukanuba Naturals Lamb & Rice, switched six months or so ago from Natural Balance. He has not had TBD test yet. He drinks city water, same as we do. No HW or flea/tick meds. I was waiting for HW test results before starting the HW meds for this season. And I don't use flea/tick preventative, as I fear the side-effects I've heard about, and we're city folk, I've never seen a flea or tick on any of my pups. Tip seems totally normal this morning. I'm still calling my vet of course, as soon as they open. I'll try to get Tip seen tomorrow as I have to have the dogs out of the house for a while anyway, unless my vet thinks he needs to be seen sooner.

Latest incident, Post 44. Update again, post 37 UPDATE: Post 34 Of course I'll be calling my vet as soon as they open, but I wondered if any insomniacs out there have any ideas. I did a keyword search in H&M, but Stroke and Vestibular Disease are all that came up. Tip's episode didn't seem as severe as the descriptions that others gave. Tip had a blood test last week, and we were to follow up this week with another blood test and a urinalysis, due to some abnormalities found: But last night, after a seemingly normal day (tho I was very busy with housework, so it's possible I wasn't observing him well), right before bedtime this episode happened. Tip had finished his bedtime meal as always, gone outside as always, I brushed his teeth as always. But then as I was rinsing his toothbrush, I heard him bump into a door on his way to the waterdish. No one was near him to bump into him. Then I watched him walk from his waterdish to his bed and he was wobbly on his feet. His head seemed to tilt slightly (not severely) to the right. And he was sort of wobbling to the right, gently bumping the wall as he walked. I made him walk back and forth for about three to five minutes and the episode seemed to have worn off. Tip seemed subdued after that, but hard to say how unusual that might be. He's a subdued kind of guy. I tried the inverted paw test, and his feet righted themselves immediately. His pupils seemed equal, if maybe slightly dilated (though I learned last wee that his pupils are losing reactivity to light-- they don't constrict much at all). Temp normal, no shaking. I didn't see much point in E-vet last night, but will be calling my reg vet right away this morning. Just wanted to know if anyone here has any ideas what we might be facing... ?

Karen, I have no words. None that will seem helpful anyway. Thank you for sharing Arco with us. I feel privileged to have known him in a way, if only through your heartfelt stories and beautiful photos. Please just know you are in my thoughts.

How's his kidney function on the bloodwork?

I'm very sorry for your loss, Bev. Goodbye, sweet beautiful boy.

I am so very sorry for your loss of your beautiful boy.