Yesterday, Scorpio, the greyhound, had his annual physical. Mom and I weren’t surprised, but our vet said he has arthritis in the spine.
For a couple of weeks, Mom and Aunt Barb have been noticing Scorpio is having a harder time getting to his feet. Last weekend, Mom and I took him on a long walk. A couple of times he kind of stumbled.
Given my history with dog arthritis, I expected Scorpio would get that diagnosis. But I thought the arthritis would be in his hips. While that would be an issue, the spine seems worse to me.
Ivor, my first guide dog, and Emma both had arthritis in the spine and hips. While I can’t be sure, I believe the arthritis in their spines was much more of a problem. The fact that Scorpio is sometimes having trouble controlling his back feet is so telling to me.
Unfortunately, we now have a pretty good idea how Scorpio will age and what will ultimately end his life. It’s true that he’s 11, but we simply weren’t ready to start going through this again. Ufi has only been gone for about 11 weeks. Now, we are back into medicines and trying to make sure a beloved friend is comfortable.
While we weren’t ready for this news and even though we didn’t want this news, we are going to give Scorp everything we have. He is such a kind, calm guy who enriches our lives every day.