Week 25; almost half way through the year! In fact next Monday is our eldest son's 52nd birthday, and a long time ago I worked out that his birthday is the exact middle day between the two Christmas Days!
This will be short and sweet as I really have nothing to write about. It has been a difficult week for Kim who is feeling every bit of his ten years now. His hips have collapsed and last Saturday it took us ages to get him on his feet. (You can see in the photo that all the muscles in his rear end have wasted away). We have put our winter rug back down to give him something to grip on as he slips on all our tiled floors. Once up on his feet he can walk around fine, but he cannot sit, only lay down, so his life is not very exciting. He spends most of his day laying in the fly free area or in the sitting room, with meal times still being the highlight of his days.
Chris spent some time making a shallow ramp for him as he sometimes refuses to come up the two little steps in the porch. He can do it, but tends to stand at the bottom and just bark until we entice him up with treats. I bought an extra long rubber backed mat to go on the ramp so it wasn't slippery for him, but we have yet to see him use it voluntarily. I have brought him up on a lead a few times, but we need him to feel comfortable doing it on his own.
Anyway, I was also becoming concerned that he has a skin condition which is worsening so this morning we took him to the vet. She felt he had lost a lot of weight since she saw him last and has taken some blood for testing as she thinks there may be a more serious problem. So we are getting our heads around the fact that we will probably not have him for much longer. His quality of life is not good now and I don't want to reach the point where we are keeping him alive more for our sake than for his. But tomorrow we will go back for the results of the blood tests and we'll take it from there.
That aside it has been a pleasant week. I have achieved a lot in my craft room and will soon have finished all the things I wanted to do before my summer break. I haven't done much more of my crochet as it stays warm all evening now (and all night!) so I just don't want to handle it much.
I have had long video chats with three of our boys this week which is always good.
And I will close with another lovely photo of my youngest great-grandson, that his mum sent me this week. It was taken on his '11 month' anniversary. Isn't he gorgeous? I am so looking forward to meeting him in August.
So now it is over to Annie's blog to link up for tomorrow.
3 comments:
Hi Kate, I feel for poor Kim. Dogs are such good friends to us but there comes a stage when there is only so much you can do for them but if he's eating well that's the main thing. Your grandson is an absolute sweetie, how lucky you are to have him. Hugs, Angela xXx
SO sorry to read about Kim. I remember when Dog (my first cat who lived nearly 21 years) died, I asked the vet if he was in pain. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with him, except that he was OLD. He said as long as he wasn't in pain, to let him go in his own time. Had it been a different outcome, I would have been forced to make the same decision you may have to make with Kim very soon. My heart goes out to you, Kate. I know how difficult it is to lose a family member, even if it is a four legged one.
On a brighter note, your great grandson is not only cute, but looks to be a very happy child, too. Hope you have a good weekend and week ahead, filled with happiness, dear.
It sure is sad to witness a slow process of getting old.
My gerbil was running around and then next day she was gone. She looked even "peaceful"
A friend of mine has an old cat that got cancer... our dog as well... and both my parents.
I hope one day I go like (here) famous singer Udo Jürgens. He was hiking through a nice forest in Switzerland, heart attack, gone.
No suffering.
Ohhh such a cute ending!
Have a smiley day!
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