Senile and obsessed

Thankfully, this post is not about me. It's about Sammy the dog. Sammy is 15.5 years old, and she has really been slowing down in the last year. In fact, we think she's had a couple of seizures, which are really scary and I've thought each time "This is it" with a grapefruit-sized lump in my throat.

But then, a short time later (like even as short as a half hour), Sammy "recovers" and goes about her usual business. And it's serious business let me tell you.

No matter how slow Sam is now, she has not relented on her one true obsession: food. In fact, it's more pronounced than it's ever been. I don't know if August The Food-Dropper has something to do with it, or if Sammy's senses have dulled and food is her only joy outlet. But whatever it is, she certainly shows no age when it comes to searching for food.

I think she still enjoys going for walks and rides in the car, but I suspect it's because there's an opportunity that something might appear in her dish while she's gone. As soon as she gets in the door, she RUNS to the kitchen like she was a kid again. She nearly continually trolls the kitchen floor for dropped food bits. If it's remotely near meal time (within 3 hours) she begins pacing and panting like she hasn't eaten all day.

All of this sounds like the poor girl is miserably hungry all the time, but I think her senility has played into the extra treats she gets from August. She now expects that food should literally fall from the sky for most of the day.

We try to keep her happy. We give her more treats than we should...after all, why deprive the old girl of her favorite things in her final years. But honestly, the begging is downright annoying.