Not Totally Unexpected but Worrisome

I skipped the gym today waiting to hear back from a vet who makes house calls. Unfortunately she is unable to come visit my dog this week. After conferring with my regular vet on the phone, I called a vet two towns over who also makes house calls. She'll be by to see my dog tomorrow afternoon.

My dog is unquestionably old at 13, but until he ruptured his right, and then his left CCL, he'd been in pretty good health, with only a sensitive stomach that he'd cure himself by nibbling on tall green grass shoots. That wouldn't make him vomit, but somehow settled the springs in his tummy. Yesterday he vomited up his breakfast, and then ate it back again. Well, he is a dog. His back legs both failed at the end of his morning walk, and it was difficult to haul him up the ramp. Once in the house, he seemed okay, but tired. Old dogs sleep a lot.

October 2015

Dogs seem to develop a perverse obsession with food as they age. All of my dogs became inveterate food nags. I used to hand feed him when he was a puppy because he was so disinterested in his kibble. Sometimes he still is, so now I add boiled ground turkey in rice to his softened dog chow. This morning I discover he's throw up last night's meal all across the living room and into the kitchen. He peed on the newspapers under his water bowl.

I don't try to take him out, or even get him to stand, although he does wobble over to take a small drink afterwards. Mostly, he's lying on the floor by the storm door. It lets the warm sun in, and gives him a view of the bird feeder, and a chance to bark at the neighborhood cats lurking in the driveway. Today he's not interested at all. Today he faces away from the door, with his tail curled oddly under his skinny back legs.

His ears are unusually cool to the touch, and his eyes seem very sad. I'm worried that if I take him to the vet, I won't be coming home with him. I've had many dogs, and although he's not the smartest or the prettiest, he's special in his own way.

Tomorrow before the vet shows up, I plan to go to the gym in the morning, and maybe pick up those eye drops I asked my glaucoma doc about. Because my eye pressures need to be much lower than the 13/14 they tested at, I ask her about one of the older glaucoma drugs, pilocarpine. There are potentially adverse effects, but I'd rather not go blind. I seem to be allergic to most other medications, and I'd prefer not to have eye surgery. There are always repercussions from surgery. From Wikipedia:

"Use of pilocarpine may result in a range of adverse effects, most of them related to its non-selective action as a muscarinic receptor agonist. Pilocarpine has been known to cause excessive salivation, sweating, bronchial mucus secretion, bronchospasm, bradycardia, vasodilation, and diarrhea. Eye drops can result in brow ache and chronic use in miosis."

Miosis means pinpoint pupils due to the constricting effect. Good thing I have dark brown eyes. No one will notice. The headaches will be another story. But maybe that won't be so bad. The doc tells me that she used those drops on my eye to perform the SLT. Ah... okay, I can deal with that. But I'll have to administer drops twice daily. I'll probably just get used to having a chronic mild headache. It could be worse...