Over the last few weeks Romeo’s energy has been declining, but today seemed to be a big struggle for him.
Romeo has been camped out exclusively on our bed for the last few days, just getting up for mealtime and brief visits outside. With simple wishes, he doesn’t really have to move much anyway. He knows that when the other dogs get treats, I’ll bring him one. He also doesn’t bother to get off the bed when I get home, but when I come to visit he’s usually alert and waiting for me.
At lunch today he did get up but didn’t finish his kibble before deciding it was time for a break. At dinner time I ended up bringing Romeo his bowl of kibble so he could eat in bed since he was showing no interest in getting off the bed. And for the first time he didn’t immediately dive into his food bowl. I’m not sure if it was too much effort, a lack of appetite, or the novelty of eating in bed.
Eventually this evening, it was time for him to go outside. Romeo has a giant bladder but hadn’t been out since midday and needed to before bedtime. We tried multiple times to entice him off the bed, but eventually I lifted/shoved him off the bed. Never a graceful dog, he had a lot of trouble getting coordinated and moving. He did manage to get to the back door with me coaxing/pushing him along but didn’t seem inclined to go any further.
We finally got out his harness from his amputation recovery days so we could help him walk more easily. Trent and Romeo walked out to the grass and Trent helped hold Romeo up while peed. Romeo did drink some water and halfheartedly bit at the hose while I filled the bowl. All of this was exhausting, so he took a rest on his outside rug.
Now he’s back on our bed and all is well with the world.
Earlier today we were just commenting the fact that Romeo hasn’t been doing much coughing over the last few days. Today he has coughed a bit more, but still not much overall. He is just very, very tired. I think this is his agenda for tomorrow:
