Fur, Beautiful Fur

 This is an old photo of Dilly, but it shows her fur as it used to be before low thyroid thinned her coat and gave her a tail that looked like an attached rattlesnake. 

Her fur is back, thanks to several months on thyroid hormone replacement therapy. When you take your dog to the vet, you hope that the prescribed remedy will work, but you're more often afraid that it won't. Well, in Dilly's case, it worked!  Last month, we began noticing that her rattlesnake tail was disappearing under new fur growth. She also had a bare spot under her collar. That's gone as well.  She has cowlicks I never noticed before. 

It's a very chilly day today, still under 32 degrees fahrenheit around 11 AM. Dilly is out walking with Phil. He's bundled up in his winter coat and she is resplendent in her new fur. (I don't go out unless the temperature is at least 40 because the cold air makes me cough.)

Yesterday our 18-year-old grandson had to be picked up from school. He had a sore throat, fever, and congestion. His dad took him for a second Covid test. They'll get the results in a day or so. Meanwhile, he's isolated in his room.  His mother says he's feeling better today. Over the years, he's missed very few days of school because of illness and he's always recovered quickly from colds. We hope that it's just a common cold this time and that he continues to recover. 

Afternoon Sunshine

 Dilly Dog is six years old, which makes her middle-aged.  She loves to nap in a sunny spot on the couch every afternoon.  

Three weeks after her annual visit to the vet in early September, we noticed that the fur on her tail and hindquarters was getting sparse. So back to the vet we went. Of course I read everything beforehand that I could find online about fur loss in dogs. I was afraid the vet would blame food allergies and that we'd be in for a long period of trial and error.  Instead, the vet immediately ordered a pricy blood test. Verdict: low thyroid!  You would expect to get such a diagnosis if you owned an expensive dog with a persnickety pedigree. But surely not with a sturdy mutt of uncertain parentage such as Dilly. We paid an Amish farmer $20 for her. He owned her mother, but said he had no idea who her daddy was. 

Fortunately low thyroid is easy to treat and not too expensive. She takes a pill twice a day.  Her tail still looks rat-like, and her fur loss is now apparent all over her body. She might have been suffering from low thyroid for some months before we first noticed the problem. It may take awhile for her fur to grow back. 

Dilly Goes to the Vet

 

Dilly had a vet appointment this past Thursday for a check-up and to get all her shots. We wanted her to smell nice for the visit and also to wash off the bits of food stuck to her head because of P's penchant for letting her lick bowls, plates and empty yogurt cartons. Bath Day was Wednesday. She wasn't pleased. She bolted from the tub and splashed water all over her parents. 

Our daughter is very protective of us. Because of our advancing ages and the prevalence of new cases or coronavirus in our area, she forbad us to take Dilly to the vet. Dilly's crazy about her and trustingly jumped into the car. Off they went with a list of typed questions and a stool sample in a plastic margarine container. P thought it was really funny later that day to open the refrigerator and say, "Oops, sent the wrong container!"  In many ways, that man is still in eighth grade. 

An hour later, Dilly was home.  The vet was pleased that she'd lost a pound this past year and pronounced her a "delightful dog."  Here she is on the way home, smiling  because she can now cross the vet visit off her "to-do"list.