Wow, May has gone by so fast….!  It’s nearly June and my computer has finally been returned to me.  It’s taken a couple of days to get everything reloaded and updated, so that it’s finally back to normal.  You don’t really think about how much of your life is on your computer until it’s gone.  Fortunately we have Time Machine and it had done a complete system back up just prior to having it’s meltdown! Otherwise, I’d be LOST!!!

To update you on Rio’s progress, we’ve spent a lot of hours in the vet’s offices this month.  The calcinosis cutis has progressed to the point where her entire back is covered with tiny little bumps and flaky skin.  There are portions of it which are all crusty, and if you pet her, her hair falls out easily.  I told her she’s turning into a Mexican hairless.

We finally had a consult with the internal medicine specialist, and did the preliminary Cushing’s test, called an ACTH stimulation test.  It didn’t come back as conclusive as what the doctor thought it would be, given how bad her symptoms are.  They typically measure where a number over 10 is definitive for Cushings.  Rio was at 8.  However, the weird thing about Cushings is that a dog with numbers over 10 may have zero symptoms of the disease, and likewise a dog with numbers even lower than Rio’s may have raging symptoms.

Rather than pay for a bunch more tests, and put Rio through all of that — two of the tests are 8 hours long — we’re are proceeding with the theory “looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, must be a duck” and the ACTH test will simply act as a baseline for determining how she is responding to treatment and what the dosing should be to correct her symptoms.

We started her on Trilostane Monday of this week.  So far, no obvious changes….  Although she does seem to be in really good spirits and we’ve seen more of her old playful and fiesty self.

Zephyr, Monkeybutt Supreme, graduated from her Advanced Beginner’s agility class this week.  I used to take her when she was a puppy, because she was very timid, and I thought it would build her confidence, and it was a fun thing for us to do together.  Then Rio got sick, and I stopped taking her until a friend of mine wanted us to go again with her and her dog last year.  We took a couple more classes, and then Rio got sick again, and all of my time and attention went to helping her recover from her amputation surgery.  I think that period of time was really stressful for Zeff, because she started chewing on her feet until they were raw.  So I decided we’d go back to class — give Zeffy her own alone time with mom.  And give her something other than her feet to focus on.

I don’t have any delusions that Zephyr will compete at agility.  That’s not why we’re doing it.  She’s four years old, neither very fast or competitive, and she struggles to stay focused for any length of time, but she completed a 15 obstacle course 3 times without any mistakes.  And that’s something worth saying “Paws Up” over.  And she’s so cute when she knows she did a good job!

So that’s all the news that’s worth printing here in K-town.  Oh, except yesterday we topped 74 degrees!  It was the first time in more than 7 months that it’s been over 70 degrees here!!!!  And it was only 3 days short of breaking the record for the latest date where temperatures were over 70 degrees.   (So it hasn’t been just my imagination that this spring has been abnormally cold.)  Of course today, it’s 53 and raining!!!