Not Good

I don't think Reyna's going to make it until April. The cold weather has not been kind to her, but I don't think I can blame it all on the temperatures. Mary even commented yesterday on the dramatic changes in Reyna's behavior since the last time she saw her, about six weeks ago. Reyna had trouble moving around yesterday afternoon and evening, so at dinner I gave her the maximum dose of pain meds she's allowed - they didn't seem to impact her pain at all, but they did make her sick. How useful to have drugs that don't work like they should... She tried to get in her chair last night, and couldn't do it. Her back legs just couldn't push her up.

Today has been bad. Not only is Reyna having trouble walking, she's had to struggle several times just to get up. Even sitting down is taking longer than it should. She's had no interest in playing, either with her ball or with Duncan. And Duncan seems to realize something is extra wrong - he's been very gentle with Reyna today; instead of grabbing her neck, he just pretends to do it. Reyna's doing something she's almost never done before - she's acknowledging that she hurts. Several times today, as she's tried to stand up or move around, she's looked at me and whined or whimpered. She's been favoring her left rear leg, and several times today I've caught her standing with her foot a few inches off the ground.

I'm going to call the vet tomorrow for an appointment. I want to make sure she's favoring the left leg because that hip has gotten significantly worse, rather than there's been some other injury to the leg. I know its just going to get worse, both because of time passing and the weather staying cold. I just don't know how long I can watch her struggle.