Hound dog
Nana's are Beautiful
Oh, come on Powers That Be, how much do you expect one person to take??
Rowdy is old, older than Molly at 14 yrs.........will be 15 come July. He's lived his whole life outdoors. It's not the cold. Rowdy has a coat like a polar bear, you couldn't find his skin if your life depended on it, even wet. Not to mention he's decked out with so many straw bales it looks like a mini fort in his kennel.....which has tarps to block the wind/wet and a roof built by sister in law years ago. Unless it's in the 20's, you can spot him panting in his kennel. So, no. It's not the cold. Besides, it's cold but it's been warmer today than it has been all week.
Due to his age and the fact he had so much trouble moving around, I've been a bit anal about checking on him several times a day.....easy because I do it when Maggie goes potty. He was up and moving fine (for him, he's slow) this morning and again around 2 pm. I just took Maggie out to potty about a half hour ago and he didn't respond to her coming into the yard. Sent up a red flag so I called to him. He didn't respond. So I called again......as I approached the kennel.........I didn't get a response until I went it and got up close and petted his head. I was also taking him supper.......kibble and warmed up baked chicken, quite a bit of the latter.
He wouldn't get up. He turned away from the chicken. Now Rowdy *might* refuse kibble once in a while.....but never people food. Again I tried to coax him up....and well......I noticed his breathing was similar to Molly's and that did it. I came in and fetched Travis to bring him inside while I grabbed something warm for him to lay on and to cover him up with. He's lying on the kitchen floor on a flannel sheet covered up with a microfiber blanket. I don't know that he was cold......but unless he pants I won't remove it. I don't know how long he was "down" and if his body temp dropped.
He did "sit up" (sort of) to drink a bit of water.....back legs he's not moving at all, front legs he's having issues as they're stiff movements and not a lot of control. Not a lot of mouth control either for that matter although he did manage to get some water down.
Normally being inside stresses him. He seems somewhat oblivious other than he is close to us. Maggie is stressing as she wants to check on him......but I don't want her bothering him. He appears at least as bad as Molly was the morning we took her in to the vet. He might improve as he warms up but I seriously doubting it. He has that same labored breathing.
Since I caught it not long after he went down (thank heaven he didn't have it happen after supper it would've been hard to tell in the dark)...and it's friday.....I'm gonna pray like mad the vet has a Sat morning appointment and I can get him in before monday. Travis does not want to see him suffer the weekend.....nor do I for that matter. I worried he wouldn't make it through the winter as it was but he had improved to the point in late fall where I couldn't justify putting him to sleep at that time.
I just didn't expect it to be a week after losing Molly. omg
Rowdy, you see, is my hero. Molly protected us from intruders multiple times. Rowdy did his best to save my life when he and I got hit by that truck and I lay unconscious on the street. Even hurt himself, he ran home for help.
I'm glad he is in out of the cold and is now as comfortable as I can make him. It's the least I can do for him. And I'm praying like mad it will be one of those saturday mornings our vet happens to be open. It might be because when i tried to get Maggie's stitches out they were closed on Wed......they tend to do that if they're going to have saturday appointments.
Someone up there must think I'm a LOT stronger than I think I am. Right now, and I admit it might be because it's only been a week since Molly, I feel like I just keep getting one blow after another without much chance to get on good emotional footing in between.


Rowdy is old, older than Molly at 14 yrs.........will be 15 come July. He's lived his whole life outdoors. It's not the cold. Rowdy has a coat like a polar bear, you couldn't find his skin if your life depended on it, even wet. Not to mention he's decked out with so many straw bales it looks like a mini fort in his kennel.....which has tarps to block the wind/wet and a roof built by sister in law years ago. Unless it's in the 20's, you can spot him panting in his kennel. So, no. It's not the cold. Besides, it's cold but it's been warmer today than it has been all week.
Due to his age and the fact he had so much trouble moving around, I've been a bit anal about checking on him several times a day.....easy because I do it when Maggie goes potty. He was up and moving fine (for him, he's slow) this morning and again around 2 pm. I just took Maggie out to potty about a half hour ago and he didn't respond to her coming into the yard. Sent up a red flag so I called to him. He didn't respond. So I called again......as I approached the kennel.........I didn't get a response until I went it and got up close and petted his head. I was also taking him supper.......kibble and warmed up baked chicken, quite a bit of the latter.
He wouldn't get up. He turned away from the chicken. Now Rowdy *might* refuse kibble once in a while.....but never people food. Again I tried to coax him up....and well......I noticed his breathing was similar to Molly's and that did it. I came in and fetched Travis to bring him inside while I grabbed something warm for him to lay on and to cover him up with. He's lying on the kitchen floor on a flannel sheet covered up with a microfiber blanket. I don't know that he was cold......but unless he pants I won't remove it. I don't know how long he was "down" and if his body temp dropped.
He did "sit up" (sort of) to drink a bit of water.....back legs he's not moving at all, front legs he's having issues as they're stiff movements and not a lot of control. Not a lot of mouth control either for that matter although he did manage to get some water down.
Normally being inside stresses him. He seems somewhat oblivious other than he is close to us. Maggie is stressing as she wants to check on him......but I don't want her bothering him. He appears at least as bad as Molly was the morning we took her in to the vet. He might improve as he warms up but I seriously doubting it. He has that same labored breathing.
Since I caught it not long after he went down (thank heaven he didn't have it happen after supper it would've been hard to tell in the dark)...and it's friday.....I'm gonna pray like mad the vet has a Sat morning appointment and I can get him in before monday. Travis does not want to see him suffer the weekend.....nor do I for that matter. I worried he wouldn't make it through the winter as it was but he had improved to the point in late fall where I couldn't justify putting him to sleep at that time.
I just didn't expect it to be a week after losing Molly. omg
Rowdy, you see, is my hero. Molly protected us from intruders multiple times. Rowdy did his best to save my life when he and I got hit by that truck and I lay unconscious on the street. Even hurt himself, he ran home for help.
I'm glad he is in out of the cold and is now as comfortable as I can make him. It's the least I can do for him. And I'm praying like mad it will be one of those saturday mornings our vet happens to be open. It might be because when i tried to get Maggie's stitches out they were closed on Wed......they tend to do that if they're going to have saturday appointments.
Someone up there must think I'm a LOT stronger than I think I am. Right now, and I admit it might be because it's only been a week since Molly, I feel like I just keep getting one blow after another without much chance to get on good emotional footing in between.

