We are deep into the dog days of summer now — I hope there is a cool tile floor, a full water bowl, and a long afternoon nap happening somewhere near you as you read this. These are the weeks for early walks and lazy evenings.
I want to share something with you today that unfolded in my clinic like a little mystery novel.
You see, it started with one dog who just seemed… off.
Not eating with her usual joy. A little quiet. Nothing dramatic — the kind of thing you almost talk yourself out of worrying about. Her bloodwork came back with one number out of place: her calcium was high. And attached to that number was a list of possible causes scary enough to steal any pet parent’s sleep.
Then, a few days later, a second dog. Different family. Same finding.
And then a third.
Three dogs. Three different homes. No shared yard, no shared food, no connection between them at all — except the same alarming number, in the same week, on my lab reports.
We checked the hormone system that controls calcium in each of them. One was abnormal, two were normal. So the frightening things on that list were still sitting there, waiting to be feared.
But here is the thing about bodies — they do not exist in a vacuum.
And three unrelated dogs do not develop the same rare disease in the same week by coincidence.
Something in their world had changed.
That is when we stopped staring at the printout and started asking about the terrain — what these dogs had been exposed to, what was new in their environments, what their bodies might be trying to clear. We supported all three with gentle flushing fluids and let their bodies do what bodies know how to do.
By their rechecks this week, all three were brighter. Eating again. Tails going.
We will recheck that calcium in a month to be sure the story ends the way I believe it will. But I wanted to tell you this one because of what it taught me all over again.
A lab value is a snapshot. It is not a sentence.
So if your vet ever hands you a frightening result, take a breath before you fall into the list of terrible possibilities. Ask what else could explain it. Ask what has changed at home — the new lawn treatment, the new water source, the new anything. You know your pet’s world better than any test does, and what you notice is real data.
The scariest thing on the list is not always the true thing.
Sometimes the body is not failing. Sometimes it is simply responding to something it was never meant to carry — and it gets better the moment we lighten the load.
One more thing before I go: next Sunday is a special one. The podcast turns 100 episodes old, and we celebrated in the most “us” way possible. More on that next week.
Give your sweet ones a scratch from me. 💜
— Dr. Lily
