Friday, October 20, 2006

An Unwelcome Guest


Meet our new neighbor. We don't have any idea when he moved in, or how long he's been eating Mowgli's food at night, but this does explain a lot. Don captured this at about 5 am the other morning. The raccoon stayed there eating through 4 or 5 pictures with flash. (I did the black and white option in Adobe as it was the least ammt of fiddling with it to make it post worthy.) Granted Don was in the house taking it through the window...but really...that spot is not far from the window. After a bit he decided to amble off the deck and off to the lot next door. We'll have to do some checking during daylight hours to see if he's living under the shed or if he's actually living else where. This sighting explains some spooky behavior that Salems been displaying.

It also explains how Mowgli's food disappears, yet he is wasting away. I think I've noted here before that Mowgli is our 13 year old Lab mix. He's our Big Dog. Our Protector. His age is catching up with him in a hurry and his body is starting to give out. He has been very picky about food for the last year and I'm constantly trying to entice him to eat. I'll find something he likes and he'll eat it for awile, then he will refuse to eat at all and we try something different. I thought I had the miracle cure with the Addiction brand canned food. At one point he was eating two cans a day and a full bowl of dried food and was regaining his strength and filling out again. Last week he decided not to eat again. I changed food again and really thought he was nibbling at it. Not enough to gain...but enough to maintain. He was also spending alot of his time in his dog house. As this coincides with the beginning of the rain fall, I figured he was trying to stay warm and dry, which is normal for him. Evidently I was wrong. Severly wrong. The raccoon must have been eating it his food. Last night Don and I carried Mowgli into the house using a blanket as a sling. He was so weak it just broke my heart to see him like this. I feel so terribly guilty that he's in this condition. He's staying in the den/second bedroom and this morning went outside by himself and came back inside. He's terribly week, but drinking water. He's not eating yet. It appears to me that he's had a small stroke and I'm wondering if he can eat. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve that I can try, but I'm leary of doing it. Part of me wonders if this is the time to let him go or if I'm just giving up too fast. Thankfully I have Don here to make these decisions with and thankfully he's not the type to rush into anything too quickly. This is such a hard heartbreaking time. He's the first one that we raised from puppy hood that we are going through this with and I just cannot imagine life without him.

1 comment:

Cindy said...

I'm so sorry about Mowgli. I hope the new diet works. This is so difficult. You all will be in my thoughts.