[Dailydrool] Drool request again

[Pam McQuade]

I think I am about to go around the bend, though what bend I couldn't tell 
you. First we got the not-so-good news about Abner's cancer. Now Belvedere, 
my heart dog,  is not doing well.

Recently Bel started peeing up a storm. He's never been 100 percent, so it 
took me a little while to realize just what was going on. We shot him into 
the vet's and have done a couple of rounds of testing. The urinalysis showed 
some minor infections that the Baytril he's on should take care of. But it's 
obvious, after a week of Baytril, that something else is probably going on.

I thought it might be Cushing's disease, since he had a bunch of signs for 
it: drinking a lot, peeing, weak back legs, a skin issue--and probably a few 
more I have forgotten. But the bloodwork has come back negative, and the 
other vet in our practice thinks its unlikely that at thirteen and a half he 
has developed Cushing's (we did also have an ACTH test, but I guess that 
hasn't come back yet). So now she wants to do an ultrasound.

I must admit I have come to hate ultrasounds--I know they diagnose 
everything from a hangnail to cancer (that's hyperbole, guys, don't 
castigate me about the hangnail), but they are pricey, and my vets seem to 
constantly want to rely on them. I wonder what vets did before they were 
invented--probably, the dog just died. With three senior hounds, perhaps 
it's just the right thing to do, but my husband has been unemployed for 
almost a year now, and twice vets wanted to do one on Abner, which we 
refused. His surgery came out fine without it, thankfully, though not having 
it might not have made the surgeon's job easier.

My husband doesn't have money to replace his old and slow computer, but we 
have spent thousands on the hounds lately. (Drew's health won't fail without 
a new computer, but the bassets don't have that assurance.)

I'm not sure who should get the drool, Bel or me, but perhaps it wouldn't 
hurt to shower both of us. Maybe it's just that I got about four hours' 
sleep last night, so I'm feeling particularly dramatic.But the past month or 
so we have been hit with a lot--including a human health issue--and I am 
feeling rather overwhelmed, I guess. Maybe a little "may Drew find a job" 
drool would help too.
Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets