Piper's mom
Moderator
I took Piper in for his semi annual vet visit (at his age I take him twice a year) today. I gotta say I love my vet (I’d love her more if I could reach her by text or email)…my appointment was at 11:30 and of course I usually have to wait a good 15-20 minutes. Today my vet came out of a room, saw us waiting, waved at us and then motioned us to follow her. Went into a room and she laughed and said she jumped the queue…took us before the person ahead of us
. Worked for me as my mom is back in the hospital and I had to get back.
I’d made this appointment 3 weeks ago so really didn’t want to reschedule and I strongly suspect that Piper’s thyroid is low so wanted to get the bloodwork done. He’s lost almost 90% of his undercoat (lots of bare areas under the top coat), his tail fur is looking very bare and his skin on his back end is incredibly dry and flaky. Also a bare spot on his nose. He’s always been a bit heavy…he’s 21 pounds and just under 14” tall and it’s a struggle to keep him from ballooning in size…all classic symptoms of a low thyroid.
Did check his liver enzymes and two of them were SLIGHTLY elevated which the vet feels is likely caused by the thyroid. We should find out in a few days.
I suspected something in 2020 because I’d checked his T4 then…not sure what the number was as they’ve computerized the files. The vet was going to check if they’ve still got the paper copy…I think he could've been not quite a low normal but close to it. And I’d mentioned something to the vet maybe 8 months…I’d noticed his undercoat disappearing but it was nowhere near what it is now. As the vet said ‘he’s lost the puffiness’ of his coat.
This time we’re doing a thyroid panel…more expensive ($300) but it’ll give us more information. Hopefully they’ll have the results in a few days, it gets sent out to a lab.
All in all Piper did great, especially during the blood draw. It was the first time I’d seen them use the vein in the back leg. She’d found the vein in his one leg and was drawing the blood when he moved his leg and she lost the vein…had to use the other back leg but we managed to keep him steady and standing…this girl was a pro!
Out the door and Piper was barking up a storm! He’s so quiet going in and noisy coming out!
Blueberry is next lol…I need to make an appointment for her.
. Worked for me as my mom is back in the hospital and I had to get back.I’d made this appointment 3 weeks ago so really didn’t want to reschedule and I strongly suspect that Piper’s thyroid is low so wanted to get the bloodwork done. He’s lost almost 90% of his undercoat (lots of bare areas under the top coat), his tail fur is looking very bare and his skin on his back end is incredibly dry and flaky. Also a bare spot on his nose. He’s always been a bit heavy…he’s 21 pounds and just under 14” tall and it’s a struggle to keep him from ballooning in size…all classic symptoms of a low thyroid.
Did check his liver enzymes and two of them were SLIGHTLY elevated which the vet feels is likely caused by the thyroid. We should find out in a few days.
I suspected something in 2020 because I’d checked his T4 then…not sure what the number was as they’ve computerized the files. The vet was going to check if they’ve still got the paper copy…I think he could've been not quite a low normal but close to it. And I’d mentioned something to the vet maybe 8 months…I’d noticed his undercoat disappearing but it was nowhere near what it is now. As the vet said ‘he’s lost the puffiness’ of his coat.
This time we’re doing a thyroid panel…more expensive ($300) but it’ll give us more information. Hopefully they’ll have the results in a few days, it gets sent out to a lab.
All in all Piper did great, especially during the blood draw. It was the first time I’d seen them use the vein in the back leg. She’d found the vein in his one leg and was drawing the blood when he moved his leg and she lost the vein…had to use the other back leg but we managed to keep him steady and standing…this girl was a pro!
Out the door and Piper was barking up a storm! He’s so quiet going in and noisy coming out!
Blueberry is next lol…I need to make an appointment for her.