It isn't easy being a vet student's pet...

ESPECIALLY when said vet student is also a total hypochondriac! Whenever I think something may be wrong with me I do a lot of research on whatever the condition is to help myself "make a diagnosis". Ridiculous, I know, and of course none of the things I think are wrong me ever are actually afflicting me {except paranoia!} but my anxiety transfers over to my dog's health too. So anyway, when I saw this brown mole type lesion on her butt, my brain is screaming MELANOMA! So we took a trip to the vet school today to have the spot checked out {and yeah, I snap photos of my dog's butt and post them on the internet...hahah, totally normal}! Thankfully the doctor didn't seem concerned about it because it isn't raised or invasive, so we'll just watch it to make sure it doesn't grow. Oh and the vet mentioned how "observant" I am...I'll take that as a compliment and pretend they didn't think I was a total weirdo for checking out my dog's butt!

The second reason I brought her in is because I noticed she has gotten a lot thinner since we got back home from Florida. I've had Rhyley on a weight management diet for roughly a year now, and she only dropped half a pound in that time frame, but recently I could tell she had lost the fat pads over the her ribs and her abdominal tuck is more obvious. So we weighed her today and in the past month, she has lost 1.6 pounds - TWELVE PERCENT OF HER BODY WEIGHT! I haven't restricted her food intake at all and she's exercising even less now that it's winter. I think that's a substantial amount in a short time frame for a small dog, so we ran a CBC/chem/UA to see if there is anything obvious and we'll go from there. It just alarmed me because I haven't been actively trying to get her to lose weight. I hope nothing is wrong but at the same time I'm not sure how that much weight loss could happen for no reason. It'd be great if she did just "magically" lose the weight though because she's actually right at her ideal BCS!

My crazy little girl :)

But anyway, I just ask that you keep my pup in your prayers, or at least send her some good vibes if praying isn't your thing! 

UPDATE:  Rhyley's lab work, including her T4, came back normal! Such good news! I'll bring her back to the clinic for a weight recheck in about 3 weeks. Hopefully she maintains her weight so we don't have to do any more diagnostics!