Before my husband and I had our wonderful daughter, we were parents to two fur babies. One came to us immediately after we got married, over 12 years ago. Her name is Callie and she’s a white Lhasa Apso. She’s been my shadow since we got her when she was five months old.
After we moved to SC, we adopted a four-year-old black Shitzu-Poodle mix named Barley. We had Barley barely a year when our daughter was born, so he doesn’t really know life without a small human in the home.
Callie, however, had us all to herself for nine years before we rocked her world, first with a second dog, and then soon after with a child. She has her opinions on that I’m sure, but she’s adapted.
Right as our daughter was starting to sleep through the night, Callie started requiring more attention at night. Great. Perfect timing. Finally getting sleep and now the dog needs us more than ever.
We sighed and complained about it, not really knowing why she was barking or crying every night, but we were determined to fix it! We realized she always wanted to go outside, so we looked into doggy doors for our house. We found one you can put as an insert into your sliding glass door. It’s a little pricey, but a good option to not completely ruin a door in your house. She learned fairly quickly how to use it and alas we were all sleeping better.
Next, her eyes started getting all gunky and weird and she started running into things, including my shins. After a few vet visits and some eye drop trials, we were informed she was completely blind and it was irreversible. That’s why she was all whiny at night: she couldn’t see to get down or up the stairs or where to find her food bowl. Poor girl was just lost. Her eyes now require daily attention and her hair requires weekly trims to keep it all cleaned up.
Next, was the arthritis. She gets all stiff and sore and limps around some days. She can’t go up or down the steps herself most days, either. Aging just hit her hard. We’ve added some pain meds and supplements to hopefully slow the process. You can’t see it from the outside, but if the #10YearAging challenge was for dogs, hers would be drastic!
The latest thing we learned with Callie, and about aging pets in general, is they can get dementia. Symptoms include: restlessness, pacing, confusion, accidents in the house, and increased aggression.
So far, Callie is showing some signs of restlessness and confusion, but is overall still hanging in there. She doesn’t like to be touched by strangers, but still gets excited when they arrive and wants to give them a smell. So, I just have to give a fair warning to visitors or let her stay up in a bedroom by herself when there are new people around.
It’s sometimes hard to watch our “first born” go through tough times when we are in the midst of being mamas to humans and worried about their daily needs, but I try to have a good balance of making sure my doggies know I’m still their mama, too. Dogs are resilient and forgiving and always provide that unconditional love, even if you’ve ignored them for a few days trying to get a newborn to sleep.
So, hang in there mamas of those aging fur babies! We are doing our best and they will always be there for a snuggle when you have a free lap!
