Little Things

Last week when Morgan visited the vet, I mentioned that she needed her nails clipped and her pads shaved. Morgan grows hair between her pads and it gets longs and mats. She doesn't want us to touch her feet and fights us when we try to trim. She tries to tuck her feet under her, then if we persist, she starts to nip at our hands.  I  don't like stressing her, so we let it go. The vet thought he might be able to distract her while a tech trimmed, but Morgan wouldn't be distracted.

 He came up with another idea that was easier on all of us. Last Friday Morgan went to the clinic bright and early. Dr B gave her an injection of a very nice little concoction that he has used on her in the past. It doesn't knock her out, but makes her drowsy and happy. He has even operated on her in the past while in this relaxed state. This time they trimmed all her nails, shaved between her pads and at first they thought they would remove some of the mats on her legs that she doesn't want touched. However, once they got started Dr B said to shave her down to the skin. Then he documented all her many lumps and bumps.

I was surprised when we arrived to bring her home to find a naked Morgan with no hair on her body. I was also dismayed to find that she has lumps and bumps everywhere, body, legs, feet, neck and head. Dr B assured me that although some of them are large and nasty looking, he didn't find any that have him concerned. She's just a lumpy old dog. Ok, I can accept that.

Now that she was home with us, Rob and I decided to start going thru her bucket list with her. On Saturday, in the early evening, we put all the other dogs indoors and walked Morgan very slowly to the back yard. She hasn't been in the back yard in months and she seemed very happy to be there. She only walked around a very little on the top of the hill, sniffing and checking out favorite places. Then we walked her back to the house. The little trip had tired her out and she went right to sleep.

On Sunday evening I noticed that Morgan was looking at the quilt that I keep on the couch. I like to pull it over my legs while I'm reading or stitching and if I'm not using it, Fudge likes to sleep on it. Morgan used to enjoy napping on the couch but hasn't been able to climb up there for a long time. I lifted her ont the couch hoping she wouldn't try to jump down right away. She settled down on the quilt and slept there for a couple hours.Then she waited for me to help her down. We'll do that again soon.

Yesterday I saw her looking at the toy box so I pulled out a small soft toy that was mostly destuffed already. She didn't take it from me so I put it on her blanket and she walked over and laid down beside it. This morning when I got up she was asleep with her head resting on the toy.

I notice that she stares off into space a lot lately. I know her brain isn't working well and she's confused, but I like to think that she's thinking about her best friend Samba and the good times they shared. I hope she feels messages from Samba and that they help her adjust to this new experience she's having.

We're sharing our final days with Morgan and I hope that these old memories are helping her. It's very hard to watch her responses but it's all we can offer her beside lots and lots of love.