Yeah,eh,eh ... they're all growing old

Just like Shirl from Sky Hooks, all my friends are growing old. Our youngest pet is a cat who's now eight years old. The most elderly is Diablo, my horse, who just turned twenty. When you have pets you have such companionship, love and joy from them; but also heartache and heartbreak. Jethro, my 11yo Rottweiler, was recently very sick & I was soooo scared. I really thought he was going to die or that I would have to have him euthanised. He started looking sick on Friday, 2 weeks ago. He was straining to pee and there was blood in his urine. By Saturday afternoon I knew he was very sick & rang the vet. We made an appointment for Jethro on Sunday morning, but this posed a real problem. Jethro is highly guard trained and he takes his job seriously. I was concerned about safety, as Jethro will only allow 4 people near him - let alone touch him! The vet gave me some ACP (a horse tranquiliser) to give him before I took him in. It bombed him out & he got happily into the back seat of the car. He only reacted once - a deep, deep growl - when the vet was checking the dog's prostate! The examination proved non-specific, but the vet thought he probably had a massive kidney/UTI and that he was trying to excrete kidney stones. We took some blood, he gave me antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds and we came back home. It took Jethro 14 hours to recover from that horse tranquilliser and we had to do it all again in 3 days time. The blood tests showed the expected high white cell count, but also that he was not making red cells as quickly as expected. After the second visit to the vet and another dose of sedative, with a long recovery time, it was decided that the stones were gone and Jethro was expected to get better - but probably slowly. He is now doing really well. No more blood, no more discomfort & I am so relieved to know he will be with me for a while longer. He is the 9th Rottie I have had since I got my first one in 1973 ... and he's the best one. I know his time with me is limited and I intend to spend every second with him that I possibly can. He's now spending all day with me - inside & out - and he sleeps beside my bed at night.