Vet Experience... and agility (of course!)

I had an appointment for Blossom at the vet yesterday. She's been scooting around on her bum for at least six months. Now, she had that issue when I first got her, and of course the vet says, Oh, it's her anal glands. Expressed them, didn't change anything. So I had to take her back again (and pay another office visit fee) and he declares that she is allergic to fleas. That didn't help either. By trial and error, I figured out she was allergic to chicken. I removed all sources from her diet, and poof, no more scooting.

Yesterday's experience is following a similar trend (7 years later and with a different vet).

This time, though, first I exhausted the possibility of an allergy by switching to California Natural L&R, then to Natural Balance Venison. No change (except in my wallet). So I dewormed her, even though her poop looks fine and nobody else is having issues (and we have a notorious poop eater in the house too). No change. So I go out on a limb and buy frontline plus. No change. I added lots of Omega 3, 6, and 9 to her diet. No change.

So, yesterday, the vet tech nods politely while she squeezes my dog's anal glands and does absolutely nothing else as I recite my story of B and her scooting history. This morning, Blossom was scooting around the house on her butt again. I'm pretty ticked off. I understand vets deal with idiots all the time. But not only have I WORKED for a vet, I've got this useless degree in zoology and I own five very pampered dogs - I think I know what I'm talking about.

Blossom also was checked for congestive heart failure yesterday. She coughs a lot, sometimes she'll wake up and start coughing in the middle of the night. If I give her an aspirin, she doesn't cough, which is why I figured she has heart issues. The vet looked at her x-ray and said if she does have it, it's in the very very early stages. He gave her some broncho dialators and told me I could keep giving her aspirin if it appeared to help her. He wouldn't give me a definitive diagnosis so I guess we'll just play it by ear for now.

Agility last night was with Popper, and they told us if we passed through to the next level or not. I wasn't so sure, since one of my previous instructors told me we'd be repeating, and I ran into an agility obstacle last night and looked like an idiot LOL. But we've been working on rear crosses, and I threw a whole bunch in during class and Popper took them like a pro. That might have saved us, because we got promoted to the next level. One of the other ladies got to skip the next level entirely! I was pretty happy, I don't like repeating things. Even doing the beginner levels again with Merlin is annoying because I've already done them once, and what Popper learned I already taught to Merlin. But it's good experience for him, I guess, because he's not used to the classroom setting like Pop is.