Monday, July 20, 2009

Slow spiral down

Uulaq is old. Really old, for an Akita -- I think the chart at the vet logs her as somewhere around 100 in human years. She's been slowly failing over the last few months; horrible arthritis in her knees and hips, blindness, doesn't want to eat, sleeps all the time. We've got her on tons of pain-killers for her back and hips (an amount that would allow a ballerina to dance on broken feet, I think, and should render Uulaq a drooling heap in the corner) and despite it, she still has problems walking. Oh, she'll still wag to go on a walk, but she can barely make it to the end of the sidewalk behind our house, and spends half the next day recovering.

It's time. She's not having any fun at all. She is spending more and more time nervous and anxious because she can't see, unsure of where to walk in the house, avoiding the other dogs because they bump her, even slightly, and she falls down. The Adorable Husband called and we have an appointment at the vet on Thursday.

Dogs really should live as long as we do, dammit. Even neurotic, weird beasties.

2 comments:

laurafingerson said...

Ohhhhh, that is very, very sad. Now that we have lost our dogs and had to make a vet appointment, I have more of an idea of what you're going through. It makes me all tight inside just thinking about it. We'll be thinking of you on Thursday.

Anonymous said...

So sorry. Can't imagine how hard this is.
Karin