Ending the spree
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:47 am
So we've been commuting back and forth from our house in the sticks to friend' house in town (staying overnight) in order to look after their three dogs, two cats and one parrot while they are away. We got back from our place at 5pm yesterday to find the oldest dog, Snoopy, unable to walk - rear legs seemed inoperative. He'd pooped and done an enormous pee on the living room tiles and was shaking and trembling.
Lynn carried Snoopy outside to the lawn while I cleaned up (I'd rather do that than touch the dog). We settled him outside with his dog bed and some food and water. I kept checking on him and he deteriorated until he was laying motionless on his side with no sign of life, except an occasional tremor in one foot. About ten minutes after that, with me planning which part of the garden to turn into Snoopy's final home, he suddenly appeared at my feet and collapsed again.
I took him back outside, moved his bed closer to the house and put him in it. Minutes later I knew it was all over and went outside to check. Snoopy had fallen into the small "swimming" pool from which there is no escape. Except he did. He swam to where the pool cleaner tube enters the water, scrambled into the small hole and got far enough in to poke his head up above ground through a covered access hole - Snoopy was wearing the plastic cover on his head. His back legs were still under water. I hauled him gently out (after making sure he would not be caught on any projections) and the next thing you know he's running around like a two-year old, looking for food and being Snoopy. He enjoyed a feast of edamame beans that I dropped from my plate - good protein that
This morning he's bouncing around as usual, eating, drinking and . . . well sleeping which is his forte.
I'm wondering if he's having strokes? A few days ago he got stuck three times in ten minutes when he couldn't figure out how to get out of a corner, how to back out from behind a couch and how to evade a small ornamental coal scuttle
He lives
Lynn carried Snoopy outside to the lawn while I cleaned up (I'd rather do that than touch the dog). We settled him outside with his dog bed and some food and water. I kept checking on him and he deteriorated until he was laying motionless on his side with no sign of life, except an occasional tremor in one foot. About ten minutes after that, with me planning which part of the garden to turn into Snoopy's final home, he suddenly appeared at my feet and collapsed again.
I took him back outside, moved his bed closer to the house and put him in it. Minutes later I knew it was all over and went outside to check. Snoopy had fallen into the small "swimming" pool from which there is no escape. Except he did. He swam to where the pool cleaner tube enters the water, scrambled into the small hole and got far enough in to poke his head up above ground through a covered access hole - Snoopy was wearing the plastic cover on his head. His back legs were still under water. I hauled him gently out (after making sure he would not be caught on any projections) and the next thing you know he's running around like a two-year old, looking for food and being Snoopy. He enjoyed a feast of edamame beans that I dropped from my plate - good protein that
This morning he's bouncing around as usual, eating, drinking and . . . well sleeping which is his forte.
I'm wondering if he's having strokes? A few days ago he got stuck three times in ten minutes when he couldn't figure out how to get out of a corner, how to back out from behind a couch and how to evade a small ornamental coal scuttle
He lives
