Many of you asked me to keep you apprised of Red’s progress, and I will. I was much impressed with Dr. Suzanne Fariello of the Cambridge Valley Veterinary Hospital, I’ve always been comfortable with her, but I thought she did a great job diagnosing Red, and coming up with a comprehensive, balanced and modern plan.

This morning, Red returned to his normal self, active, alert, moving much more fluidly. I’ll take a video of him later this morning. We have him anti-inflammatory medication yesterday, a dose of advanced joint medication and he had his first laser treatment, I could see immediate and dramatic results from that.

Nicole, a vet tech, administered the laser treatment, we all had to wear protective glasses (including Red), it took about 20 minutes. More treatments are scheduled for next week, four in all. Red was in visible plain the last few weeks, liming, lying around in a much more sluggish way than he ever  has and than border collies do. He was very stiff and slow standing up.

Today, there was none of that. I’m taking it easy with him, reducing his work load, but still, it is an impressive change for the second day of treatment. I think the anti-inflammatory pills and the laser treatment were the biggest factors. I’ll keep you posted. Vets are not miracle workers, arthritis is not ultimately reversible, but Red can have his work life and general life greatly prolonged. He has returned to his old, eager and active self for now, fingers crossed.

Vets take a lot of heat these days, there are hundreds of thousands of online diagnosticians and conspiracy theorists out there, but I trust vets, they are the ones i turn to when I need medical advice, not people on Facebook. Six years of training and days of intense and real time experience count for me. And no, they do not get rich.

There is a trend towards corporatized veterinary care, as the Corporate Nation is swallowing up free people and individuals everywhere. I am glad to live in the country, where vets like Suzanne can still run their practice the way they wish to. More updates to come.