Leishmaniosis test
Theo developed some worrying pimples on his face, so I decided that he ought to have a test to check if he was having a leishmaniosis flare. This is a Mediterranean disease which is transmitted by a specific kind of Mediterranean sand-fly, and can lie dormant for up to 7 years.
We had originally thought that Theo's litter was unlikely to have been infected since they arrived at the rescue at the age of only one week old, but both of his littermates have had leishmaniosis problems since they came to the UK, so they may have got it from their mother.
Unfortunately, this requires a blood sample taken from the jugular vein, and Theo was Not OK with this. We did try various options such as seeing if he would be OK with giving blood in the car if he'd had a chance to get to know the vet first, but the answer was a definite NO.
So I held his head (wearing Rosie's old muzzle, which we have practiced with) and the vet jabbed him with a sedative in his backside. Poor Theo! It took him ages to go to sleep (like, about 40 minutes), and in the end he sort of flomped on top of me and the vet was able to take a sample.
Thankfully the biochemistry results were good,and the leishmaniosis results came back negative on Saturday. And the pimples have now vanished again, so who knows what caused those.
I need to go into the vet again to pay for the extra biochemistry test I requested, as per the rescue's advice and demand the full results. I had asked these to be emailled to me, but vets never seem to do that unless you pester them relentlessly.
Theo sadly snoozing before the vet came to take his bloods.
