Senior Wellness Exams

Those of you who are friends with my mom probably followed her tumultuous 24 hours where she feared for the life of her favorite son (that's me, really, don't listen to that crazy Muggsy). I hate to admit it, but I'm getting old. I have little gray hairs around my eyes and arthritis in my ankles. And that means that I have to get senior wellness exams. If you have an older dog, which can mean 7 if you have large-breed dogs or 10 for smaller breeds, please take them for their exams. Imagine if you were 63 and didn't go to the doctor for seven years!

Well, I went this week, and I had lost 10 more pounds. I'm down to 65 pounds. For a Rottie-Newfie, that's no good. I tried to convince my mom just to feed me more raw meat, but she thought that sounded suspicious and took me to the vet. There are several things that could cause weight loss and excessive drinking, which are two signs you want to be very wary of in your senior dogs. It can be caused by certain types of cancers, kidney or liver problems, diabetes or thyroid problems.

I already have thyroid problems. I've been on medication for five years. It caused me to put on 10 pounds and become very lethargic initially. Now, I have tons of energy and am shedding pounds like crazy. I was on a diet, but I shouldn't have lost this much. My urinalysis showed that I might have kidney problems, which really upset my mom, but we had to wait until the bloodwork to be sure because all of the problems I'm having could be caused by too much medication, making me hyperthyroid!

The bloodwork came back positive. I had a very high thyroid, but my BUN and creatine levels were normal, indicating normal kidneys. I also had normal liver enzymes and no calcium levels (excess calcium can indicate cancer). Thus, I just have to change my medication. This made my mom, dad and sister very happy and my brother a little disappointed. But, hey, you can't please everyone all the time! So I'm on my new meds now, doing fine. But I never would have known what the problem was if not for my senior exam.

So don't forget! We hate the vet (except me because I love attention), but it could save a life! Love, Chubbs