Senior Dogs And The Trials
Senior Dogs... my love for mine..
Meet Chico. He is my 14 year old Chihuahua. I have had him since he was 12 weeks old. It amazing to me how fast time goes. It seems like only yesterday he was running and playing as a puppy. This little guy was a good dog his whole life. A good puppy and a great dog. He loves to take walks. He rides more now in his stroller but still loves it.
Around 10 years ago he was diagnosed by our good vet here in Greeley with thyroid issues. He just kept gaining weight and was up to 18 lbs. The weight gain did stop and he slowly began losing it to a healthier level. At 14 he finally is at a healthy weight for him. He goes in for tests every 6 months and all seems regulated.
Five years ago he was diagnosed with a heart murmur. It was not too bad yet and at the time there was no medicine for it. He was checked every year for a couple of years and no change. Finally a medicine came on the market so he went on that. The results in the trials were good to keep from progressing. All was quiet and he was doing fine.
Two months ago we were just finishing dinner and I heard a shrill squeal. I turned around and Chico was sprawled out on the floor and could not get up. I yelled at Cyrus to go pick him up. I thought he had just fallen and could not get up. Not the case. He seemed fine that whole night but I was worried. The next morning he had another incident at 6 and another at 8am. Off to the emergency vet we go. They kept him a few days and he did have a few more episodes. They thought that it was something with his neck, maybe a slipped disc. However, with his heart issues we needed to get his heart rechecked. The heart doctor confirmed his heart is worse. He is now on about 8 different medicines 3x a day.
His heart doctor is amazing. Cyrus was with me when we went to have him checked. He started crying when she said he was worse. She told him that we should be glad that it is his heart. She has a cabinet full of medicines to make him better. She made Cyrus feel so much better. Her compassion and knowledge is amazing.
We have some rules to follow now. No more going down steps. I do let him go up them but he has to be carried down. Of course our house has 12 steps to the backyard. Going out at midnight is fun :). He also seems to be hungry all the time. The last 3 nights I have been up with him until about 1am not knowing what he wants. I think he is just hungry so he eats 4x from 9p on. We finally got sleep last night since I started feeding him a little at a time starting early. As I am sitting there with him, tired and needing sleep I just look at my little angel and am just glad I can be up with him. There will be a time he won’t be here. I just keep reminding myself of that. Kisses Chico!
Overall, he seems to be doing great. He is happy and if anything more spoiled than ever. Why is that the older they get the more we love them. He has been with me through a lot of changes in life. Some good, some bad. He has always been there. When he was at the emergency vet the house was quiet. Tell me how a house with a 9 year old and 3 other dogs and 1 cat could be quiet but it was. We just missed him and kept looking for him. When he came home we were so happy. Lets just hope that he stays “good”. We love him so much.
