Hi Gang. It's been a while since I posted. I just got back from taking Dottie (17yo female) to the groomer and vet. She did very well! Lots of yowling, but she didn't scratch or bite anyone. Dottie is a long-hair (well, not any more) and due to her age, has stopped grooming. I had her get a lion cut today. She looks cute, except around the head. Her head seems much to large for her body now. But I think she feels better, and she's certainly much nicer to pet because those nasty hairballs are gone now. I felt like a nervous mother waiting for her to come out of the groomer's room. I could hear her yowling. I think they handled her roughly considering her advanced age, but she seems no worse for the wear. They did break open the superficial capillary bump by her ear and she was bleeding. I warned them that it was there, and I'm sure the pulling of her scruf is what broke it open.
After the groomer, we walked next door to the vet and got a good checkup. She's in good shape for an old-timer. The vet suspects she has a heart murmur though difficult to really assess considering her heart was beating rapidly given she was nervous. We did a full blood work-up to rule out diabetes and hyperthyroidism. She doesn't outwardly display symptoms, but again, given her advanced age better safe than sorry. She has taken to limping in the hind quarters, probably arthritis, but vet said could also be symptom of the diabetes. I should have the lab results by noon today. We got her ears cleaned out good too. They tested the contents of the ears, and determined it was just waxy build-up and dirt ... again probably due to advanced age. Having good clean ears should improve her hearing. We did discuss the recent development of "dark time yowling." The vet said that if hyperthroidsim and diabetes are ruled out, then we should just consider the unusual yowling in the dark as night time senility.
So, all-in-all, good news for the home team.
After the groomer, we walked next door to the vet and got a good checkup. She's in good shape for an old-timer. The vet suspects she has a heart murmur though difficult to really assess considering her heart was beating rapidly given she was nervous. We did a full blood work-up to rule out diabetes and hyperthyroidism. She doesn't outwardly display symptoms, but again, given her advanced age better safe than sorry. She has taken to limping in the hind quarters, probably arthritis, but vet said could also be symptom of the diabetes. I should have the lab results by noon today. We got her ears cleaned out good too. They tested the contents of the ears, and determined it was just waxy build-up and dirt ... again probably due to advanced age. Having good clean ears should improve her hearing. We did discuss the recent development of "dark time yowling." The vet said that if hyperthroidsim and diabetes are ruled out, then we should just consider the unusual yowling in the dark as night time senility.
So, all-in-all, good news for the home team.