Under the surface celebration

Yesterday was Elsa’s 11th birthday. My girlfriend, her dog Mia and I had a cute little celebration for Elsa complete with a vanilla cupcake, a candle, balloons, a fresh bone to chew on and even a birthday hat. We gave her a little of the cupcake which she enjoyed and tried to spoil Elsa with love all evening. She ate a decent amount of food for dinner, assisted by the appetite stimulant I now am giving her daily. It was a good night although the reality of her health situation was always just under the surface for me, tempering what would normally be happy feelings.

Earlier in the day Elsa gave me a birthday surprise when I came home at lunch to see she pooped on her one dog bed. She also reaffirmed that she can not be trusted in my office alone. When we walked in there later in the night we saw some chewed up card board and a HDMI cable that had the end gnawed on. It sure seems like she has some sort of dog dementia going on with this nonsensical compulsion to chew on/eat things that she knows she shouldn’t.

Last night the wetness protection I have in place did it’s thing. I did not have to wash any of the underlying bedding. I did once again get up in the middle of the night to let her outside to relieve herself. What sucks is I often struggle to fall back asleep once I get up. I have been walking around in a pretty much constant state of feeling tired.

This morning after a good night with Elsa I had a hard time getting her to eat much of anything. The renal food is a hard no and even the stuff she has been eating consistently she did not show much interest in. This is another symptom of dogs with kidney disease. Unfortunately I do not expect this roller coaster of good days and bad days to go away any time soon.