A Vet Visit

Having Buddy or Maya sick is like having a child sick in this house. Whenever one of them is doing something out of the ordinary  them, I'm immediately online trying to figure out what is going on. Lately, Buddy has been doing what we like to refer to as the poop scoot more and more. We recently switched him from a senior pet food to half senior food and half light food. We noticed he was putting on some extra weight, so we wanted to get that off if we could. We weren't sure if the change in diet had something to do with this issue.

We went to the vet on Wednesday this last week to see if we could get some answers about what was going on with Buddy; I'm glad we went because it was a very informational trip.  Luckily, Buddy's anal scent glands were fine. That was the first thing that came to mind when we were trying to figure out what was going on. They also tested to see if he had any parasites or anything; they called Friday and said that text came back showing nothing.  That leaves us thinking perhaps he just is having a skin allergy and things are a little itchy. We hope when allergy season is done, the problem will resolve.

We also had the vet check out Buddy's eyes while we were there. I have especially noticed with Maya around that his eyes don't seem as crisp as they used to be.  Many times he won't know we are around until he hears us. It isn't to the point that he is running into things, but we still wanted to get it checked out.   Turns out Buddy has nuclear sclerosis, which the vet explained basically means he needs glasses. As dogs age, their eye sight deteriorates much like people. Since they don't make doggy glasses, which they should because they would be adorable, it is just something we have to be aware of.

The vet also talked to us about Buddy's weight gain. Turns out, his blood tests that we had done last February came back right on the border of needing thyroid medication.  We also found out that we have been feeding him about twice as much as he should be having. We flowed the directions on the bag, so we aren't intentionally  feeding him too much. We have to restrict his diet for the next couple of months and then go in and have his blood work drawn again if he doesn't drop weight. So, there is a potential for Buddy to be starting thyroid medication as he rounds the corner to his 10th birthday. Whatever keeps him healthy as long as possible.