Anna's spay day

Loading up, heading to the vet for spay day.

Clay was out of town so I had to get Anna to the vet before 8:00 a.m. this morning.  If he's in town he will usually drop off a dog at the vet on his way to work.  With him out of town I had to get up, get moving, and get out of the house far earlier than usual.  I'm generally up early, but if everyone's quiet and content I may get a cup of coffee and watch TV in bed until Gigi decides it's time to actually get up.  This morning I had to get everyone out to do their business and back in so that Anna and I could head to town.

I voted on the way home from the
vet, after picking up some straw.

She was due to be spayed today and I had also determined that we needed to do some blood work on her because she doesn't seem to have gained any weight.  She's really tough to weigh because she refuses to sit or stand on the scale, but it confirmed what I had suspected, that she has not gained an ounce over the past couple of weeks in spite of twice daily feedings.

Anna's belly, with prior spay scar

Anna on the ride back home.

The vet's office called late morning with the happy news that they had not done the surgery because she was already spayed.  They got her sedated and shaved down and discovered a spay scar.  They drew the blood and performed part of the tests in-house and everything looked fine.  They are sending a sample out to a lab for more extensive tests, including the EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) test.  EPI is a problem that plagues many shepherds, and if that's all it is, an exzyme supplement should sort it out.  We should know more in a few days.

A poster on the wall of an exam
room at VRCC.  I was in the same
room with Gigi after her rock eating
experience some time ago.

Clay got home Tuesday afternoon and that evening we ended up making a trip to VRCC over at the west end of Richmond.  It's a vet clinic staffed with various specialists and it's open 24 hours a day for emergencies.  Zachary was having increasing problems walking throughout the evening and got to the point that he couldn't move or use his hind legs at all. They did an exam, his vitals were all pretty normal.  He's spending the night there and they will do blood work and xrays.  The neurologist will examine him Wednesday morning and we'll go from there.