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On Sunday night I was searching for a low-cost source for Thirteen's arthritis drug Rimadyl. Stumbled onto the Senior Dog Project, a website that documents some rather disturbing side effects. Apparently .2% (that's 2 in a thousand) dogs on the drug suffer a toxic reaction which can include kidney or liver failure. Apparently, once the toxic reaction starts, the dog can die within a day or two.

Let's see, minor arthritis pain vs. sudden death? I'm not so sure the risk outweighs the benefits. I took her off Rimadyl immediately. She's missed two doses and she seems fine, no less active than when she was on it. I'd like to see if with glucosamine and daily exercise, she can stay OK without the drug.

I called the vet yesterday morning, and played phone tag with her all day. I want to talk to her about this & see if she agrees that it's OK to keep her off Rimadyl, or if I should try a reduced dose, or what.

I don't want to get all in her face, but I would like to know why she didn't warn me about these side effects. I guess she could say that she gave me the insert from Pfizer and it was up to me to read it. Which is true, it's ultimately my responsibility. But still, if she had just told me that there is a rare but dangerous side effect, and I need to closely monitor Thirteen's eating and drinking habits as long as she's on the drug, I would feel a lot more comfortable. As it is, if I hadn't stumbled onto that website, Thirteen might have had the toxic reaction and I would have had no idea until it was too late.

In happier news, I took them to the Duke Gardens for their daily walk yesterday. It was a lot of walking for Thirteen, she was dragging by the end, but she seemed okay in the evening, not sore or stiff. There aren't a lot of people in the Duke Gardens on a weekday morning. Mostly gardeners who look like volunteers, and older people. Very fit older people. People who look so good, I will be lucky to be in half that good shape when I'm half their age.

In the afternoon I ended up subbing for the 4 to 6 DJ at WXDU. Which was nice because the new schedule had gone up so fast, I hadn't felt like I had gotten to say goodbye to Mondays. I didn't get to see the DJs I used to follow and precede but still, it was nice to have one last Monday show.

Also I got an awesome phone call. I had been playing some jazz & lounge stuff -- Johnny Hartman, Montefiori Cocktail, and this awesome new CD by Les Hommes -- and this guy called, all excited about the music I was playing. He was beside himself when he found out that I knew who Les Baxter was. He asked for something from Baxter's "Ritual of the Savage," which I could not find because I foolishly looked for Baxter in jazz, though he is actually filed in rock. Silly me! However I did know of a lounge compilation with some Baxter, so I was able to fulfill the request anyway.

The guy also mentioned a band called "Space Pop." He said they were the originators of space sounds in 50's lounge music. I've been looking for them online and I can't find any mention of them. Though I did find a web site devoted to a genre called "Space Age Pop." So maybe I misunderstood the caller. He said that he normally only listened to XDU in the morning on the way to work, but that he would try to listen more often. (Which is insanely flattering.) I recommended that he check out Divaville, the Thursday night jazz vocalist show. My friend Christa who does Divaville knows just about everything about 40s, 50s and 60s jazz. Coincidentally, I'm subbing Divaville this week, so I'm going to focus on lounge-exotica in case he listens.