Dr. Alfred Plechner's book, "Pets At Risk" is the #1 Veterinary Book in Amazon's Library

I still keep in touch with Dr. Al Plechner and find him to be as generous as always with his old friends  and clients.

He has a great group on Yahoo that discusses animal endocrine disorders. You can use this link to join ADTEIT group to learn about "Dr. Plechner's Syndrome"

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ADTEIT/join


I recently sent him a link to Mary Shoman's Thyroid blog that discusses the recent claim of the Hormone and Endocrine Society that adrenal fatigue does not exist.  I was pretty shocked, as was the blogger, to learn of such a claim.  This is a terrific article by Ms. Shoman and I encourage anyone with an interest in adrenal fatigue to read it.


http://thyroid.about.com/b/2010/10/28/hormone-foundation-endocrine-society-adrenal-fatigue-controversy.htm?nl=1

As for my own dog/cat clan, we lost my old cat Chester in September. 

He was just a few months shy of 19 years of age and had been with us since just after my marriage to P. It was hard to let him go--he'd seen all our other dogs and cats come and go with their various illnesses, yet he'd hung on and thrived for many years. But as I've said before, I respect that cycle of life and when it is time to let one go, it is our greatest gift to them to do just that. Dying in pain was a sacrifice our Lord made for us, but isn't necessary for our animal friends.

In other dog-related news, I'm looking forward to attending Suzanne Clothier's seminar in November, hosted by the Tidelands Poodle Club of Hampton, Virginia. Suzanne is a real visionary and I love her books and articles online relating to dog training and how the animal mind works.  Suzanne Clothier--Flying Dog Press

She's sure to be a star in my November calendar . . . and will hopefully take away the pain of my 50th birthday coming up this Wednesday. 

I've done a lot of foolish things in my life, things I regret and things I wish I could do over, but I think I've also grown and tried very hard to learn from my mistakes and incorporate the knowledge I gained into a better version of the original Me. I've a long way to go, but if we're honest with ourselves, who can't sum themselves up similarly. I thank God for all the good, the bad and the scary that have served to make me the rebellious free-thinker that I am today. And oh-so-thankful for the love in my life.