Tubeans

Recently I've noticed Lily getting some pudge on her. Okay, maybe it's been a little longer than "recently", but I decided to take her in and do a little testing on her. With her haircoat being so thick and shedding in weird clumps, the increased weight, and low level of interest in activity, I thought the first place to start was a T4 (thyroid) to check to see if she was hypothyroid.

It may seem crazy but I think most of you would be amazed to know how many dogs test positive for hypothyroidism. And that's just the dogs that are being tested. There are millions out there that do not get appropriate day to day treatment, let alone testing for these types of diseases. So I can only imagine how many dogs actually have this disease.

Anyway, I took Lily in for a simple blood draw and test to see if this was the cause of her symptoms. Nope, we just have a Tubby Beans or Tubeans as we call her. I never thought that I would be worried about Lily gaining too much weight. We've always worried about her just keeping the food in her long enough to actually gain weight. So what do we do now? We could get the dogs on a reduced calorie prescription food, but according to Doc, "If it was my dog, I'd just leave her be. She's not fat." But considering people have noticed her larger belly it may be time to take a few trips around the block to get her moving. The only issue with that is her luxating patella. Upon tiring, after awhile, she has to do the "hop, skip, run..." since it bothers her. If it's not one thing it's the other with her. Our little enigma. But you gotta love her.