This has been an interest couple of weeks with the old dog. On the 26 of last month she turned 13. That is 91 in human years. Yikes. Time just flies.
She started really slowing down and is having trouble moving around at times. She needs help to get up on the sofa or bed and getting her in the van is getting difficult. I would guess she spends about 80 % of her time being a big furry lump we have to step over. These days we get home and she just lies there and thumps her tail instead of getting up to greet us.
Still, if she gets loose away she goes, like always. A couple of weeks ago I attached her leash wrong and she got loose. With an apologetic glance over her shoulder, she just can't seem to help it, she took off at a slow run. Since it was night she quickly vanished. It was cold and snowy and I knew she wouldn't be out long. If she didn't get hit by a car, another thing she never seemed to get through her thick head, I was pretty sure she would be back shortly. But waiting, it drives me crazy.
We both called but that has never worked. Listening to the dogs in the neighborhood bark I could kind of trace her location, but could not see her. So I sat at the kitchen window and waited. And in about 15 minutes she showed up. When I opened the door she came right in and then spend the rest of the night groveling at our feet and demanding forgiveness. Being just happy to have her back we made her welcome with only a small scolding.
The next day she tried to jump on the bed and crashed into the wood. And by that night she was having trouble standing. When she did go up she went into the bathroom and stared into a corner, vague and like she was lost. She plopped down and started doing this really scary puffy type breathing. We have known she has a heart murmur for awhile so I listened and could hear it was worse. I was worried she had had a stroke. So off to the vet we go.
Being she is getting old we had assumed her lack of activity and scruffy looking coat was due to age. Occasionally she has these spells like she might be getting some dementia. Dogs are living long enough these days and they are seeing that. The vet ran a ton of labs and gave us some pain pills for her. And by the time we got there she seemed better. But quiet, not the anxious dog we see sometimes at the vet. Since they know her well they were as concerned as we were.
The pain pills helped her move around better and the next day the vet called and said all the lab was pretty good except her thyroid levels were extremely low. All the side effects of having a low functioning thyroid we had assumed were because of her age. So we now have her on a thyroid med which seems to be helping. Her coat is soft and shiny and her mental slowness seems better. But....
Our granddaughter was lying against her and said, her heart sounds all funny. I grabbed my stethoscope and took a listen. Her heart was beating crazy like, sounded just like my patients in A-fib. And she was missing several beats. She was very sluggish. We kept her quiet that day and by the night it had slowed down but was regularly missing beats. In a human, probably in a dog also, we would call it bigeminy. The vet though maybe the medicine kicking in might be causing it. By the next day she was back to normal. Or at least normal for her.
So we have a few good days and she is feeling pretty good. Off the pain medicine and although slow and stiff she is smiling and wagging and eating again. So Rick and Sophia took her for a walk. I hear Sophia burst through the door and she hollers, Zoey is bleeding! Oh brother, What now!
Checking her paws I see she has sliced one open. It isn't bothering her at all since it is just basically callous but she is getting blood all over my carpet and house. It's just one thing after another. I grabbed my medical bag and cleaned out the wound and dressed it with telfa and gauze. Now how to keep it up. So off to the store and I bought some kids knee high socks and made her wear it. She was styling. And she left it alone.
The snow if mostly gone but the mud is here for a few more weeks. Taking her out for her potty breaks was a challege to keep her dressing and sock clean. So I wrap a bread sack around the entire lot and tape it down. She is such a good dog. She just puts up with anything I come up with. And finally it is healed enough the dressing is off.
So this is what it is like living with an old dog. You keep your eyes and ears open for changes. You do a lot of petting and together time. You worry and you know that know matter what you do, eventually it won't matter, age and time marches on. You give her more treats then is probably good for her, but I have to brag, we have gotten her weight down 10 pounds to ease the stress on her old bones. You lift her on the cough or sit on the floor with her. You cut her slack if she is taking up the entire bed after you have been so nice to have lifted her up there. And when she doesn't come when you call your heart starts pounding and go looking, to find her deep in sleep, legs running and soft woofs coming from her cute little face and you cherish each and every moment you have.
