Copper, Sweet Copper

I haven't been blogging as much as I promised, I know.  There's always something, right?  

This time it was Copper.  My sweet pup is 14 1/2 now, and a few weeks ago, he had his third attack of vestibular disease (an inflammation of the inner ear).  Most dogs who get vestibular disease have it once and never again.  Copper's third experience with it was by far his worst.  He could only walk in circles, was nauseous and stopped eating.  In the past, he'd start to get better after a few hours.  This time, it was closer to 36 hours before we saw any improvement.  I spent that first night sleeping on the floor with him, because every time I got up, he'd get up to follow me, crash into something, and/or vomit from being so dizzy.  And, of course, it happened over the weekend, when the vet's office is closed.  A week later, it hit him again - for the fourth time.  There were a few times when Kenny and I thought that we'd have to say good-bye to him.  But Copper continues to surprise us!

Here is Katelyn snuggling with Bubba.  She wanted to make him feel better, so she put a blanket on him.  :)

  We've put Copper on Prednisone, which is kind of a last-ditch effort - the last non-invasive option we can try.  And so far, it seems to be helping!  Copper is (slowly) getting better, eating again, and getting back to his usual self.  Last night, we caught him climbing up on the chair to lick crumbs off of the kitchen table.  Rather than scold him as we would have in the past, Kenny and I smiled - this is normal Copper behavior, and we can breathe a little easier for the time being.  If my old, arthritic, dizzy pup can get up on the table, he deserves those crumbs!  

For now, we're taking it one day at a time.  I'm so thankful that he is here to get to know Mason.  And while we know that we'll have to say good-bye sooner rather than later, we're happy that we still have some happy, quality time with him.  Copper has gotten quite lovey in his old age, and we're enjoying all the snuggles we can with him.

Life is good.

And now that things are slowly getting back to (almost) normal, be on the lookout for more pics - Mason is getting huge!