Have any of y’all had a dog who just abso-frickin-lutely drove you up the wall?

A dog that for the first 3 months after bringing her home had you wondering what drugs you were on, to even think of bringing this senior-citizen-aged adolescent into your home, and seriously considered returning her to the rescue group that gave her to you?

A dog who within the first 6 months after bringing her home had totally wormed her annoying little self totally into your heart so that you can’t imagine going back to how things were before she moved in with you?

My little Jessie, the italian greyhound, who’s 1/3 the size of my greys, and thinks she’s twice their size, is that kind of dog. We’ve lived together for almost 2 1/2 years now, and I’ve watched her become a senior citizen before my very eyes. She came to me with health issues, and we’ve kept those under control. Enalapril for the heart murmur, 5mg daily. Prednisone for the hepatitis, 5mg MWF. There’s nothing we can do for the cataracts – the pred exacerbates them so she’s probably 95% blind. And her hearing’s been going for the last year or more, so I’m figuring at this point she’s probably 80% deaf, if not more.

But she hangs on, like the tough little biddy she is. She hates to be carried, and would rather walk beside me, even if it means bumping into things she can’t see. She’ll hit the wall (or the flower pot, or the tree), bounce back, shake her head, adjust her course, and soldier on until she hits the next obstacle. It’s painful to watch sometimes, and yet laughable, in a sick, twisted sort of way. Or she’ll sit where she can see me, and not notice that I’ve moved. I’ll come up behind her and she’ll still be alertly staring at where I used to be, and be utterly surprised to find me behind her instead. As soon as she realizes it’s me, her turbo-tail starts wagging – I’ve never counted how many revolutions per minute, but I’m sure she could rival some propellers.

But she’s not a young dog. She’s definitely a senior citizen. My vet says we can only estimate, but she estimates at least 12. I figure it’s probably closer to 13. She’s been with me for over 2 years, and was with her previous owner for 9 years. So there’s 11 years right there, and she’s a rescued dog, probably from a puppy mill (she’s had pups, we can tell), and they usually get rescued at about 2 years. So she’s either 12 or 13, if not older. And prednisone ages them too, doc says. But without the pred, she’d be dead in 3 weeks from liver failure.

I found out today that enalapril has side effects, too – it can affect the kidney functionality, and make it less efficient. I took Jessie in this morning for her annual dental, and they did the routine blood work before putting her under. Doc called me about 1/2 hour ago. There are 3 things that indicate kidney function – it’s all greek (ok, latin) to me, and the only word I recognized was creatinine levels. Anyway, all 3 are high, which indicates decreased kidney function, and it’s not advisable to put her under becuase that could precipitate the kidney failure.

So we’re holding off on her dental, and putting her on a kidney-friendly diet (translate – buying special food from the vet instead of the pet-food store), and checking the levels again in a month. And I’m sitting here at work, looking at her pictures in my cube, taken in the first month or so she lived with me, and trying to picture my life without this little bundle of arrogance in it. It’s a very empty picture, believe me.

Doc says she’s seen dogs get better when put on the special food, she’s seen dogs maintain the high levels but have normal functioning, and she’s seen dogs not get better. So we don’t know what’s gonna happen with her. We’ll check her levels again in a month and see how they look. That will give us a better idea of where we are in terms of what decisions need to be made, and how much longer she’ll be around. She has an indomitable spirit, and that counts for a lot.

UPDATE: She’s home with me, sleeping peacefully in her cushioned basket that my neighbor salvaged from somewhere – it’s the perfect size for her, and when she’s not taking over the big dogs’ beds, she loves it. The vet had her on IV fluids all day – she hasn’t been drinking a lot of water lately, but i hadn’t really noticed how very little she was drinking. Doc said she saw a marked difference between Jessie this morning and Jessie this evening, after all the fluids.

We have these little scares with her every few months or so, any more. Not always the same scare, it just seems that since last August, I’ve had 4-5 times of wondering if it was her time, and she’s still here. Doc agreed with me when I said that at this point, I could have her for another 6 months, or another 3 years. I talk to her (it’s a side-effect of living alone – I talk to all 3 of my dogs), even though she can’t hear me. I’ve long believed that communication is not limited to the physical realm. And I’ve told her that I will not send her to the rainbow bridge early, but I won’t make her wait when it’s her time to go. It’s not her time yet, which is a good thing.

And today’s little scare was a good thing – I sometimes forget how much I care about these four-legged kids of mine, and take them for granted. They are more precious to me now, after today.

HT, we’re going to start with the diet…if it seems to be working, great. If not, we’ll be able to tell that before hte month is up, and get her back in. My travel schedule is about to go through the roof (again), but my dog-sitter is a very savvy lady, who knows Jessie well enough to know when she’s not being normal. She should know her well enough – with my travel schedule, we’ve started calling my house their vacation home. *sigh* I have total faith in my vet, and see her frequently, because Jessie’s my first experience with an aging dog, and I’m a big fan of “peace of mind” exams. It’s well worth $20 or whatever from my pocketbook to have my vet confirm – ‘yes, she seems to be deaf now,” or “yes, that’s just part of getting old.” (I love my vet) Our rule of thumb with Jessie is “what would you do if she were your dog?” and within my budgetary constraints, that’s what we’re doing.