I was reminded by a post from a friend that I never told my good readers the latest major thing to happen in the household. I put it on Twitter and Facebutt, but not here. ( Sad doggie news and photographs underneath.Collapse )

Tomorrow, lederhosen and da_norvegicus and I will be taking dogorcuton on his last car ride, to the local vet.

He's not been well, and his kidneys are starting to go. He's stiff and sore from the arthritis, and he can't see or hear very well any more.

But he still knows when there's bacon being cooked.

He's written up his last journal entry here and he's currently SNOOOOZING on his mat. Tonight he gets lots of cuddles and ear-rubs.

Please be gentle with us tomorrow.

dogorcuton is getting very old, very fast. He's having trouble walking, can't see very well, can't hear much either, and spends a lot of time snoozing.

Most times he can't find his way out the back to pee, so we're doing a lot of cleaning up after him.

The vet today took some blood, and is checking to see if Cuton's kidneys can handle a higher anti-inflammatory, which will help with the walking.

The poor old thing is shivering a lot of the time, and we think it's more pain and unsteadiness than cold. And his tail?

His tail barely wags any more. Those who met him would know that Cuton's tail is usually on full-bore, all the time. Now? A pathetic wiggle.

Mind you, at the Vet, he perked right up and was wanting to go exploring. And he crapped on the floor, so that part of him is working well.

As is his sense of smell... sort of. He got some chicken today. It disappeared as if inhaled.

But ... yes. He's getting old. And then I remembered this. Which is making me cry.

I love you, Cuton. Even if you stole all that chocolate. And all those danishes. And the cheese. And the whole Christmas Cake. And left your smelly bone in the wardrobe...

when my dogs tried to kill me?

For the first two days, there was just swelling around the kneecap and a lot of ouchie. All just bruised-style ouchie, so not as if I'd broken or torn anything. It wasn't until the fourth day that it started to bruise, and now...

( Only click if you can cope with a lot of bruising.Collapse )