Thank you for all of the positive thoughts, concerns, and well wishes for Katie. You guys had so many suggestions and questions, I thought I would address them here.Regarding having a powerful sedative on hand, my vet did not like the idea. I guess in a traumatic event, blood pressure can drop significantly. Adding a sedative to the event could kill your pet. If I were trying to take Katie to a vet, I would be trying to save her. If she was suffering and needed to be euthanized, I would call a mobile vet or my own vet to come to the house (and, yes, I think he would). I am lucky that I have an excellent (but not my preferred) animal hospital not even 1 mile from my house and the emergency vet is actually no more than 3 miles away. I would just have to risk the stress if it comes to that.
My vet recently consulted with a behaviorist and she suggested switching her from Prozac to Buspirone and Gabapentin. She felt it was a better fit for seniors. We shall see how it effects my senior.
I do not think Katie is refusing to load due to pain. She still eagerly fetches her toy, does cavaletti work, and hops over low agility jumps. Also, she was loading just fine until a few months ago.... but for nearly a year has been clearly distressed once the van was moving. So I do not think a ramp would help.
I think it is possible that the noise sensitivity and car phobia are related. Since Katie is a 11, I would guess that there is a physical or pathological reason for it. There is just something going on in the brain.... is my guess.
However, on a happier note, I have learned how to use DVD rip software that takes files from a DVD and converts them to computer files.
I am pleased to show you Katie's very first agility trial run - October 7th, 2001. Please forgive the handler, I have improved a lot over the last 8 years. Katie is 3 years old. This was back when Novice courses were easy.
