A Milly and Hush Update

I wanted to give you a few quick updates on the pups. First, Hush is in season. This is her first heat cycle, and so far we’re doing well. She went into season on Monday, May 16, 2011 (putting that on the blog, as I’m sure I’ll have to refer back to it at some point!). I had a feeling this was approaching, I’ve blogged about it in the past, but last week there were more and more symptoms. First, when grooming her she transformed from sweet puppy into common street walker when the high powered dog dryer came near her tail. Second, while drying her after her bath I noticed a smell – not an infection smell, or a dirty smell, just a distinct musky odor. So, it was no surprise on Monday when I saw some blood on her fur. All of the signs are there – bleeding, swollen vulva, enlarged nipples, change in personality, interest in other dogs, etc. Now, I have the joyous task of keeping her away from males for the next 4 weeks, and making sure she doesn’t leave blood on my white carpeting. Did you know that even neutered males still try to mate females when they are in heat? I didn’t. They can even get tied like an intact male would during breeding, crazy, isn’t it? So, it’s just us girls for the next month. Mind you, since males can smell her from up to 6 miles away, we have to be insanely careful in everything we do. To be extra safe, I keep a diaper on her when outdoors. And of course, she is always on a leash.

Milly is scheduled for her semi-annual senior exam today. I always get a little nervous, since the later years in life are so critical for preventative care. Milly is 11ish, and it might be time to make her 12, and in great health and extremely fit and active. But, I won’t feel at ease until all of her blood panels come back after today’s exam. I worry. I noticed what I think might be tape worms in both dogs’ stools two weeks ago, and so we’ll also be doing stool samples on them. Neither dog has fleas, but they did get into a few dead animals, which is another way to contract tape worms. I am confident in the ophthalmologist I have been using with Hush, but because the specialist is out of town, I’m going to let my general vet take a look at Hush’s eyes to see if we can put her on something until our next ophthalmologist appointment.

Finally, this weekend I will be going to the dog shows in Manassas, VA to watch. While there, I will be meeting with a very well-known dog show handler to discuss Hush. I have decided, while I do want to do some showing with her myself, I feel I need to improve more in my handling abilities before taking her in the ring. I want her first few times to be very positive, and a professional can guarantee that. He will be doing an informal evaluation of Hush, and if he deems her show quality, which we know she is, we’ll then discuss a schedule. Because of her age, she isn’t likely to win that much at this point in the game, so we will be very selective in what shows we enter her in. This handler lives about 2.5 hours from me, so relatively close, and Hush will be boarded with him and his wife (also a well-known handler) leading up to any shows for training and conditioning.

I FOUND A LUMP ON MILLY

I've been hesitant to post about this until I find out what exactly is going on, but decided the entire purpose of this blog is a learning experience, and my readers are along for the ride as I learn everything I possibly can about dogs.

Most of you know I live in Arlington, VA, two stop lights from Washington, DC, and may have seen on the news we've been slammed with snow - I measured 28 inches in my front yard before the snow stopped falling, and we're supposed to get another 18-20" before 9pm tomorrow night! All of this snow has forced me to spend a lot of time in the house with Milly, and she has loved all of the attention.

A few days ago my boyfriend was petting her and noticed a lump on just above her shoulder. It's about the size of my thumb nail, and firm to the touch. It does not appear to cause her any discomfort when I press on it. Of course, I panicked! Cancer is a documented disease in dogs, and the large Golden Retriever population (consistently ranked one of the top five most popular breeds in the country) makes cancer that much more prevalent in Goldens. That being said, older dogs are known to develop harmless warts, and other benign growths, especially Goldens.

The odds are in my favor, Milly is a geriatric (don't tell her that, I think she missed the memo), and at an age when dogs develop all sorts of benign fatty tumors, growths and other cysts, but even knowing this, I still want to get it checked out. Normally, by now Milly would have been seen by the vet, but the snow is putting a major damper in that plan! It took three days just to dig my car out, and I had to go into work today, so the vet appointment will have to wait.

I thought I had a commitment with Junior League tonight, but I got the days wrong, and the commitment is tomorrow. As soon as I click "Publish Post" I'll be calling my vet to see if I can get a last minute appointment, otherwise I'll wait until after Snowmageddon Round II, and go at the end of the week.

I touch Milly all the time. I make a point to physically go over her at least every other day looking for any bumps, lumps, cuts, or burrs in her coat. I check inside her mouth weekly, paying special attention to her gums. When she's out in the yard I make a point of watching her movement at the walk and trot at least once a week. She's an older dog, and doing this will help me notice any signs of arthritis or joint problems she may develop as she continues to age.

Even with all of my touching and checking I missed this lump. If you don't already go over your dog at least weekly, I reccomend starting to do so. If this lump were to turn out to be the dreded C-word, which I really don't think it is, I will have caught it early, and the odds of successful treatment will be in our favor. If it isn't the dreaded C-word, it will be something my vet can aspirate and keep an eye on at each of Milly's semi-annual senior exams. There are some things we simply cannot prevent in our dogs, but knowing what is normal and what is abnormal in your individual dog will enable you to see signs and red flags of potential health problems. Catching things early, or even before they develop is critical.

Deciding It's Time to Switch Vets...

I like to think I've had great luck with vets. I've had some wonderful ones that were extremely thorough, kind, willing to answer my millions of questions, competent and affordable - these vets have come into my life for dogs, cats, iguanas and horses. Not only have I always had great vets, but I've also never felt any of my vets were pushing any unnecessary procedures on me.

That luck changed when I moved to the Washington, DC area. The first vet was horrible. Absolutely terrible. I then found another vet practice very near my house where I went for quite some time. At this vet they said I needed all sorts of unnecessary procedures, including putting Milly (a senior Golden) under for a teeth cleaning (and she has very mild tartar on one tooth)! Yes, tartar on only one tooth! Her teeth are pretty great for an 11 year old dog (I give credit to the weekly raw marrow bones she gets), and the vet wanted to put her under for a cleaning. I also wasn't sure about the way this vet was treating a mild urine crystal problem. I could not walk out of this vet without spending over $400 (even for just vaccines). I decided it was time for a second opinion and began asking around. I did a lot of research, and settled on a vet a little further from my home than the current one.

On Friday I took Milly and all of her records (vaccines, bloodwork, urinalysis, etc.) to Dr. Amy Poole at the Columbia Pike Animal Hospital. It was by far the best vet experience I have ever had. Dr. Poole sat with me and went over all of Milly's latest bloodwork (taken at our old vet), and explained what each results meant. Turns out some things they saw as problems (moderate urine crystals) were most likely caused by Milly not drinking much water. I had a gut feeling that was causing these crystals, and have been adding more water to her food at meals. Dr. Poole thought that was a great idea, and said we'll monitor these in the future, but this is not something that warrants complete bloodwork every 2-3 months like the last vet had said. Dr. Poole explained line by line what all of the results meant, and we noticed Milly's thyroid was a bit a low, and this is something we'll monitor in the future. We went ahead and did the vaccines Milly needed, after a long conversation about over vaccination and limited vaccines. The last vet had said Milly should be put under for a teeth cleaning, but Dr. Poole said her teeth looked great, and she would probably never need a cleaning in her life. She said if the weekly raw bones are working than I should keep feeding them. When it came to the physical exam she went over every inch of Milly's body and showed me where Milly is developing some mild arthritis (in her back), and explained the skeletal structure of the dog and why this is happening. I loved our visit! Dr. Poole drew diagrams for me, she explained everything, she answered all of my questions and was so welcoming and friendly.

Towards the end of our visit I said Milly might need her anal glands expressed, and Dr. Poole offered to show me how to do them myself! I was thrilled to learn, I know it's gross, and it smells terrible, but it will save me money, and it really isn't any worse than cleaning a horse's sheath (which I've done too many times to count).

It is a nice feeling to seek a second opinion, and find your gut was right. I am so happy with my decision to change vets. Not only are all of my questions now answered in total detail, but I also feel like I have a vet I can trust, and am no longer taking my dog to a clinic where I feel like they are doing unnecessary procedures to make money. I'm happy I followed my gut. I knew something was not right with the situation at our last vet, and I'm thrilled the second opinion verified my gut feeling.

I want to be an active dog owner and an active participant in my dog's life, and I feel with our new vet this is going to be so much easier.

On one final bonus, they happily price matched all medication (Frontline and Interceptor in Milly's case) with 1-800-PET-MEDS, though this is not an advertised service. Dr. Poole even told me I should ask for a price match!