some changes

Since last week, things have stayed good. Dave is being picky with eating, sometimes eating his kibble, sometimes waiting until we add a little chicken broth. In the last two weeks, that's the only issue that has come up. Not too bad. No GI issues, the eye is looking great and his energy level is very high. He's been snoring more lately, but I have no idea if that's in any way related.

We're in the process of making a change in his regular vet. When we first adopted Dave, we got recommendation from a lot of owners and thought we were choosing his vet carefully. I was a bit of a hypochondriac, taking him for the vet for almost anything perceived wrong. In the first two years, he was probably there eight times. I don't think I've EVER seen the same vet twice. It's not that it's a big practice, but the turnover in vets, front desk staff and techs is ridiculous. We found two nice doctors there, but when we tried to request them for another appointment, they were no longer with the practice.

Another issue I had was their treatment of Dave's eye. His eyes were always very red and I made a point of asking about them every time I took him in. About two years ago, one of the vets said that it could develop into glaucoma, but that we had nothing to worry about at that time. I asked about an opthalmologist, and was told it wasn't necessary. At follow up appointments, I asked, and was repeatedly told it was allergies and an opthalmologist didn't need to be consulted. I felt that my vet's advice was accurate and that I didn't want to be the overprotective owner. I feel very guilty about this now, seeing as it's one part of this whole thing that could have been prevented.

We go to a wonderful, locally owned pet store for Dave's food. The link is on the side. Several of the workers there really helped a few years ago when we went there explaining we wanted to help him age gracefully. We got him on a very high quality food (Innova EVO poultry mix), with no grains and whole vegetables. It's the closest we could get to a raw diet. We also switched out our sugary, carb-y treats for more healthy ones, which Dave didn't mind at all. The staff there recommended a holistic vet last year, and we never bothered to switch him, for whatever reason, and were thinking about switching before his vaccinations prior to his diagnosis.

Even though it may seem counterintuitive to switch vets when, given his initial prognosis, he may only be with us for another six months to a year, we felt it was the best thing we could do for him. He has an appointment this upcoming week, and the tech I spoke with said that many owners in our situation do the same thing. As an added bonus, the vet is a mile from our house, as opposed to the 15 or 20 his old vet was. I wish I had known about this earlier!

Finally, after this loooong post, I celebrated turning 30 this week! Dave enjoyed opening presents, as he always does, and we enjoyed decorating him afterwards.