u/OldMouse2195

I'm hoping someone might have had a similar experience who had better luck getting veterinary results. My sweet girl is turning 11 next month, and has always been in perfect shape and health.

About 6 months ago, I started noticing that she was insatiably hungry. She's never been free fed, she gets 1.5 cups AM and PM, but she usually skips a few meals throughout the week. Recently she eats all of her food, and shes whining to get fed early or searching for more food after.

She has always been between exactly 55-60 lbs, but she's now pushing 70lbs in just a few months. That's hugely rapid weight gain in such a short period. She never gets table scraps and we aren't big on feeding treats. But due to her searching for food, she's been snagging some food off the counter, which is very unlike her. She knows not to counter surf.

She has also become extremely anxious. She is panting even just laying on the couch at night curled up with me as she's always done. I've thought maybe she's in pain, but the vet has taken xrays. ​Chest, abdomen, and all look clear. She has some minor arthritis, but nothing they think would cause pain and she takes Dasaquin daily.

She has mildly elevated liver enzymes, but the liver appears normal under xray and ultrasound. The vet doesn't see any indication to do a biopsy.

Her symptoms sound like cushings, but she doesnt have other labs that would indicate it, nor does she have hair loss or excessive urination.

She drinks slightly more than usual, at least she gets up a night to drink water, which she didn't use to do, but not seeing a need to potty more than usual and she still goes many hours between potty breaks (I work from home, but she still goes 6-8 hours just sleeping away at my desk).

They said her heart is on thr slightly larger than average side, but nothing that concerns them and it seems to be strong. All other labs are totally normal.

We've even resorted to trying to give her Trazadone to see if it's just stress as she ages, but thay doesnt seem to be making a difference either.

We really like our vet and feel like they are thorough, but we are going to try a new vet to get a second opinion.

I know something is wrong, and my vet believes me. We just dont know where else to look.

Anyone else run into these symptoms? Any ideas? Open to looking for Zebras because we're out of ideas for what could be wrong

I (NT) and my partner (dx, medicated) have recently found a solution to household chores that has actually worked for about 6+ months, which is really exciting in an ADHD world of regularly needing to change up tactics to support our ADHDers in staying engaged.

We started doing what I will call "collaborative chores" (if you know of a more official name for this, please let me know!)

Rather than dividing our high frequency chores (ie cooking, dishes, laundry, mowing, etc) that need to be done daily or several times per day, we've started sharing parts of the chore.

Example: she brings all the laundry to the laundry room in the morning, I wash and fold the laundry, then set the laundry basket at the stairs for her to put away.

Why this seems to be working so well:

1. Everyday tasks where she knows that she has to do it every day is much easier for her to remember to do. It requires less executive function

2. The part that actually requires executive function (remembering to move the laundry to the dryer and coming back to fold it) can be done by me

3. The laundry sitting at the stairs is a visual cue for her after she comes from work, so she remembers to do it before going to bed

4. This also makes it was easier to communicate around progress to ensure chores aren't falling through the cracks because we each need the other to execute their task to progress (ie she forgets to return the basket to me, then I cannot load the basket for her)

5. This creates more natural gratitude points. My partner appreciates being appreciated. I often forget to say "thank you" for her chores since they happen when I'm not looking, but actively working together makes it really easy to maintain gratitude at those chore handout points

I particularly like this method because we can each take the leg of a chore that is best suited to us. I like my clothes folded a certain way, so I can maintain that standard. My partner has messy drawers, so I hate putting away her laundry. My partner likes dishes being washed a certain way, and I like them to be olput away a certain way.

This won't work for everyone and it may not work forever, but this system seems to complement our preferences and ways of working!