Yes, we were referred to an internal medicine specialist a 5 years ago when we first got her, and they did all of the diagnostics. I live near Washington, DC and we were sent to Southpaws Veterinary Specialists and Emergency Center. (
Southpaws Veterinary Specialists and Emergency Center) That was an arduous, and expensive process. They are wonderful, but only are open 9-5 M-F and terribly inconvenient geographically from our house, so it required a few days off from work to get Tina to the appts. They did all sorts of tests, including a sonomgram, blood pressure (I got to watch that tests, it was fascinating how they test a furry animals blood pressure) It was really frightening at first when the vet came back with this lengthy list of ailments. We'd only had Tina a couple of months, at the time. My husband was more than a little taken aback at both the lengthy list and the lengthy vet bill. Fortunately, Tina is the sweetest little thing on four legs, so it wasn't long before we were both determined to do whatever we could for her. So once we had a good diagnosis, South Paws agreed to turn her case over to our regular vet for maintenance care. They have evening and weekend hours, highly recommended by my friends who have Yorkies, and are much more accessible (though no less expensive, unfortunately).
So our vet does bloodwork, etc on a regular basis and sends it to South Paws for their review. That's why I'm going on Saturday, it's time for her quarterly bloodwork. I don't recall exactly what Dr Katz does, and don't have any of her records here at work, but I recall she's always looking at Tina's albumin levels. That one seems to be the one she's most concerned about.
Yes, it's a complicated case. In addition to the metronidazole, She takes 1/4 of a tablet that I can't remember the name of at the moment, I actually get that rx filled at CVS.
Thank you so much for all the links, I'm going to put in some study time tonight so that I can ask better questions of the vet tomorrow.
Thanks for the recommendation idea about the cod - I'll pick some up tonight on my way home. Hopefully that will satisfy the little princess.