managing the disability issues surrounding extreme aging...
Carol · Jun 16, 2010
sounds pretty important. it seems like it would require intelligence and good planning...well lets not get too fancy here...if you want a deaf dog to "hear" you with their eyes instead of their ears...sweetly and gently poke them with your finger so they turn around and look at you. if you want a blind dog to follow you...clap your hands and talk to them so their ears can actually find you.
but every so often if they get old and wrecked enough...a new disability pops up that needs some kind of intervention...like this morning, dealing with a new type of incontinence.
max is one of the LONG dogs with kind of short legs. so when he leans in to have a long pee, his urine shoots forward and puddles around his front feet. he also has severe upper spinal and neck arthritic disease. we keep him feeling comfortable with a very good combination of anti-inflamatories, muscle relaxants and pain meds. BUT..his neck is still quite weak.
so there is max this morning, emptying his overful bladder all over not only his front feet but around his chin which he is comfortably resting on the floor.
sigh..another not rocket science solution...max needs a foot and face wash after he pees.
we like to think extreme senior rescue is glamorous...we like to think we are knowlegable and highly skilled...but really we just know how and when to kindly poke a finger, happily clap our hands and gently wipe a pee soaked chin.....when you reduce it to the very basics, any moron can do it well....
ok...the goes my self esteem for this morning...i better go find my motivating napkin to-do list and do something equally as difficult and interesting.
Nooo, any moron cannot do this. Most morons would just put the dog down at the first sign of aging.
You folks do a wonderful thing by caring for these animals in their old age. You're right, it's not rocket science. It's the common sense awareness of what needs to be done & doing it - not looking for the easy way out. And it is the right thing to do.
On behalf of Max and all the animals, thank you.