Prayers for Achilles

Mighty Achilles Sweetface, my everloving senior citizen puppy. He is not feeling well and I am humbly asking Blogistan to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

For the past week or so, our baby has begun to exhibit deterioration symptoms which I believe are related to the end stages of his atypical Cushings disease. When once he was a super food monster, he began to leave food in his bowl at mealtime. He also started having extremely restless nights. He gets up several times per night, panting heavily, letting out his barks, and wanting to go outside to lie down in the cool, wet grass. Atypical Cushings gives dogs something akin to "hot flashes" so even though nights are pretty cool in San Diego, for Achilles it must have felt like the middle of summer given his restlessness.

But, the past few days have been markedly worse. He isn't exhibiting signs of pain, but that doesn't mean that there isn't something not quite right. I am hoping against hope that he's just completely worn out and exhausted.

We had a very busy weekend, and for Achilles, who will be 15 years old in July, it was quite a tiresome weekend. We took him and Milo for their baths on Saturday, which is at least a 2 hour ordeal. He was so tired and slept for hours when we returned.

Then, yesterday morning, bright and early, we went to Balboa Park for the San Diego Golden Retriever Group Meet-Up. My fellow Golden lover and San Diego resident, Sue at Random Ramblings (see my links), invited us to join the group she started for Golden Retriever lovers. Ed and I have been meaning to join them for some time, and yesterday we finally had a chance.

It was a gorgeous day and we were glad we finally had our "Golden Retriever Mobile" to be able to drive the boys to the park. Meeting Sue was simply fabulous. If you read her blog, you're already familiar with her energy and lively personality, but it came through so much more in person. She gave me the warmest hug and welcomed my little senior puppies into her group with so much grace. Please go and check out the post she wrote about the meet-up. I'm looking forward to more such gatherings.

Well, Achilles had quite the time of it yesterday. While he had a good time people watching, walking around, sniffing butts, and sitting in the dirtiest patch of ground he could find (never mind that he'd just been bathed less than a day before), he had some difficulty staying on his paws. His back legs gave out a number of times and he'd just end up on the ground. We thought it was because of the soft dirt and the fact that he kept sinking into it.

By the time we got home, he was T-I-R-E-D. It was all he could do to get himself in the house, where he made a beeline for his new favorite shady spot in the yard (under the deck stairs) and promptly fell asleep.

It was this morning that really rattled me. Achilles didn't finish his breakfast. In fact, he didn't take more than 2 bites. This is a dog who is a FOOD MONSTER, just ask Laura's Wrigley, whom he taught some bad habits of sneaking treats from the pantry. So, for Achilles not to want food, there is something definitely awry.

All day at work, I battled drowsiness and worry. Drowsiness because I think I got 4 hours of sleep last night, and worry for Achilles. Given how extremely busy we are work right now, I have no time for drowsiness, so today was a day of coffee and a Red Bull, which is a drink I cannot stand, but I needed it today. It's actually my 4th Red Bull this past week or so at work.

We're taking Achilles in tomorrow morning for urine and blood tests, and if you'd all keep him in your thoughts I would be ever grateful. I'm praying that it is not renal failure or any other organ deterioration, due to Cushings. There is a part of me that's hoping it will be just an infection or something. But, if it is not, then Ed and I have a very hard decision to make for our boy.

Oh God, it hurt to simply write that line. Ok, I can't think about my life without Achilles right now. I'll start crying again.

I'm going to just post some pictures from our fun little family outing instead. Yesterday was such a great day for us.

He got to kick back and watch all the Golden action around us.
Goldens, Goldens, and more Goldens

This sweet girl was named Chutney, and she kept coming up over my shoulder trying to nibble on my earrings. She was too cute.
We arrived home after a fun morning and both pups were ready for their Sunday naps. Milo was already making Asian eyes.
I love my babies.