A Special Birthday

At the end of this week, we have a very important birthday in our house.
Rocky will be 17 years old (in people years) on Halloween.  That's a really
old guy in dogs years, but with the good thoughts I asked for in a previous post
he has made it to his birthday this year.

We had a little crisis in the summer and ended up at the vet's office.  I thought I
probably wouldn't be bringing him home.  The vet said she could take care of the problem, but it meant a surgery.  I asked if she would do this for her own dog considering his age and she said she would.  She told me she would be honest about when it would be time to not prolong a life with no quality.  I had never been to this vet before, but her office was very close and it was some what of an emergency.  I ended up liking her very much and felt she was one of the most caring I had come across in many years.

The procedure went very well and he healed with great results.  He was much better in general than he had been in a couple of years.  The pain medication the vet put him on ended up being great for the arthritis in his front legs.  When he went back for his four week check up, the vet said we could just keep him on the pain medication at a lower dose and that she had done that for another elderly dog recently.

We ended up finding a wonderful vet for all our animals during this health scare for Rocky and it certainly did give him a better quality of life for a while longer.
He is a happy guy, and back to his strong willed self.  He enjoys his meals, walks in the backyard and barking with the other dog.  He walks well on his own power with the assistance of his medication.

We celebrate his birthday on Halloween, since we found him in the fall.   Not knowing his actual age when we took him in, we have had to guess how old he was.  Since we have had him for 15 years, and I know he was certainly two years old or older, that is how we have arrived at this age of 17.  I think he is the oldest of all the dogs we have had over so many years.  We count our blessings for every day we still have Rocky and that he is still enjoying life.