Peppa

Peppa is a bit of an old man in the dog world.  He's 17 human years which makes him about 81 years old.  We got him in 1997 when we came home on Christmas Eve and this little puppy was playing around in our front garden.  He had walked across the road from his family and once he arrived in our front yard, he refused to leave.  We gave him back to his family but he would always find a way back to our place.  Kindly, his family allowed us to keep him and he's been ours ever since.

He smiles while he sleeps

He's super smart and loyal.  He'll come and sit by your feet as if he's 'protecting you'.  You can't trick him with a fake throwing of the ball - he knows the ball is still in your hand which you've now placed behind your back.  He hates bathtime but he loves car rides, and he knows when it's almost dinner time and will hang around my Mum who feeds him.

As the years have passed he's gotten slower, deafer, blinder and weaker.  So yesterday I got the shock of my life when I saw some blood sitting on his eyeball and dripping past his tear ducts onto his fur (do dogs have tear ducts?).  He was also bleeding a lot from his mouth, we suspected he had cut his tongue or something.  He was limping very heavily and putting no pressure on his right leg.  He also has random lumps here and there we thought we would get the vet to check up on.

So in an emergency situation, we drove through peak hour to the vet who is about 30 minutes away.  Peppa knew as soon as we got out of the car that we were headed to the vet, and he dug his heels in and wouldn't move.  My sister had to pick him up and walk him into the vet.  He became very subdued once inside and just stared out the window as if contemplating his impending doom.

His name was called and again he refused to move.  The vet carried him into the clinic and did a general check-up on him.  He's pretty old, he's got severe arthritis, he has back pain, the bleeding on the eye has come from a benign growth he has near his eye which popped and leaked onto his eye, the bleeding around his mouth has come from a dislodged tooth which is wobbling around in there and causing him some pain, he has a heart murmur, his teeth are not in great condition.....  Anyway, most of these things come with age and there was nothing too alarming about his condition - what a relief!

We left the vet and he was instantly brighter and happier.  I'm so glad it wasn't anything serious and that even though he's an old man, he'll be with us for a few more years yet.

Do you have any pets?  Are they old like Peppa?