Jackal's Vet Visit

I took Jackal to the vet for several reasons.  There was a lump on his leg that I was worried about, he's been limping again and he hasn't lost any weight (although he does have a waist now, the number hasn't gone down at all in the year he's been on a diet).

The lump is nothing to worry about.  It's a benign fatty tumor.  Actually the vet found one on his side too that I wasn't aware of.

The vet agreed to try a course of Doxycycline to see if the limping is related to his Ehrlichia like Storm's was.  For those who may not know I was unaware that Storm had Ehrlichia for seven years because she never showed signs of it (no fever, lethargy or loss of appetite).  However she limped off and on for a long time.  I thought it was from an old injury that didn't heal properly.  When we got Jackal we had Storm checked out and one of the things they did was test for Ehrlichia.  Lo and behold she had it, so they treated her with Doxy and the limp went away and never returned during her last five years.  So I've been wanting to treat Jackal to see if his limp is related to it.  The vet said it could also be arthritis, so if the Doxy doesn't help we might have to look into that.  He said to keep exercising him and continue to keep him off the pavement.

As for his weight we decided to check his thyroid levels since he hasn't lost any weight.  He got fat because my grandparents were feeding him cat food behind my back, but he no longer gets that since their cat (actually she was mine) died (of old age at 16).  He was actually in the low normal range (1.3), but the vet decided to go ahead and put him on it (since anything under 1 is considered low) to see if that helps him out.  He has a recheck in a month.  His thyroid meds are almost as expensive as mine!!!!  Yikes!

Other than that he's happy as can be and has a great appetite.  So we will see how the meds help.  I'll update again in a month and let you know how he's doing.  Keep your fingers crossed that the limp goes away and that he starts to slim down and feel more energetic!

He did really well at the vet.  He whined and yelped (almost bayed) a little bit (which is his normal thing), but eventually settled down as you can see in the above pictures.  He was really excited about the other dogs, but he listened well.  :)