Getting Old

I've been keeping this blog for over 10 years now, and I could swear I've written a post with this same title. (I in fact did, in December 2011, about Harry.)

I was watching Mimi sleeping the other morning, and I started thinking about all of the places that she has lived: two different houses in Texas, Saudi Arabia, Oregon, and now a new house here in Arkansas. She dipped her toes in the Pacific Ocean and the Arabian Gulf. She has traveled a lot in her long life (2 months shy of 14 years old).

Old age is not a disease. But it certainly comes with relatively inevitable physical and mental changes. Mimi has lenticular sclerosis, a very common thing in older dogs (and people) in which proteins start depositing in the lenses of the eyes. Not cataracts, not associated with disease. Just age. She needs help navigating her world, which unfortunately at the moment changes daily, when light levels are low or there are poor lighting contrasts at doors and stairs. She is also nearly deaf. This is a bit of a blessing--Mimi is so high strung in general that not being able to hear things like neighbor dogs barking or thunder is better for her.

Sadly, Mimi is also starting to lose the thread of things now and then. She is a bit slower to wake up. She can get confused in chaotic settings, made worse because she can't hear verbal cues or reassurances. She is not experiencing dementia but I can see subtle signs of decline.

I also noticed just the other morning that the top of Azza's head and ears are starting to go white. She turned 7 years old in December 2018. She's not even close to being classified as "senior" but she's a larger dog and I'm not surprised to see signs of aging showing up now.

Our companion pets are with us for such a short time. It makes me sad to see them age. Older, maybe a little bit wiser, my dogs (and the Beast cat) have been through so much with me, and I'm grateful that they seem to be willing to keep on going, to see what the next adventure might be.