Being Ready for Death

Sorry for such a morbid topic on this sunny August morning. But my husband and I thought that we were not ready for death of any kind last evening. And no one or no thing that we know died last night, but our faithful old dog Flip seemed like he was going down that path.

It all began around 4:00 pm when Flip became sick on the wooden floor of our living room. He sometimes drinks too much water and throws it right up, but this was different. We quickly rushed him outside in case there was more, and I cleaned up. He seemed to be better after a while, so he came inside while we ate our dinner. We usually feed Flip and Rocky while we eat, so my husband made their food ready. When he put Flip’s bowl down on the floor in its place, Flip hopped up and his left back hip gave away. He could not manage moving his two back legs. We immediately jumped up to see what was wrong, but he seemed to be as confused as we were. He began hyperventilating and licking his lips and profusely dripping moisture from his mouth. He was going through shock, and so were we.

Flip is not a young dog. In fact, he found us and our home in January 2011. We estimate that he was about a year old when he arrived on our front porch on an unusually cold January afternoon.  Because of his age, we keep him pretty much housebound and never let him roam. So we know about his diet and his activity. But something made him very, very sick last evening.

After his first “stroke” or whatever he experienced, we offered him water and even food. He declined both, so my husband carried Flip to his cot in the hallway and sat on a stool beside him for a couple of hours. In the meantime, Flip threw up a frothy clear liquid at least three more times and continued to hyperventilate and lick his lips. His tongue was purple and his eyes seemed to bulge out from the sockets. Not a pretty sight, but he was definitely not feeling well. 

We notified our son that we had a sick dog, and then my husband and I decided that we would not take our Flip to the emergency vet one hour’s drive away from where we live. And then we waited. We think that he even had a second “stroke/attack.” My husband and I swapped places sitting next to our sick doggy, and just about the time that I needed to step up and recharge my iPad’s battery,  I thought that Flip’s battery had also seen its last days. He lay super quiet and seemed to scarcely breathe.

When I stood up, so did Flip! He followed me to the kitchen and drank water. Then he wagged his tail and walked toward the back door meaning that he needed to go outside. My husband took him outside. Flip sniffed around and took care of some business and then came back inside looking for food. We made water available, but he got no food last night. 

Flip slept peacefully all night. This morning he came out of his kennel ready to walk and later eat. He is sleeping nicely on his cot in our hallway at the moment. He even had a little dream and barked in his sleep.

Guess he is not ready for death.

Whew! Neither were we!

😘Linda