Day 2605

We ran a bunch of tests on Dash this morning and didn't find out anything definitive. I'll have to take Dash back to the vet tomorrow morning after a 12 hour fast to repeat one of the tests because he had too many fat cells in his blood today to check his phenobarbital levels. This has happened before. I don't know why Dash has fat cells in his blood but it happens a lot. I did learn some things to look for. If Dash has involuntary eye movement when he is staring straight ahead, this is very often a telling sign of vestibular disease. We are supposed to grab our phones and make a video if we see this. Shaking his head back and forth like we witnessed could happen with either an epileptic or vestibular seizure. Dizziness could happen in both cases as well. It doesn't look like this is going to be an easy diagnosis.

Dash hates to miss a meal, so I'll have to get him out of the house tomorrow morning before Janet feeds Dot. Luckily, the early morning blood test won't take very long so he'll get his breakfast as soon as we get home. Hopefully, we can prevent future seizures by making small changes in the medication Dash is currently taking. You always hope that intermittent problems will just go away on their own. It's good not to ignore these things though. The sooner you identify a serious disease, the more resources you have to cure it.

I got someone to come over today to give me an estimate on trimming my trees. I've used this guy for years and he's honest and fair, as well as being quite a character. While I was greeting him in the driveway this morning, he asked me to look at something in the back of his truck. "What do you think that is," he asked me. The large clear Plexiglas container looked like a fish tank to me.  "No, it's a fuel cell," the guy told me. "I make hydrogen out of water and then mix it in with my gas to reduce emissions." Personally, I don't think I'd want something that made hydrogen sitting in the back of my car, but hey, that's just me. This guy was real excited about his home brew fuel cell and told me that he was working on a way to improve the design so he could run his truck entirely on water. I just hope he doesn't blow himself up before he trims my trees.

Dot wouldn't eat the rice cake I give the dogs for lunch today. This was alarming, because she has always loved rice cakes. I started feeding the dogs rice cakes at lunch because they want to eat constantly and this was a way to give them the sensation of having a meal between breakfast and dinner without making them fat or adding many calories to their diet. I'd hate to see Dot lose her appetite, since eating has always been one of her favorite activities. I see new signs that Dot is slowing down almost every day and it makes me sad. I wish we could still go for water therapy, but transporting her in the car is just too difficult at this point. All I can really do at this point is try to make the remaining time she has with us as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.

Work is still slow, so I wrote a letter to my Luddite sister this afternoon. I usually like the somewhat archaic ritual of writing letters the old fashioned way, but there are times when I wish my sister would get an e-mail account. e-mail is definitely faster. When I took the letter to the post office, I stopped by the neighborhood Pei Wei to get something for dinner. I'm so predictable that the guy at the counter already knew what I was going to order.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day