Tasha is our nine-year-old Shetland sheepdog. Recently, she has started drinking more water than usual. We've been re-filling her water dishes a few times a day for two or three weeks now. Last Friday, our neighbors who live up in Blois and have a country house across the road from our house, were spending a few days here. I mentioned to one of them who is a nurse how much water Tasha had started drinking. She told me that that can be a sign of diabetes, and that we'd better get her to the vet's as soon as possible. I went to the local veterinary clinic on Monday morning to get an appointment. The woman at the front desk there asked me if I could bring the dog over that afternoon for a blood test. I was glad to do so.
The vet, a man we've known for more than 20 years now, examined Tasha and then drew some blood for the test. Walt and I had been pretty worried about the prospect of havin a diabetic dog. If it turned out to be the case, she would need frequent treatments and visits to the vet's — maybe for years. But when the vet ran tests on the blood sample. He saw no sign of diabetes. He said the thought Tasha might have a urinary tract infection. A UTI can cause a dog to need increased water intake. He prescribed antibiotics and took a urine sample to see if there was, for example, blood in her urine. He had to send the urine sample up to a lab in Blois for the analysis. We should get the results in a few days. Since we started giving her the antibiotic — it's a pill that we wrap up in some pâté. Tasha swallows the lump of pâté without chewing it, so she doesn't know she's being given medicine.)
The process of getting a urine sample from the dog was funny. The vet told me to go outside with Tasha, acompanied by one of his assistants, who was armed with a kitchen ladle of the kind we use to dip soup out of a pot and transfer it two a bowl at lunchtime. I kept Tasha on a leash and she, the vet's assistant, and I went for a walk around the yard outside to see if Tasha would be cooperative and willing to pee for us. The assistant would try to stick the ladle unter Tasha's rear end while she was peeing. Well, Tasha would have none of that. She peed a drop or, I think, two but so quickly that there was now way we were going to get the ladle under there to collect a sample. While the vet's assistant and I strategized to see how we might succeed in our task. As we talked, Tasha peed again. She was too quick for us, though. She probably wouldn't be able to pee a third time. We gave up.
When we went back into the clinic and told the vet that we had had no success, he said he'd have to get a sample directly out of Tasha's bladder using a needle and a syringe. To do that, he had to sedate her. He asked me to wait while he and two of his assistants took the dog into a back room for the procedure. He said my presence was making Tasha too nervous. I wasn't sure how to take that, but... never mind. A few minutes later the vet and the two assistants came back to the waiting room with Tasha and the sample. And with smiles on their faces.
Success! I'll share news about my own current woes for tomorrow.
The vet, a man we've known for more than 20 years now, examined Tasha and then drew some blood for the test. Walt and I had been pretty worried about the prospect of havin a diabetic dog. If it turned out to be the case, she would need frequent treatments and visits to the vet's — maybe for years. But when the vet ran tests on the blood sample. He saw no sign of diabetes. He said the thought Tasha might have a urinary tract infection. A UTI can cause a dog to need increased water intake. He prescribed antibiotics and took a urine sample to see if there was, for example, blood in her urine. He had to send the urine sample up to a lab in Blois for the analysis. We should get the results in a few days. Since we started giving her the antibiotic — it's a pill that we wrap up in some pâté. Tasha swallows the lump of pâté without chewing it, so she doesn't know she's being given medicine.)
The process of getting a urine sample from the dog was funny. The vet told me to go outside with Tasha, acompanied by one of his assistants, who was armed with a kitchen ladle of the kind we use to dip soup out of a pot and transfer it two a bowl at lunchtime. I kept Tasha on a leash and she, the vet's assistant, and I went for a walk around the yard outside to see if Tasha would be cooperative and willing to pee for us. The assistant would try to stick the ladle unter Tasha's rear end while she was peeing. Well, Tasha would have none of that. She peed a drop or, I think, two but so quickly that there was now way we were going to get the ladle under there to collect a sample. While the vet's assistant and I strategized to see how we might succeed in our task. As we talked, Tasha peed again. She was too quick for us, though. She probably wouldn't be able to pee a third time. We gave up.
When we went back into the clinic and told the vet that we had had no success, he said he'd have to get a sample directly out of Tasha's bladder using a needle and a syringe. To do that, he had to sedate her. He asked me to wait while he and two of his assistants took the dog into a back room for the procedure. He said my presence was making Tasha too nervous. I wasn't sure how to take that, but... never mind. A few minutes later the vet and the two assistants came back to the waiting room with Tasha and the sample. And with smiles on their faces.
Success! I'll share news about my own current woes for tomorrow.
