Aging and Chilibeans

 Our old girl, Toni Louise, is aging rather rapidly. I saw her picture in an ad from the local dog shelter. She had a sweet little face and I was charmed. I showed the picture to The Man. He looked and agreed that she looked sweet. Then he made his annoying proclamation of "NO MORE DOGS!"

A couple of days later the dog shelter called me (because, of course, I called them to enquire about the sweet-faced dog) to let me know that they had gotten a lot of strays in and reminded me that they were not a no-kill facility. Repeating that info to The Man, I showed him her picture again. This was back in our campground running days when I was held captive to the business, while The Man did the fun stuff, like mowing and towing and cleaning out septic lines. I am not saying that his work was glamorous, but it did provide him with the opportunity to leave the property quite often. 

He called me in the office to say that he had an errand to run "in town" and would be back soon. This (and every excursion he made) was followed by asking if I needed anything. I knew that he was on his way to the shelter. When he returned, he had the sweet-faced dog with him. She was not a big dog, but she looked gangly, with her long legs supported her slim body. She looked to be walking on stilts. At the time we had our dachshund duo, Oscar and Emmy, along with the famously ugly little dog of my grandson, Wall-E.

We had lost our dogs, a Collie named Sarge and a St. Bernard named Louise with-in 6 weeks of each other. Our hearts were still tender and the thought of her being euthanized prompted The Man to adopt her. Oscar was the alpha of our pack of dogs, having established his superiority when he was just a small handful of a dog. I knew that Wall-E and Emmy would accept her, but I was worried about my Oscar, the cantankerous bully.

After a meet and greet with the other canines, she passed the test. What would her name be? I didn't name Wall-E, my beloved grandson did. But with Oscar and Emmy having award names, I chose Toni for the new addition to have family. If you have been a reader of my blog over the years, you will know that Toni held her own place in our pack of canines. Her antics are documented in my other blog that had to be put to sleep due to my ex-daughter-in-law stalking me.

Toni was an escape artist. She could run like the wind on those long skinny legs. She was affectionate with both of us, but she loved her master, The Man, with unbridled affection. She still stares at him her big cloudy eyes with such love I am almost jealous.

Now she is old, how old, you might ask? We aren't sure but think she might have been close to the same age as Wall-E. Wall-E would have been 18 last year. If she is younger, it is not by much. 

I found one of her teeth on the floor a few days ago. She does not like for her mouth to be touched, probably hurts. She is too frail to endure a dental appointment and being anesthetized. She doesn't have many teeth left. Her hearing is minimal and cataracts cover her eyes. She will trip over things in her path. Her face is still sweet; her mostly black fur is lack luster and that sweet face is mostly white now. 

Due to her lack of teeth, she is on a special diet. The Man does not feed her, since she likes to eat first thing in the morning (6 am) and he does stir until much later. I wouldn't turn that task over to him anyway, with his short span of attention. She gets a 1/3 can of very soft food and a 1/2 package of moist and meaty. She likes it mixed together and has to be fed in the bathroom with the door closed. She does not have the aggression necessary to keep Mr. BoJangles from eating her food. She will allow Kevin, the cat in the room to watch her eat. Otherwise, Kevin will lay on the floor, by the door and stick his little paws under to be able to be near her. He is a very affectionate guy.

So, after my surgery, I still got up and fed my dogs from day one post-op. I would have to wake The Man to open the can for me at first. One morning it was overcast and still dark when she woke me with her usual friendly bark at the foot of the bed. I stumbled out to let them all go outside, then feed them. 

I found that my hand was strong enough to secure the can to open with my left hand. I did not turn the lights on and reached into the cabinet where her food cans are stacked neatly together. I grabbed one and open it, spooned out 1/3 and topped it with the amount of the other food. I did not mix it up. Had I done so I would have realized that something was amiss. I went back to bed after taking a pain pill. 

I awoke to what looked like a crime scene! Poor girl had diarrhea. She managed to get to the pee-pad, but then she tracked it all over the floor. She threw up in the bathroom floor, as well. The clean-up was a test of my patience as I supervised The Man in his attempts. I was worried the entire time. I was thinking that The Man should call the vet until I opened the fridge and saw that I had fed my sweet girl .... CHILI BEANS!

The can of chili beans ended up in the dogfood stack, and I didn't look at the can. It had the same tab opening as the dog food, so my mind was okay with it and the lights were not on. Poor sweet Toni Louise had a bad day. Never once did she complain. Nary a whimper or a groan. A wagging tail always greets us no matter how she feels, always has, even when the dump truck hit her on one of her escapades, or when her bladder burst and she had emergency surgery. She is still the same sweet girl The Man brought home those many years ago.