Here are your three stars, Laura and TN! Also, yes, Eisenhower signed the name change into law. The U.S. Postal Service is indeed the largest employer of veterans. BTW, California has the greatest number of living vets in the states followed by Florida and Texas. 1. Kris Kristofferson E 2. Drew Carey L 3. Tony Bennett K 4. James Earl Jones B 5. Mel Brooks G 6. Alan Alda D 7. Bill Cosby A 8. MC Hammer C 9. Montel Williams F Julia Child J Steve McQueen-H Thanks for playing everyone. I enjoyed researching this topic and learning stories about the service of these folks. Of course, there are so many more I could have included, but those may have to wait until next year. Promise to find some Canadians next year too!

I am really sorry for your loss. I don't often post on these threads as I am usually in tears beyond reading the o.p's post. It is so hard to lose a pet, our last pet lost was my son's kitty. Guess this is why I felt the need to post with hearing about your children:( Kristobell was one of the hardest losses I had to go through spicifically because of my son. I had taken him to the vet, before I went my son made me promise to bring him home regardless, it is like he KNEW his cat would not make it. We lost Kris in the waiting room while I had been sitting there with him in a basket for almost a hour. It was awful:( I had my 3 year old with me as there was no one to watch him, he really got a lesson on death that day, Kody seen me pull in and there was nothing anybody could do to keep him from coming to the car. We got him another pet 2 years later, he is so in love with his dog it is not even funny, they go everywhere togather with her in his shirt if they leave the yard (he has a 2 lb dog now) He is so careful of Pearljam, it has made him aware of outside enviroment and how not everyone will love his pet as his does (his kitty was poisoned) I thought he would never get over Kris, but he has so much love for Pearly, the ironic thing is she was from a litter of puppies from my BF, and she has the exact same coloring as Kris. Sometimes a new pet can help matters, I was a little worried Kody would not bond with this puppy, but everything has more then exceeded my expectations:) It is hard to move on, I was forced to make a move bacause of a 9 year old child, and it honestly helped, but I know it is different for everyone. I just wanted to share my story with you:)

Based upon what Prarie love wrote, at least some people do believe that hypothyroid-induced seizures are common. Being hypothyroid and having seizures are not necessarily related, though they certainly can be. Unfortunately being that most animals do not get regular annual (twice yearly for older pets) bloodwork when they are healthy, but most people will get bloodwork done when their pet has a seizure, it is often the case that low T4 is discovered right after an animal has a seizure. But the seizure itself can cause low T4, and once the animal's seizures are controlled the T4 returns to normal- or not if the animal is on phenobarbital. This is euthyroid sick syndrome- normally functioning thyroid that is temporarily suppressed due to another disease. Euthyroid sick syndrome can be caused by any disease, including a disease that causes seizures or the seizures themselves. It doesn't hurt to judiciously supplement thyroid hormone in an emergency while waiting for a full thyroid panel, which takes 1-2 weeks (having just gotten one for my dog) as long as you don't go overboard, as oversupplementing thyroid hormone can be cardiotoxic. But you are not really controlling the seizures, you are actually preventing further seizures. In other words, even if a dog's seizures are caused by hypothyroidism, giving thyroid hormone won't do anything to stop the current seizures (explaination follows). The full thyroid panel can sort out euthyroid sick syndrome from true hypothyroidism if it is done prior to starting phenobarb, usually. Some pets refuse to be classified, like my own dog. I did a LOT of reading on this lately because my pathologists were stumped when I asked how hypothyroidism, which causes decreased cellular activity, could possibly cause seziures, which are caused by increased cellular activity. I would have asked the neurologists, but they were in rounds and then left before I could catch them. But I did find the info myself, and it seems that hyperlipidemia (VERY high serum triglycerides and/or cholesterol) may lead to atherosclerosis and then ischemic encephalopathy (low oxygen to the brain) due to hemorrhage or thrombus, causing seizures or other CNS signs (called a stroke in people). There are many causes for hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism is one. One study showed that dogs that had atherosclerosis were 51 times more likely to be hypothyroid than dogs who did not have artherosclerosis (they showed similar results for dogs with diabetes mellitus). Hyperlipidemia may also cause hypercoagulable syndrome where an animal throws clots, which can end up anywhere. Clinical signs are referrable to location of clot, so if a dog threw a clot into the brain, that would also cause ischemic encephalopathy and possible CNS signs or seizures. Of course, bloodwork would pick up hyperlipidemia (well, a complete panel would show both cholesterol and triglyceride levels; some in-house machines can't do this), so waiting for a thyroid panel just tells you why the hyperlipidemia is present. Because hyperlipidemia may have causes besides hypothyroidism, it is much more important to include cholesterol and triglycerides in a seizure work-up than to include thyroid testing. You can always go back for a cause of hyperlipidemia if needed. That said, you need to have a full thyroid panel done before a pet is placed on phenobarbital because that drug suppresses thyroid hormone in some animals. It does not always cause clinical disease and may not always need to be treated. Once on phenobarb, it is very difficult to impossible to sort out true hypothyroidism from phenobarb-induced thyroid suppression. Without clinical signs though, there doesn't seem to be a need for treatment. Atherosclerosis appears to be rare in dogs overall, but common in dogs with hypothyroidism and diabetes mellitus. The actual incidence is unknown because you need either MRI, CT, or a necropsy to diagnose it. Most people don't have access to MRI or CT for their pets either because of expense or because it isn't available. And most people refuse necropsy. The unfortunate part about atherosclerosis is that once it is in the brain, you can't get rid of it, even by treating the underlying cause. If you can get the animal to stop having seizures and if there isn't too much permanent damage and if you can treat the underlying cause, you may be able to prevent more seizures depending upon how much of the brain is affected by atherosclerosis. The damage is done, and you have to prevent further atherosclerosis by treating the disease. In some cases, the damage to the brain may be too great and the patient dies despite best efforts, even if the cause was "just" hypothyroidism. Controlling hypothyroidism would also prevent further seizures due to hypercoagulable states caused by hyperlipidemia, but the same "ifs" apply. This is why supplementing thyroid hormone when presented with a seizuring animal isn't really necessary, even if the seizures are caused by hypothyroidism. You do need to control the hypothyroidism, but that can wait until the animal stops seizing and you have at least a clue of whether or not the animal is actually hypothyroid. It appears that the reason hypothyroidism is a rare cause of seizures in dogs is that most cases of hypothyroidism are diagnosed and treated long before a patient develops clincally significant hyperlipidemia and subsequent atherosclerosis. It seems that mild hypothyroidism without clinical signs does not cause the a high degree of hyperlipidemia, so the risk of seizures in this case is very small. I guess if you ignore the clinical signs long enough and don't do screening bloodwork on a regular basis, a dog could have severe hypothyroidism and seizures. BTW, collies are prone to hyperlipidemia without hypothyroidism, so in the case of poor Shelby, testing cholesterol and triglycerides is much more important than thyroid testing. You have to know what is common in certain breeds and ages, otherwise you end up running every test in the book and that is a waste of time, money, and effort.

Jodi, interesting that you mention the T-shirts. Correct me if I am wrong, please. When Spike first started the KT, there was no charge. Later, in order for him to be able to "pay the bills" which were getting higher all the time, he started the $15 fee. Then T-shirts were offered fo sale to help raise money, but I don't remember the price, because as much as I appreciated the forums, I don't wear any T-Shirts with advertizing logos. I do remember you made the iron ons. About the $15 fee, I could not understand why anyone who could afford a computer, and the cost of the internet provider, could not come up with $15 a year for these great forums, and so I never offered to pay for any one to join. And so Spike sold to iVillage. Although things here have gotten better, still proof that we get what we pay for. Sue