Dog Dreams

Robin does sleep in elaborate and seemingly uncomfortable contorted poses, wedging herself in a space next to my side of the bed and flinging her legs akimbo. She often has one leg thrown across her face in dramatic fashion... quite the diva! And this little diva has a Urinary Tract Infection!

I thought she was suffering from blocked anal glands when I took her to the vet last Wednesday. She had been dragging her butt on the floor and had rubbed a good deal of hair off her tail (which I didn't really notice until I looked an older picture of her and noticed her tail lookd skinny). They "expressed" them (half full) in a professional manner- oh! Yes! I watched several dazzling Youtube videos on the correct fashion in which to empty dog anal glands but found it not at all easy to locate "two grape sized glands at five and seven o'clock; lift and squeeze". Needless to say, Lil' Robin the Good was deeply disturbed by all of the attention to her back side and spent the next several days with her tail clamped tightly down and spinning if I approached her from the rear, as if to say , "Oh no you don't!"
I was less than impressed with the "new vet" who was on duty that Wednesday that we visited the office. I sometimes think that there's a conspiracy to make vets more like people doctors: they're now very quick to recommend expensive tests and lab work and x-rays. The vet I had been going to for years was much more common sense and was really a nice guy. His son has inherited the practice and is very "yuppie" in his up-selling approach. I suppose they did (expensively) redesign the waiting rooms and exam offices and have to pay for all that antique woodwork somehow! Like when Robin was taking a course of antibiotics for a tick-borne disease this spring. Vet Junior proscribed a "pro-biotic" for Robin... sort of like when I take acidophilus while on Doxycycline to keep my gut moving. I went along with it and then was flabbergasted to see Robin's pro-biotics were waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more costly than the antibiotics and possibly irrelevant. I had actually asked Vet Senior this same question years ago when Frank the Dog was under treatment for Lyme disease. He scoffed and said, "Look your dog is probably picking up all kinds of bacteria from eating animal poop and the like. His gut bacteria is just fine." Doctor knows best.

(There's Robin now, wondering what all the fuss is about. And enjoying the mess that she has helped to create. Way to go Robin!)
Many friends have reported similar experiences with their vets: a rush to tests and much more aggressive interventions, without better results. Friends have dogs on chemotherapy and long term diabetes treatment. It's pretty appalling that our four legged friends are suffering the same debilitating chronic conditions that we do! (Bad diet, awful breeding of "purebreds" with congenital disorders, stupid ill advised medical procedures like spaying and neutering... don't get me started! Much of this is avoidable). And I know several friends who have sprung for very expensive pet health care plans. I read the fine points of a few of these plans and was less than impressed with what was covered for the cost; many of the larger bills are not covered.
So Robin seems fine; ironically her urine test came back negative.... but she's also not waking me up at 2:00 am to go out and pee so maybe she had a very low-grade infection. I've had the same! Symptoms but a negative test. And Robin looks great- very shiny and in good weight and she has more energy than the average dog (although she is far from average!!) so I'm certain her prognosis is good. Long live Robin the Good!