sam

Sam, our beagle-basset, is a rather old dog; near as we can figure he's sixteen years old which is something like 93 in people years. We adopted him from a shelter over almost 14 years ago. He's been getting senile, going blind, getting arthritic, all those old age things.

Now he's getting worse. He's been throwing up a lot, he's become very incontinent to the point where he needs to pee every 20-30 minutes and his back legs don't seem to hold him up very well. We called the vet concerned that it might be a kidney condition or a bladder condition or who knows what. They gently reminded me that he's very old and they will see him tomorrow morning. I'm really sad. I'm not ready for him to be this old. He's still such a happy dog and he loves sniffing around outside and leans into us when we pet him and genuinely enjoys our company.

I'm really hoping that this is just something benign like a bladder infection that will be curable. Well, maybe not the part about his legs being so weak. But still...we're all very sad about this and hopeful for tomorrow.