On Miles

As I've mentioned before on this humble little blog, I have two dogs. Two short-legged, English Jack Russell Terriers to be precise. Miles, my little man and the older of the two, was my 21st birthday present to myself. His arrival in California marked the beginning of our little family, and he is quite simply the best companion a girl could ask for.

I've been a bit emotional about the fact that Monday marked his 7th birthday. Many JRTs live to be twice that age, but there is no denying the fact that he is no longer a young dog. The universe seemed to be manifesting my concerns about my beloved buddy aging when on Monday afternoon I came home and didn't find him eagerly greeting me at the door. He cried pitifully when I tried to prop him up on his feet, and seemed unable to use one hind leg and one front leg. I carried him outside and placed him on the grass, and he simply trembled.

Needless to say, I hardly slept on Monday night. My husband and I took turns massaging him, and carrying him outside to see if he needed to relieve himself. He was still eating and drinking water, and that was the only reason that I didn't take him to the emergency clinic. The thought of losing him was unbearable, and having lost a relatively young furry family member to cancer as a teenager, I definitely thought the worse. I was terrified that the trip to the vet would put me in the awful position of ending his suffering, something I firmly believe in.

My husband was able to get him into a nearby vet first thing on Tuesday morning, and was enormously relieved to discover that "all" he had was an acute infection from level 1 Lyme's disease. His joints were painfully inflamed, and he has a temperature of 104.1- but 21 days of antibiotics and he should be back to his normal self.

We're two days into the treatment so far, and I've mostly stayed home with him. He's jumped down twice now to greet my husband as he comes through the door, and last night began happily gnawing on his favorite toy- a sure sign he was feeling better. He's still pretty listless, so we've spent the better part of the last two days just curled up together. The vet was of the opinion that, aside from the infection, he was in excellent health and was surprised at how old he was. So with any luck, we'll be curling up together for many years to come.

Finally, I would be remiss not to acknowledge that my hometown experienced a terrible tragedy this week. I fully intend to write about this once I've better gathered my thoughts about it, but for now- just know that my thoughts and prayers are constantly with those affected by the shooting at the Brattleboro Food Co-Op.

Until next time, may peace be with you,

Grace