I expected the worst as we went into another week of heat alerts and wildfires. My dog and I would not be outside with the air quality so poor, the sky dark gray with smoke. I was already coughing. My dog and I would be inside, cramped in our only room with air conditioning. He had objected strongly when we were stuck in the “cool room” earlier in the summer. I expected worse from him this time around, but, as he had during the four months since he was diagnosed with CCD (dog dementia), he surprised me.
I can’t explain it. I knew he didn’t want to be in that “cool” room. He wanted to be in the room next door, where he was allowed to sleep on the bed. He had a few complaints, I admit, but really … fewer than I’d have bet there would be. (Luckily, I don’t bet.) He’d bark once, out of the blue, in the middle of the day. Caught being oblivious—I should always expect a bark—I’d yelp, my natural reaction. I’d talk to him when he was quiet. I have to believe he’d consider that rewarding. *chortle*
Yet, in the first days we were incarcerated together, it was almost as if he accepted the situation. Could he comprehend that we were in that room because it was cooler? It was as if he’d shrugged his doggy shoulders, so to speak, and said—“Might as well be cooler.” I don’t know; I’ll never know. He was quiet, calm in the kennel, and we both got good nights of sleep, so needed. It was heavenly.
The last night of the heat emergency, all that changed … again. With what might have been an “I can’t take it any more!” attitude, he went suddenly crazy. Barks all night; scratching in the kennel; whining, even yowling. By midnight, I was so exhausted that I no longer had the energy to cope with his antics intelligently—at 4:00 a.m., I checked the temperature outside, turned off the AC and turned on all the fans to get the cooler early morning air circulating through the house … and got him out of the “cool room” and back to the tolerable (almost) temps in the room he prefers and onto “his” place on the bed. He relaxed almost instantly. The crazy was gone and we were both worn out. Whew!
Photo by Val Hughes
He’s lounging now, two days later, luxuriating in the much cooler weather and (even better) rain. He stands in the rain at the back fence, waiting for his friend, our neighbor, who will bring him treats. When I call him back to the house, he stops on the way—first he’s gotta roll in that wonderful wet grass! Then he runs inside. Such a contrast to his uncomfortable slowness in the heat.
Part of the slowness was more than the heat, I’m convinced. He’d stopped taking the mobility supplement he’d been on for over three years at the recommendation of his vet (not for a known problem, but because he’s a big dog and of an age when mobility is a concern). He always gotten the supplement tablets in his food but, when eating had become an issue, he’d chosen specifically to avoid the tablets, no matter with what they were mixed. I broke the tablets up and “hid” them in foods he’d eat, but eventually, even in forms he at first accepted—in peanut butter on a soft cookie, for example—he sussed them out and spit them out or turned away. I didn’t want to corrupt his good opinion of food “hides” he’d initially accepted, so I stopped hiding the mobility supplements.
When he’d not gotten the mobility tablets at all for a couple of weeks, he became slower in his movement, walking more haltingly, taking his time to do stairs. He just wasn’t his bouncy self. I decided that, no matter what, the mobility supplement was still a necessary part of his protocol. I decided to give the tablets directly down his doggy throat, “pilling” him by hand. It isn’t easy, as he’s lost a great deal of his lifelong good bite inhibition since he “got” CCD, but I haven’t been bitten yet (although I’ve certainly felt teeth). I don’t recommend this method because it’s just not very safe.
I made a mistake at first by giving him the supplements right after I gave his prescribed meds. Again, I risked “polluting” his opinion of a process (giving the prescribed meds) that was going okay. He became more resistant to taking the meds. It was just too much at one time, I think. Duh.
Meds had been given at about the same time every day, but supplements could be given at any time, within reason. Now I’m switching it up, trying to be unpredictable about when it can happen, avoiding adding more pressure to the “mandatory” care. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve come up with a relatively successful method of giving the prescribed meds—let’s hope I can do that for the supplements. Now that he’s back on his regular daily dose of the mobility supplement, he’s so clearly feeling better physically, going up and down stairs especially … and there are a lot of stairs in our house.
We’re ending our summer with cooler days, blue skies, and a more comfortable dog. I know there will be more surprises for us both in the fall. Together, we will do our best to get through what we must.
Thanks again to all of you who’ve sent us your good thoughts and encouragement!
