The World Stops when Charlie gets sick

 

Oh Charlie .... Charlie!

I knew something was 'off' with him when I put out his food and he looked at it ... then at me ... and walked away. That IS not Charlie. He is a food driven dog. So much so that if he hears a plastic bag rattle or the lid to his dog food can, he comes on the swift trot to observe and to hopefully eat.

He loves dog treats and gets mini ones on the trail when he comes to my call. So I knew this was not normal. He sat on the porch when I did chores and didn't follow me. He was begging to get back inside the house.

Later, I took him for a long walk and he did his regular business, then ate grass and tossed up. He seemed better after that yet still ignored his food. He took a drink and moments later that came up too. 

Oh Charlie.

As I was talking to Rich about it, he kept putting a paw on my leg. He wanted only to lay in my lap. I will admit. I am a softy when it comes to my pets. Even Rich leaned over and asked Charlie, "Hey buddy, what's wrong?" For Rich to show concern is a big deal as he likes to claim that he doesn't care about house dogs and that he is a tough old guy.

Huh. Not so. 
More barf of clear foamy stuff and I could hear his stomach gurgling. Rich blamed it on the treat he'd gotten. Actually I think while I had him in the woods with me yesterday, he had busied himself with digging hard under rotten logs. He kept grabbing things with his mouth and shaking them. Something in the woods more than likely didn't agree with him.

I took a syringe without a needle and gave him some water. He took that then got up and took another drink.

I had plans for the day. Run to the butcher/meat place and get a month's supply of meat, get some more dog food and gasoline for the mower and later diesel for the skid steer. 

I'd taken inventory of our household items and planned on making October a NO stores/ no outside contact month. I had a local supplier for eggs and a plan for milk. My stock was just about complete.

But the World Stops Turning When a Pet Gets Ill. 

Yes. I spent the whole day holding Charlie in my lap and listening to his stomach gurgle, checking his gums, and watching over him. 

About 4pm a light switched on in his eyes and he bounded off the couch and ate his breakfast. He then went on to annoy Rich with his tennis ball.

I swear

You could hear us both sigh with relief.

Whoever said a Dog is Just a Dog? Or a pet is just a pet?

Not in my house.

All is well again.

Mr. Morris and CDS

Oh ... wait.
What is CDS?
Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome.

For real? Veterinarians came up with this long convoluted bunch of words for Doggy Dementia? Or Doggy Old Timers Disease.

Whatever you want to call it, Mr. Morris has it. Do you all remember when I said he was acting a bit funny earlier this summer? He got upset when plants were moved or when we parked the Subaru in the 'wrong' place.

A while ago he started this strange new behavior. Pacing. He will walk endless circles in the house from room to room. At first I thought he was unable to figure out where I was so I would call and let him know.

Remember when he started 'refusing' to go on walks or hikes? It is worse but it really isn't a refusal. He and I start up the driveway together as we have done thousands of times in our past years together.
Morris stops and stares at some leaves or...the woods, or the grass. He stands and then turns around and walks towards home.
If I let him go, he returns to the porch and walks back and forth on the porch in seemingly mindless circles.

His lucid moments are full of sweet tail wags and he loves being held.

My good friend Amanda worked for years for a veterinarian and mentioned that this behavior was a thing older dogs sometimes did. She mentioned that it is like Doggy Alzheimer's or Dog Dementia.

Well Morris is being a good sport about it. Our group went hiking with him in the creek bottom yesterday and any time we let Morris go, unattended, he simply turned and started to walk towards home.
He didn't respond to his name or a whistle. He just slowly put one foot in front of the other and headed towards home. Period. That was that.

However, he does know his way home. He will always retrace his steps and walk the path he has taken over and over on countless hikes for the past 13 years. Same path, same way. Always home.

He dutifully wears his bell and my hiking/photography friends accommodate Morris.
Their dog Scout checks on Morris and I suppose he may wonder briefly why Morris is not chasing him around like he did last year.

My good friend and sidekick Morris is slowly fading away.

But I am pretty lucky. I get to dote on him and be at his side. He is not in pain right now and is eating well. It is hard enough to watch a loved one go through this when they are human, but for some odd reason, it seems to hurt much more when it is a pet.

I am lucky to have this time to spend with Morris. We've been best pals for years and my only regret is that he won't see me into my last years of life.
However he has added so much to our lives just by being his funny little self.

So we approach each day with a smile and a lap warming session.

Upside Down

Well it certainly has been a tumultuous week.  Morris got ill a week ago and on Monday was diagnosed with Kidney Disease. It was an up and down week with moments of sheer sadness and joy.

Joy on the mornings that Morris decided to play after taking his medicine. Sadness during those moments that he stared at me and trembled.
We had two visits with the veterinarian and I discovered that even though I was being pragmatic about Morris and his disease I was having trouble facing it.
Truth is. I don't ever want this funny annoying little dog to ever leave my life. I can't picture it.

On another note. Due to the small drought we've had some trees made a rapid partial change. Colors blossomed last week and then it seemed that after 3 inches of rain...fall was put on hold.

Most of the soy beans are ready for harvest this fall before the corn is. That is backwards.

Mr. Morris perks up after having a 'bad' morning. He literally is full of energy and bouncy.
So we grab a leash and head out with the neighbor to take a long walk to the bus stop.

Allison leaps off the bus and asks if she can hold Morris's leash.
Off the kids run with Morris in tow.

And I am pleased.
A bit later Morris slows down and I carry him. He simply doesn't have the energy to keep up the pace.
But he is happy.

We are finally having some typical fall weather. Warm during the day and cool at night.
The harvesting has begun in earnest on the ridge and we are preparing things for winter.

It seems my life is in an upside down mode right now.
But that is okay.

We need to take just one day at a time.

Tough weekend

Morris has had some odd behaviors these past few weeks. He has walked into the door before I opened it. He seems lost if I get out of his view and then can't always seem to find me. He seems as though he is quite lost some days. However most of the time if I got out a leash he seemed bright and attentive.
This past week we had record heat and humidity. Morris and I chose to opt out of walking to the bus stop.
We've dealt with all of his funny little mishaps of missing a stair, or growling at plants that he thought shouldn't be there...with a bit of humor. After all. He is aging.

Saturday was one of those normal days except it was supposed to be unbearably hot and humid in our neck of the woods.

I scurried around in the morning before things go too hot and picked cherry tomatoes for our summer salad I planned on making later.

I found a clean one and munched on it while in the garden. They were warm and delicious.
Morris the ever curious old dog came up and tried to eat one. I was sure he wouldn't like it so I bit a small one in pieces and let him smell in on my fingers. He snatched it and gobbled it down.

He then grabbed another split one from the ground and ate it. I shooed him out of the garden and walked back to the house. I wondered if tomatoes bothered dogs.

Well I went inside the house and commenced to making our pasta salad for eating later.

My brother and his son are coming to visit on Tuesday so my mind was on salads, meals, schedules, ...OT on Monday, the VA on Tuesday, ...changing the sheets from my last round of visitors, tidying up the porch, ...
Oh.
I peered at the yard and told Rich that it was too hot to mow. Just leave the yard alone. It didn't need to be picture perfect for my brother.
I think the last time my brother came here, it was 2002. Yes. It was. My brother brought my father for one of the last WI visits.
My dog Xena had just died from either eating coco bean mulch or poison. We never did figure out if she got into a rat that was poisoned or ate the mulch.
Rich had been admitted to the hospital and I'd picked him up just before their arrival.

Around 3pm Morris fell off the couch. I saw it and then saw the stress in his eyes and in his body language. Something was horribly wrong. His back was hunched, his eyes were dull, and he walked with a wobble.

He tried to walk to the door and I let him out. He wobbled off the porch and squatted...squirting me with diarrhea. Oh sh-t. Oh sh-t. No. No!
He finished and wobbled back towards the door. I cleaned up the porch with a little bucket of water and washed my bare feet.

Hmm.
Inside Morris shadowed me as well as he could, he lifted one paw onto my pant leg and stared dull eyed at me while he shuddered.
I picked him up and let him snuggle in my lap.

I started to research his 'symptoms' and wasn't find too much in results. Not until much later did I happen on a site that sort of sounded like what Morris was going through. However this wasn't until after midnight.

Years ago, I bought a veterinarian's stethoscope and learned how to use it. It helped when Badger was so sick and when anything happens to an animal on the farm and the vet comes, I can save them some time with giving them vitals.

Morris's vitals were as follows. Heart rate: Rapid but strong. Within the high normal for him.
Respiration was in the high range when he seemed to have a cramp, but otherwise withing normal range.
Lungs clear. Rectal temperature within the his normal range.

It seemed he had a gastric upset of sorts. He confirmed this by throwing up. I could see chunks of the small tomato in it and then wiped it up. Tomatoes didn't seem to be a huge issue for dogs unless they ate green ones or others in large volumes. He had done neither of those.

Rich was concerned too. Until we went to bed Rich took turns taking Morris out to the bathroom. When it got dark, I put his pet-lite [a small medallion that lights up with an LED light] so I could watch him closer. I followed him around as he peed and did his business.

At 4am, after one of our outtings, Morris drank water. He drank and drank and drank. I made him some chicken broth [thank you upstairs neighbor] with white rice and sprinkled some small pieces of chicken breast on it. Morris smelled it and then picked out the small pieces of chicken.

By 10 am, he had settled in for a long nap on the couch. He slept and slept.

I'd called a few vet offices and being a Sunday I got an answering machine. "Hello, you have reached - name of office - our hours of operation are...."

One office was open and would take emergencies. To walk in the door it would cost $150 and they were 90 minutes away.
Morris was showing improvement so we decided to wait and let him rest.

He did exactly that for the rest of the day. He would get up and walk quietly to the door and stare at you with those soulful eyes.
I fed him the rest of the chicken breast which he skillfully picked out of the rice and took him out.
Afterwards he climbed up on the couch and laid down.

I figured to try and sleep in bed.
About 4am I heard the sound of Morris walking into the bedroom. I cleared my bleary eyes and grabbed my glasses and a flashlight.
I followed Morris around the yard as he seemed to try very hard to defecate. He strained and strained.
I gave him the last of the small bits of the chicken I had and he seemed to want more. He ate some left over cooked burger crumbles and stared at me when I didn't give him any more. I figured until we were able to see our veterinarian, I would err on the side of caution.

After a few more trips outside with nothing but effort, he ambled in slowly and drank some more water. He fell asleep on the floor next to the couch. This morning he won't jump onto the couch.

I have a 12:45 Occupational Therapy appointment and am trying to figure out how to take him to town. Today will be another hot and humid day. No way to leave him in a crate while I do therapy. I'll check with the vet's office and see if we can't work something out.

I feel like I jinxed myself by going through Morris's bucket list. Or perhaps I was neglectful in some way by allowing him to taste the tiny cherry tomato. All I know is that I am sick at heart.
I am not ashamed to admit that I spent most of Saturday night with tears in my eyes.

I rarely cry about anything. I don't cry at funerals. I don't get over emotional when something awful happens. And I didn't get teary eyed during any of Rich's medical emergencies. I've always been known for my steely resolve.
Except when it come to animals. I have no way of keeping my emotions in check.

Updates later.