It’s been a rough few days for tiny chumley in the real world. Suddenly on Friday afternoon his world became spinny, his shorty legs unsteady underneath him, his eyes uncontrollably darting back and forth, his head turned and tilted, his little mouth drooly and his tummy so unhappy with his situation that it emptied its contents. Luckily, there was no pain, no incontinence, no numbness or paralysis, no lingering nausea, nothing to strongly suggest that anything other than patiently comforting, waiting, and indulging his wildest food desires would be the best course for the weekend. Tiny chumley’s symptoms were fairly consistent with idiopathic vestibular disease, or as it is called in more recognizable terms, old dog vertigo. A sudden, lingering spell of crazy scary looking and feeling dizziness that can happen to an old dog for reasons nobody knows. At least not yet. A condition that often shows marked improvement after 72 hours.
And just like clockwork, on Monday, he began to improve, his eye darting significantly slowed, and his world a little less spinny. Yesterday, he ventured off his bed more times that we probably would have liked, making his way over to us like a sailor in rough seas, ever hopeful to encounter a delicious fallen morsel of food.
There are still some loose ends to tie up, a visit from his regular tushie man that we hope to have in the next day or so, actually managing the balance of baxter’s physical recovery, whatever that may look like, and, having been reminded once again that meals are more delicious with birthday meat cake, dealing with a voracious but stubborn little wolf who will be snubbing his plain ol kibble and lobbying for his dizzy dinner mix. As I get my keys to drive to the pet food store to buy more canned meat for little wolves, something tells me he has already won that battle. :)