Doggie Update

QT Pie and his QT Pie stuffed animal

So today QT Pie and I took a trip to the holistic vet. QT Pie has been receiving subcutaneous fluids and is taking a prescription, but after two weeks of administering both, his numbers have got worse. My regular vet said that he couldn’t really give me anything else for him. I scoured the internet and found a few supplements that sounded acceptable. After speaking to the vet on Thursday, I was preparing for the worst, then my father told me about a friend who took their dog to a holistic vet in the area. His friend’s dog was a bichon (like QT Pie). The dog had a tumor on her heart and was turned away by regular vets, “There’s nothing more we can do.” This woman didn’t seem to want to accept “no” for answer, so she took her dog to the holistic vet who prescribed her some magical potions (or something close to it) and the dog miraculously lived to be twenty years old. That is well past the life expectancy of bichons and dogs in general.

So I took QT Pie to see this veterinarian shaman, this worker of doggie miracles. Though QT Pie’s numbers had gotten worse since his first blood test, his behavior and temperament had improved significantly. He is more energetic, happy, and hungry than he has been in a long time. This is also why I was pretty much crushed and shocked on Thursday when my regular vet gave me such terrible news. And the night before, I was practically ready to jump off a cliff when my father told me that distemper vaccines cause kidney failure. Had I got him a distemper shot? I remember last year trying to decided whether or not to get him vaccinated. I had a very bad feeling and I left the veterinarian’s office that day unsure if I made the right decision. When I heard that it was possible— that my decision may have caused his kidney problem, I was inconsolable. I am even tearing up now just thinking about it. So I went to the holistic vet unsure of how things would go. Would this be a waste of money? Should I just have ordered the supplements that I read about online and skipped this vet altogether?

The first thing the holistic vet noticed in my dog’s chart was the fact that he had a thyroid problem- a thyroid problem that the other vet never addressed or mentioned to me. On top of that, when I told the holistic vet that my dog seemed fine until I got him a distemper shot along with his rabies vaccine last year, he nearly fell off his chair. You see, just before QT Pie got those lovely vaccinations, he had to have some teeth removed and that required blood work— blood work that came back almost 100% spotless (minus the thyroid problem that no one bothered to mention to me). The holistic vet said that it was possible that the distemper vaccination caused his kidney problem. He also said that booster shots (given to puppies) is all a dog really needs (except for rabies shots but only because they are required by law). He said that my dog may not have been able to properly adjust to the vaccine normally because his immune system was already compromised by his thyroid issue.

QT Pie eating yogurt

What now? Could he help me? “I am optimistic, not realistic,” I told him. This was true for most facets of my life. In fact, I should probably get bumper stickers made with that saying and stick one to my car and another to my butt.

“So you want him to live to fifty?” He asked. Ha. Well maybe not fifty, unless of course, he wasn’t joking. “Five or six more years?” He asked. Now I nearly fell off my chair. I was thinking I would be lucky if I got one or two, but would certainly spring for five or six if it was even possible. He prescribed a number of things. Raw meat was fine. He said to give him more fat than meat because the kidneys have trouble with protein consumption, and fat will provide him with calories yet not hurt his kidneys like the phosphorus in meat. He gave me some Chinese herbal supplements, thyroid pills, something else that I have no idea what it is, and told me to give him fish oil. We shall see how this plays out.

Tonight when I went shopping, the clerk complimented the rings I was wearing. One looks like a wedding band, but it’s not. The other is looks like a diamond ring- which it is also not. “Nice rings, but aren’t they on the wrong finger?” He asked.

“Nope. I don’t have a husband or a boyfriend, but I do have a dog.” Yes indeed, and hopefully he will be around for a while longer.

Chillaxin