A few months ago, I noticed Colt was a little skinny and started feeding him more.  I didn't really think much about it; I keep the dogs fairly thin and with eight, I'm always tweaking one diet or another.  (Winnie, for instance, is on a diet right now.)

When he continued to get skinnier, I took him to the hospital to see just how bad he was.  He weight in at 44 pounds.  We ran a complete blood count and chemistry, a thorough urinalisis and took an x-ray from his shoulder to his hip.  I was relieved to find nothing was wrong, but concerned at the same time.  You kind of want answers.

We decided his itchy skin might be enough to cause his troubles.  Some dogs do weird things, like stand, scratch, lick and don't sleep.  We redoubled our efforts with the topical saves and put him on prednisone, which really cleared up the itching.  We changed his food to one that frequently comes up as being a "safe" one on a lot of allergy reports Dr. Amanda sees -- Nutro Lamb and Rice.  We fed it TWICE a day -- doubling his food intake.

Amanda thought Colt was doing better, but I didn't see any improvement.  I took him back to the hospital after a couple of weeks, and it confirmed my suspicion.  After being on double the food, and with clear skin for several weeks, he had gained just a few tenths of a pound.  He was still 44 pounds and change.

Dr. Amanda's list of possible problems narrowed quite quickly.  She wanted to do an exploratory surgery.  I talked with Dr. Temm who concurred.  The list of possible problems included one that could be fixed surgically.  It also included a liver problem that if discovered, would mean the best thing I could do was never wake Colt up.

I started to accept he was going to die.  I started hoping he would make it until the ground thawed so I could bury him.  I know exactly how I am going to build his coffin now.

I didn't want to do it.  I mean, if he only had six months to live, why spend most of that time recovering from invasive surgery? 

I spoke with Bob Engelhardt to get some info on Colt's dad's health history, which wasn't much help here.  Ben was fairly healthy when he passed away.  He did have some experience with other veterinarians, which led me to accept my wife would have to cut Colt open.  It's in her nature; it's her job.

I wasn't going to just LET her dig in.  I wanted options, so we discussed them.  I came up with a few non-invasive tests to do before we would cut.  I wanted to re-check his blood and urine after cutting his water intake to a normal level; Colt drinks a lot of water and always has.  I also wanted to check his poop.  I promissed to monitor Colt's water consumption.

I failed to keep the water in check.  Colt found water outside and gulped it greedily.  I feared that was worse.  I vowed to keep him on a tether.

His poo, on the other hand, was easy to collect.  So I took a bit to the hospital.  Dr. Amanda humored me and took a look.  I thought we might find parasites.  It was an unlikely situation as we use regular wormers.  Fecal analysis almost never turns anything up.

This time it did.  Colt has an abnormal bloom of the natural bacteria in his intestines.  It was so unusual, Dr. Amanda had to get a second opinion as she'd never seen that much bacteria on a slide before.  Colt hasn't been able to properly digest his food since it started. 

He's on two antibiotics, and has been on them for just a few days.  He has gained a pound.

What did I learn?  You have to fight the urge to accellerate the diagnosis tools.  There are a lot of tests that are non-evasive and inexpensive.  Run them when your pet is sick.

Colt will likely hunt next fall.  I couldn't be more thrilled.