"Janet Boss" wrote in message
...
In article
,
boris wrote:

The vet is not sure what's going on and wants to
do X-rays and CT. I'm not sure I like going on fishing expeditions.
Can anyone here help clear this up?

The questions I always ask myself a what do these values indicate?
If more than one possibility, what is the prognosis and treatment/cure
for each of these conditions? What cost will there be in treatment of
this issue, both financially as well as time, duress to the dog, etc?
With treatment, will we be buying time, curing, or increasing quality of
life? What do you hope to find or not find with these tests? Will the
treatment options be different?


I'm definitely with you on this one.

Basically the way I look at diagnostic tests is in terms of how it modifies
the clinical outcome.

Lets say (for example) that there is a test we can do. The test is very
expensive, and what we're testing for is something we can't (or won't) do
anything about (like an MRI to look for a tumor in a seizuring dog where you
aren't going to do surgery even if you find a tumor). What is the point of
doing the MRI? Nothing has changed clinically.

You need to find out what your vet is hoping the rule out (or rule in) with
the diagnostics. They are quite expensive, and if money is an issue here,
you need to make sure you are both on the same page. Is there something that
it *could* be that would be treatable in a 15 year old dog? Is there any
point in knowing what it is, if you aren't going to do anything about it?

I might be interested in doing a drug trial, and see if its responsive to
one of the more common (and more benign) treatments. If the treatment is
less invasive than the diagnostic test for that condition, aren't you best
to go straight to treatment? If its not responsive, what have you lost
(other than time) assuming the treatment is safe. (I'm not sure I'd want to
put a 15 year old dog under an anesthetic, just to do a CT for something
that we aren't like to be treating for anyways...)

With my old dog, we've just learned to live with the occasional accidents,
and we're thankful for every day we have left with him.

Just my two cents,

Dale