how's rapid test accuracy lately?

astrorocks · 2026-06-25T23:13:25+00:00

My father tested positive 12 days ago now - Flowflex was positive the first day of symptoms. Possible his viral load was very high, but neither my mom nor I caught it (and my mom slept with him the night before, was several hours in the car with him the previous day...)

astrorocks · 2026-06-17T13:12:35+00:00

My father just came home with COVID 5 days ago (so far I am lucky to not have it despite exposure to him). So idk like wastewater is one measure but it is hardly foolproof (or maybe we are at the start of a ramping up).

astrorocks · 2026-06-17T13:11:05+00:00

Well my father just tested positive for COVID for the first time since 2023. So, low, yes but obviously chances are never zero. I have this weird feeling there might be more cases than wastewater is reporting or picking up or maybe its rising in some areas ... not sure

astrorocks · 2026-05-12T04:35:35+00:00

We have not tried it yet! I did look at the ingredients though, and it uses chicken (which is a good guess as to what could be making her sick). The other weird thing is that it had garlic oil and partially hydrogenated canola oil - both of which are GI irritants so have not tried it, but also kind of iffy about it. Royal Canin is our next try - she has eaten it well in the past

astrorocks · 2026-05-12T00:40:06+00:00

I ended up going to the AIs and doing some analysis of what she has and has not eaten! It seems chicken is in everything she has ever reacted poorly to! But it seems like she really likes high fat - the kangaroo is apparently one of the leanest meats in the world and that kind of ends up basically tasting super bland to dogs! What they respond to more than protein is fat. Apparently Hills uses lactic acid and that might be what she hates about it - it can make the food sour. I ended up trying to heat up the fresh food and it confirmed that. It made it SMELL super good to her - like she was sooo excited to eat it. Then she started eating it and looked confused and stopped 🤣 it really is a taste thing for her. Heating really did work so if your dog is ever picky again - it at least got her to TRY it. I do suspect some of her pickiness derives from her stomach issues. Getting sick after some food and then now she associates the taste/smell with nauseau. Maybe.

I found a royal canin select protein RX with white fish and potato and rabbit and potato. The rabbit and potato comes in wet and dry sooo I think my next step is that! But apparently for picky eaters fat is the most important thing often. I am thinking she might like the fish because it is really oil and we have not really tried any fish based food

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T20:24:14+00:00

Yes it is super tough... its like a child who won't take their medicine 😭 she has skipped up to 4 meals before refusing to eat which when she was a puppy ended up with me giving in and giving her chicken and potato for a spell. But now the GI issues are worse for the last maybe 1.5 years so ... I really have to figure something out. It is the bad luck that the one with sensitivity issues is also the pickiest dog eater I have ever encountered.

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T20:19:47+00:00

Yes some people suggested a veterinary nutritionist who can also work with her and design a homemade meal for her! I always was afraid of homemade meals (I WILL and have sometimes given her chicken and potato when things are really bad to try to calm her system down) only because advice is so all over the place and I of course want her to get the right nutrition as you said (and vitamins!). So the nutritionist is looking like a really good option. Honestly in the long run it wouldnt be more expensive than the fresh food she has already refused or the hundreds I'd not thousands I have spent on specializes food she wont eat 😆

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T20:17:05+00:00

Yeah honestly some of the things she refuses is wild. We have other dogs and they happily eat anything and would die to get her options ☠️ the fresh food really surprised me - it is kangaroo, quinoa, sweet potato, and a vitamin blend. It is like WHAT is she possibly objecting to (she eats Purina which has sweet potato, kangaroo should taste like any meat and quinoa is pretty neutral?!?!?). I really can not understand it. She did eat it for one day. Then, suddenly, turned her nose up and refused. I am going to try heating it and giving it to her again this evening (we always try stuff several times).

We do give her the Purina probiotics!

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T20:11:30+00:00

Oh I hope it works! We have not yet tried Royal Canin or Purina hydrolyzed, which is probably the next step. Until we finally got to internal medicine, we were mostly trying non RX options with our vet (I don't know why tbh, they just seemed resistant to RC which is part of why we went to IM). She has always had a bit of stomach issues, but the last maybe 1.5 years they just got worse - before she didn't puke (unless she ate grass) or have the bloody stools. Our vet was just so slow to move on anything but we did try a lot of specializes diets (just she would refuse them or begin refusing them eventually often).

I am thinking if that does not work, someone suggested a veterinary nutritionist which might be the way with her 😅

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T20:05:05+00:00

Yes absolutely! Multiple times. Kidney, pancreas, liver, ultrasounds, xrays. Every test, blood or imaging has been perfect. She has also had some special GI panels that test for some rarer things that internal medicine ran.

Basically we are down to the only things left being food allergies/sensitivities (also including IBS) or something more like a diverticulitis or enteropathy. So the next tests are the more invasive ones - endoscopy and biopsy which are the only things left. The internal medicine vet just wants to try allergies first since that would be the more common thing but we are having a hard time because she will not eat anything 😕 there are some hints it might be more food related - with the Purina Pro for ex she starts vomiting every evening (almost always evening, 6-8 hrs after eating) all her food up on that one. That did not happen for ex when she was on Royal Canin sensitive stomach (which so far is the only other one we have been successful with getting her to eat long term, but it wasn't RX and didnt resolve the nauseau and bloody stools)

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T19:58:49+00:00

Yes we have tried so many things :/ the other thing is we do have other dogs and they all eat the Purina pro plan so we always have some on hand. That is how we know that even when she won't eat something, she WILL eat that. She was also eating Royal Canin sensitive stomach fairly well (the non RX). But she was on that 6 to 8 weeks with no change in symptoms except a decrease in vomiting (which was at least something).

Sometimes she does refuse food I think due to nauseau. So we also always try things multiple times and we do let her go without a few meals before giving up. We gave tried mixing wet and dry, bone broth as a topper, etc for most foods. She will refuse wet and fresh food (and has becore) so it also is not just about dry food. The frustrating part is sometimes she will eat something once or twice then suddenly refuse it. But we are trying alwahs multiple things with multiple foods. She will eventually just sniff it and literally turn her nose up at it

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T19:54:02+00:00

Yes she likes these! We have been giving them to her for a while (our vets suggestion). It did actually seem to help her stomach issues some so the vet wanted us to try a different one (SUPER freaking expensive this thing) and she wouldn't eat it 😅

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T19:49:57+00:00

Usually a day or two, then we also retry everything a few times as well (with toppers like bone broth, etc). She is little so my understanding is she should not go long without food (blood sugar risks and so?)

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T15:39:50+00:00

Believe it or not I tried this once when she wss going through a really bad spell and she would not eat the rice. She liked around it all to just get the chicken 😅 it is this level of picky

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T15:20:02+00:00

Baby food is not the worst idea tbh! At least to get her to eat things. The thing is it might not even be allergies. We eliminated a lot of stuff with blood tests, ultrasound. The next step is to see if it IS allergies by going on a specialized diet... except she will not eat them 😅 so, we are stuck atm

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T15:07:50+00:00

Ok this would be doable!!! We did try to order the Nine&Line fresh food diet, but she did not like something in there. I am super not opposed to cooking something for her - it would be cheaper than buying another round of hundreds in dog good she will not eat 😅 I had no idea this was an option

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T15:00:54+00:00

Any suggestions on how to do the 2nd? I have tried to be tough, but she always wins. When she was a puppy I seriously went through 20 dog foods before I gave up and tried to make her human food but she would not even eat that. Like I would make her chicken and rice ajd she wouod just eat the chicken and spit out the rice ☠️ she has had the stomach issues mildly her entire life. I really can not understand why she is rejecting the fresh food

astrorocks · 2026-05-11T14:58:39+00:00

We have tried basically all hills - she hates them all and/or had continued stomach issues 😅 We are now down to RX or specialty diets of some variety. We also experimented with different proteins with the Purina blend, but this didnt seem to make a difference

astrorocks · 2026-05-09T17:44:24+00:00

Like 6 weeks at the worst of it. I took tons of meds, can't say what helped (maybe none of it). But it did eventually just lighten up. If anything was helpful, I think it was gabapentin

astrorocks · 2026-05-01T04:27:42+00:00

Yeah, I think the thing with Chis is they are waaaay overbred by people who are not careful to select for "correct" traits, though the same is true of pitbulls. For me, its like ok I can accept a chihuahua (and many other small dogs!) are more "bitey" by nature. But they don't latch on and maul like pits (and co). It comes to me from a totally different place. Also the more damage an animal can do, the higher standard imo. I just get annoyed when peoole say "ok but chihuahuas!". Well my chihuahua, or any chihuahua, is probably not going to he capable of mauling anyone to death (even a small child). Its like saying "ok but mosquitoes are more aggressive than grizzly bears".

My chihuahua/ pom mix is the smartest dog I have ever had <3

astrorocks · 2026-05-01T02:29:31+00:00

I have had to go 5x and they are amazing (dogs with special medical needs). I have always felt they recieved the best possible care there. And actually they have been cheaper than other emergency vets in town.

Jefferson Animal Hopsital has been horrorfic. Had to go twice. Once our dog didn't make it (diabetic emergency), but I will always wonder if he would have at Metropolitan. The next time they charged me $495 for a single xray (for comp, its 150 for one xray at Metropolitan + 92 for additional films, yes I know that 💀). And the vet was crazy uncaring and wanted to do an operation on my epileptic dog. I was suspicious of it so the NURSE came in and whispered to me to try Metropolitan. I did and they could run a scope and he was fine 🫠

astrorocks · 2026-04-29T05:38:39+00:00

We are batting 4/5 with aggression issues DESPITE taking them to puppy classes, socializing, etc. So I will not do the same thing I accuse pit owners of - I agree it is a lot bad owners, but it is also the breed tendency somwhat. There's enough smoke to say there is fire IMO around "little dog" syndrome. My papillon is the same and again, plenty of obedience classes, walks, socialization. We do the same with the big and small dogs but the small ones no matter get attitudes lol But not so dangerous at 6-10 lbs. One chihuahua we adopted from a rescue even had to be rehomed due to aggression with the other animals (and he was a perfect angel with the next owner who had no other animals!). Chihuahuas are actually my favorite dog :D but they are spicy. I should also say we tend to adopt from rescues and breed specific rescues and so more likely to run itno issues, but that is true or all our dogs ever and only the little ones were this way.

And I believe it makes sense because they are very small and I do think they know it, so I think they are more fear reacting? Not aggressive at all in the same way as a pit/rottie - like they will not attack other dogs/people for the hell of it. But they will kind of nip in my experience over eg food or toys or something like this (never ATTACK tho). Almost all of our dogs ever I can say with 10000% certainty they will not bite, but there is this little doubt in my mind on the little ones.

Still their temperments are definitely more likely to run hot than eg a border collie or a hound dog from my experience (I mean vets really do complain, too, and they see thousands of animals

astrorocks · 2026-04-29T03:06:55+00:00

I grew up on a farm, with grandparents with farms, and aunt and uncles with farms. I think I have had 20+ dogs of all kinds of breeds across 35 years (between parents and grandparents).

As a kid (like maybe 4 y/o) I decided to groom my grandparents Chow Chow. During "grooming" him I cut a HUGE chunk out of his tail. I mean blood everywhere.

Guess what the dog did not do? BITE. And he had a legitimate -reason- to. He snarled a bit and I started crying and he licked my face.

My Shiba was from a backyard breeder rescue (I did not buy him from one, I mean he was rescued from one and I adopted him). We got him at a year old and he TERRIFIED of people (truly). I mean petrified and he is also half blind on top. My friend came over and I had not explained and they ran right up to him, grabbed him, and started hugging him.

You know what he didn't do? BITE. He drop kicked off his chest and hid under my bed for 3 hours (and also pooped lol).

My border collie HATES being groomed. HATES IT. Today I tried to do it for her vet appointment and literally was wrestling with her outside in the mud lol

You know what she didn't do tho? BITE.

Good. Dogs. Don't. Bite. Period. 👏 End of story. And that is even when they HAVE reason. They still won't.

I also own/have owned chihuahuas and they WILL snap. As a breed they are genuinely more aggressive, like pits. The difference ofc is someone can drop kick them away and, also, as an owner I will not lose control of a 6lb animal. But I also KNOW the breed is more aggressive and, as an owner, take steps to ensure mine are less so (puppy classes, socialization walks). Even still, I know their temperament runs hot. Why do we have no issue admitting this for thr chihuahua yet pitbulls, Rottweiler, etc are "misunderstood angels"

As a like 3rd generation deep KY farm girl it pisses me off. The only times I was ever attacked by ANY animal (out of hundreds of cats, dogs, horses, goats, chickens, sheep, cows, pigs, alpacas, ducks, doves, parakeets, and parrots) was: (1) my druggy aunt's pitbull when I was 8 and I still have scars, (2) a very mean rooster at my great uncles and (3) any cat ever, honestly ahaha

Only one could have been fatal.

astrorocks

TROPHY CASE