Hypoallergenic
Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2001
Ahh.. the big question. How is Sienna? I'm sorry it took me so long to follow up. I honestly wasn't trying to build any suspense.
The news: she's okay.
We think.
The vet ran her through all the tests: blood work, x-rays, etc. She didn't find anything. And while I suppose that is a good thing, the "not knowing" is still kind of worrisome. There's no verifiable cause. And when your dog loses 22% of her body weight suddenly, you better believe there is a cause. But we just don't have a definitive answer of what that is.
So, Dr. Nelson said she wants to treat this as a food allergy. She suspects Sienna is severely allergic to something in her food and prescribes that we feed her only prescription, hypoallergenic food. What the vet explained was that sometimes dogs develop allergies out of the blue to wheat and various protein sources. Dr. Nelson doesn't know right off where Sienna's allergy comes from: the wheat or the lamb. But the special dog food we've been prescribed is made solely from Catfish and Rice. We had the choice of either going with that, or Rabbit and Rice or (get this!) Kangaroo and Rice. The theory is that these foods provide a protein source that has never been introduced to the animal -- therefore no allergy has been created. And by maintaining the hypoallergenic state, an allergy shouldn't develop *if* the dog is *only* fed this food.
Oy!
It's really weird, too, because not only are we limited to feeding her this food, but only the dry food as well. I guess the canned and dry foods have different protein sources even though they're made from the same stuff. Poor dog. No rawhides, no Three Dog Bakery treats, no Carrot Bones, no canned dog food. The vet did state she could have a carrot stick or plain rice cake as a treat. But, really, what dog wants that? I actually gave Sienna a carrot stick last night. She dropped it on the ground and looked at me like, "What's THIS?"
But we're doing what we have to and hopefully the old diet was the problem. I want to get some weight back on her. And I'm relieved it's not some virus she picked up at the park. The vet also said it was safe to go back to the parks. She is vaccinated against Parvo and Lymes Disease and a bunch of other things.
The funny thing about the whole episode on Friday, though, was that when they finally called us on Friday evening I was a complete wreck. I was so worried and they were so late in returning my calls. It turns out that it was a horrible day for them, lots of emergencies and they didn't get to all of Sienna's tests. They called to ask if they could keep her overnight and finish up in the morning.
Well, me being a wreck and all, I envisioned my poor, skinny dog in a crate all alone and scared. I told them I wanted to pick her up for the night. I'd return her in the morning.
15 minutes later we arrived at the vet. They were closed by now and we had to enter in the back. Dr. Nelson and her assistants were working on various things and there was my dog. Loose. And running from one person to the next with her tail wagging -- smile on her face.
She was loving it. And they were loving her.
I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. Or maybe jealous. But, dammit, my dog was happy at the vet! What is up with that? Dr. Nelson had even given her a Saltine Cracker! She was embarrassed when I pointed it out. She said I wasn't supposed to see that. And I find it very ironic now that the she's deduced that diet is the cause. She got to be the last person to give my dog a treat.
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James and I had a great weekend. Nothing spectacular. But fallish and nice.
On Saturday we went to the Appleside Apple Orchard in Farmington, MN. It's a smaller orchard than those found in Stillwater or Red Wing. It didn't have a lot of frills. But it was really nice and the apples were REALLY cheap. $.59/pound! We got 21 lbs of apples and a pumpkin to boot. Oh, and the best caramel apple I've ever had in my life. Although, eating it with braces was quite the challenge.
On Saturday night, we went stopped at the A Prairie Home Companion Annual Street Dance. We got to see Garrison Keilor and even send a postcard with a digital picture of us to our parents from the street. We danced and enjoyed the music -- although we didn't partake of the Meatloaf and Mashed Potato dinner.
After the street dance, we went to a local comedy club. A friend of ours just got married... to a comedian. This was my first time meeting him and I was really afraid he wasn't going to be funny.
But he was. And it was all good.
On Sunday, we had breakfast again with our friends and then stopped by the Capital to see another friend finish the Minneapolis Marathon. Way to go, David!
Afterwards, we settled in to our apartment and did a lot of cooking. We made homemade applesauce from our apples. I also baked some Maple and Walnut Biscotti. We then fixed a Curried Pumpkin and Apple Soup (which I adjusted from this recipe substituting my fresh pumpkin and using the the orchard apples as well!) Soup. For dinner, we had the soup along with Horseradish Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Portabellas.
Yum.
I also spend some time reading. Although, I'm only to page 50. I don't know how I'm going to finish my book in time for Book Club in two weeks... especially now that I am getting ready for JournalCon... which I'm REALLY excited for. Have I mentioned that Kerry is my roommate? I think we're going to have a blast.
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