Worrisome Signs

I wish I knew how old Brooklyn is. I have had her since the fall of 2003, and the rescue I got her from estimated her to be 2 years old. Because she was not an owner surrender, it meant that she was at least 2 years old, which, as any dog person would know, means she could have been 2 years old or 3 or 4 or 5 or…. You really can’t tell how old a dog is after he/she’s fully grown.

Anyway, if she really was 2 years old back then, that means she’s 6 and a half right now. But something in my gut tells me she’s older than that. These are the reasons:

• In the beginning of this year, I freaked out when she yelped and cried for good 3 minutes after running full speed to chase some birds in the morning. She was diagnosed to have something exactly like sciatica (pinched nerves) in humans.
• She had been steadily gaining weight even though I had been giving her the same amount of food. The vet ruled out any medical cause, and she told me when a dog gets older, some dog’s metabolism does a nosedive, and that might be the case with Brooklyn. So I’m giving her way less food than before.
• She increasingly has a hard time chewing. Simple turkey bones or even muscle meat gives her problem and she seems to be frustrated by it.

The last one kinda bothers me a lot tonight – something about the way she ate today. When I think about it, she has never really loved chewing as far as I know. Yes, a dog who prefers not to chew. She’s a weirdo, what else is new? But now, something’s different. It’s more of inability than unwillingness. That worries me. A lot.