What do you do when your dog begins getting older? You begin to notice little things about them, they aren't as quick on the draw, it takes them a little time to get up and down and their eye sight begins to fade. This week it became unbelievably clear that Lola Mae is old.
We had noticed a few weeks ago that Lola was drinking a tremendous amount of water and began to use the bathroom in her sleep. Our first thought was that she had diabetes and then we thought that it was her age. We took her to the vet and they did a series of test. We were so happy to find out that she wasn't diabetic. We did find out that she had two urinary tract infections and her kidneys were slightly elevated. Our awesome vet put her on some antibiotics and Lola was on her way...until last week.
Lola's eye began weeping and she was shutting it. She has cataracts in that eye and the doctor said she was blind, just in the one eye. At the same time, her ear got an infection. We took her in again and found out that she has glaucoma. Glaucoma is very painful for dogs and can lead to the eye being removed. Besides having glaucoma, she had an eye infection. She was now fighting off four infections. We again were given meds. This time, the vet gave us the serious talk about Lola not being around much longer. We asked what we could do more for her and the vet's response was, "just love her." The vet said that she will continue, along with us, to make sure Lola is comfortable and given great care but once her quality of life is less, than we will discuss options.
For the past week, I have done nothing but go between being numb and crying. Finally, yesterday, I decided I have to "just love her." I have to enjoy my time that I have with her now. To play gently with her, alter our walks, give her little special treats and snuggle more.
Loving and caring for older dogs is a challenge but I wouldn't trade it for the world. It makes me cherish every day, every second with them a little more.
.JPG)
.JPG)
