Jasmine's Fur Analysis: Starting The Plan

After we got Jasmine's fur analysis results and recommendations, we consulted with her main vet. It was decided to give it a go. The only way to learn something new is by trying new things.

I am quite comfortable with trying this; after all, all we are using is food.

To play it as safe as possible, and also to have a baseline to see the progress, we started by a thorough physical examination and blood tests.

We did full blood panel, as well as checked her T4 levels, and tested for heartworm, Lyme and Ehrlichia.

The lab had a spring special on early disease detection for senior dogs, so we bundled in everything we could.

We specifically wanted to test for the tick born diseases, because of the tick Jasmine got in the fall. Dr. Frick's analysis also indicated evidence of bacteria, which really made me want to make sure we are not looking at Lyme. All these things were negative, so that was great news.

Jasmine's blood panel looked good; in fact, there was only very little difference between hers and JD's (taking advantage of the special we tested his blood also).

Jasmine has blood of a 4-year old! ;-)

An interesting finding were her T4 levels, which were higher than the last time she was tested. In the light of the fur analysis recommendations, that is interesting. It also gives us some wiggling room to experiment with the dose of her thyroid meds.

I was finally able to acquire all the suggested supplements. So far I have introduced four out of six, with no ill effects. With Jasmine one cannot be too careful. It is our policy to always introduce things one at the time.

If we introduced a whole bunch of things at once, and it didn't sit well with Jasmine, how would we know which of the new things is causing trouble?

So it is a good idea to always do one thing at the time. With a sensitive dog, this applies to just about anything, including food ingredients. It has happened enough times, that something we thought to be perfectly safe, turned out to be a problem.

So far so good though.

Once Jasmine is put on all the new supplements, then we wait and watch for changes. Follow up fur analysis will be done in three months.

The physical exam also revealed some enlargement of the popliteal lymph nodes (nodes under the knee) but no direct cause was found. The theory is that they are caused by Jasmine's muscle injury (she injured her iliopsoas). So we are working on getting those healed and will check the nodes again.

This is the same injury she had couple of years ago.

That time it took seven months to fully heal! These muscles are tricky to deal with because they are really tucked away. This time I decided to try reiki, so we'll see how that works out. It is hard to keep Jasmine subdued. She's just all go, no quit.

One of the new supplements are anti-inflammatory enzymes, so maybe they can help out with this also.

We are really curious what these new supplements can do for Jasmine.

Jana

Related articles:
Toxins? What Toxins? Jasmine's Fur Analysis