Suddenly, the title is appropriate.
I'd like to introduce you to Max and Minnie, my dogs. Max just turned 12, and we're not sure how old Minnie is, we found her running wild about three years ago. According to the vet, she was probably about a year old, which would make her about 4 now.
In happier times, two summers ago;
Max is huge for a golden retriever, in his prime he was about 110 pounds, not an ounce of fat. Nearly as tall as a great Dane, and barrel chested like a Rottweiler. Minnie is actually fairly large for Pomeranian, about 11 pounds.
About two weeks ago, Max started showing signs of what we thought was just old age. He was breathing a little heavier than usual, and really didn't want to go on walks anymore, just hang out in the yard. He'd walk around kind of aimlessly in the house, staring at things. At one point, when I was trying to talk him into going for a walk, he had what appeared to be a stroke; he fell over on his side, his front legs went stiff, his rear legs were kicking, and his eyes were rolling about. He peed himself all over the sidewalk. After that, he just got up and stood around staring for a while. Then he seemed to be back to his old self...
Around the same time, he stopped eating his kibble. He'd still eat anything we gave him, including dog biscuits, dinner scraps and his favorite, pizza crusts. Two days ago, when I let him outside, he wouldn't go down the stairs and out into the yard. His front legs were looking swollen, and his rear legs were looking very skinny and weak. I picked him up and carried him down, and noticed that he'd lost a lot of weight -- I'd guess he was down to maybe 70 or 80 pounds. I also had to carry him back up the stairs, into the house. And he didn't take the biscuit. Yesterday, he lay down and wouldn't (or couldn't) get up.
I called the vet, and we have an appointment for Monday afternoon. In the meantime, we cooked him some soft food (hamburger and rice), which he's been eating (thank goodness). I was finally able to get him picked up and out into the yard this evening, and he was able to stand and pee, but he couldn't really walk around. I carried him back in, and had to help him lie down. He's so bony, he's been starving himself.
God, I don't want him to die. He's my first dog. My family had dogs when I was growing up, but they were really my father's dogs. Max was a 7 pound ball of fluff when we got him from the pound, he grew up with my kids, I've walked him two or three times a day every day for the last 12 years, and until he slowed down so much this fall, we played incessantly. Sticks, balls, anything I could throw, we even had a version of tag. He and Minnie would play "Fox and hound", she would be the Fox, jumping up in his face until he chased her around. When he would catch her, he'd just pin her down with his paw for few minutes. Then he let her up, and she'd jump on his head, and the game would start again.
I just hope it's something that can be treated, and that we'll have at least another couple of years. But I can't stand to see him like this.
Sorry, this probably should go in the blog thread.
