A new vet

On Monday, Erin and I took TJ to a new vet, Dr. Frank Bousaid at Harmony Animal Wellness Center in Monroe. It was obvious that TJ's back left leg was infected, and he needed some help. Erin was referred there by a friend, Lena Morrill. Dr. Frank is a DVM who also specializes in Chinese medicine.

What a difference! Dr. Frank asked about TJ's entire medical history and had already read through the notes sent by the other clinic. Erin had the option of doing a typical Western exam or a Chinese exam, but once Dr. Frank saw TJ he told us that before we could do anything, we needed to get his infection and skin issues under control, and the ONLY way to do that was with antibiotics. We can do a Chinese exam at a later time. While we hated to do it ... it's back to the antibiotics and steroids. However, Dr. Frank has a different attitude, and it was obvious he is concerned about TJ and wants to do what's best. He gave TJ a steroid injection, whereas he's always received pills in the past. He also stated that the antibiotics need to be done in 3-week intervals, meaning that if the infection is completely gone in 3 weeks, we're done. If not, but it's definitely working, then we need to do a second 3-week regimen.

But one of the biggest revelations was the amount of thyroid TJ had been prescribed, and his comment that the excess could be contributing to his skin issues, as well as affecting his mental state. He asked if Erin had noticed an increase in his skin condition as the thyroid increased, and she was able to think back and agree that it had gotten worse. The former vet had prescribed 4.0 mg of Thyrosyn per day (2.5 0.8-mg tabs, 2x daily). Erin had cut it back to 3.2 (2 tabs, 2x daily) because TJ was losing so much weight, but Dr. Frank says TJ should NEVER get more than 0.8 total per day. He said to cut back to 1 tab 2x daily for the first week, then to 1/2 tab 2x daily after that.

The other thing he said was that TJ is very "hot", referring to his energy, and that he should NEVER eat dry food again, and that the worst food for him would be chicken based. He put him on a "white" diet for the next 3 weeks: turkey, rice, potatoes, cottage cheese, and/or tofu. After that he'll be going to canned food. The first night he got cottage cheese and rice, and yesterday we cooked up ground turkey and potatoes. TJ loves it! He seems hungry, so I gave him a little bit of extra food yesterday afternoon. Apparently early this morning he threw up potatoes in Erin's room, so we might have to work on the ratio, or feed him smaller amounts more frequently. He still had some issues eating, where his mouth seems too dry to process the food, and he smacks or gets it stuck to the roof of his mouth.

Monday night he slept through the night, and when Erin got up in the morning she startled him because he was sleeping so soundly. He wagged his tail, and seemed so much happier yesterday. He still slept a lot, still licked some of the hair off of his back legs, still had a lot of discharge ... but it does seem as if he felt much better overall.

We've stopped all of the NZymes products. Dr. Frank wants to get back to "zero" and get TJ healthy and happy. Erin picked up a new shampoo that is supposed to be good at controlling yeast, and she made up a spray bottle with it to use to wipe him down. Dr. Frank wants us to avoid wiping him down with straight water to reduce the possibility of bacteria.

TJ goes back to Dr. Frank in 3 weeks.