0217B: Narrowing the Yoshi Diagnosis

So the vets over at Beterinaryo sa Fort have made some progress in figuring out the reason for Yoshi's anemia. Last week's more comprehensive blood test eliminated his bone marrow as a possible factor in his illness. Today his blood was used for another battery of tests for a lot of other factors including blood parasites and auto-immune disease.

Most results came back negative save one - it seems that Yoshi has some sort of kidney problem that is the most likely cause of his anemia. Once the results came back, the vet had recommended that we have him confined so they can get him on an IV and try to flush his system over the next two days. He'll also be on a special diet that means less complex proteins to make it easier for his system to handle things. So yeah, temporarily no raw food or liver snacks for now.

And while we have been away from Yoshi during past out-of-town trips, this does feel a little unsettling. I keep reminding myself that this is a good thing since we're making progress in the diagnosis and now we're giving him support for where he needs it most instead of dealing with the surface symptoms of the anemia. But of course as with any case of a loved one being under more urgent medical care, it's easy to get scared and to fear for the worst.

But I'm doing my best to focus on the fact that Yoshi is still a fairly young dog and we know he's a strong little guy. The fact that he has still been eating and overall weight loss throughout this diagnostic effort has been minimal is a good sign - or at least that's what the vet has reassured us. And he's getting professional care, so all the more he stands a better chance of fighting off whatever this is. He's being scheduled for additional tests as we continue to narrow down the cause of all this. I just hope it won't mean a longer term condition that Yoshi will have to deal with for the rest of his life. He's such a happy eater and I don't want to deny him the more enjoyable things in life.

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