dog days

i didn't think cola would live forever.

but i didn't realize that he'd gotten so old, so soon.

or maybe i was just in denial.

i'd often watch him squirm, struggle and scratch the parquet floor as he strained to get up from lying down, thinking it was just his genetically prone labrador-great dane weak-knee genes.

we'd joked about the peppering of grey around his muzzle, and the fact that 10 years on, our beloved black barking lab and SPCA find, formerly known as Padrash, was slowly getting old.

but i don't think we really took cognizance of it. i think i was deluded, believing that because he could still run, awkwardly, and keep up with our other golden labrador, thula, meant that he was still okay.

and still fit enough to bark viciously at anyone at the gate, including the security guard who has worked there every night for the past several months.

still fit enough to maliciously steal thula's ball away from her, mid-throw, and not give it back.

still fit enough to squabble, bark and rough-house through the gap in the fence at the scrawny, yapping dog next door.

but not fit enough to fight the inevitable ageing process, or suffocation as a result of a twisted stomach.

a condition that just happened yesterday, out of nowhere. something we only noticed in the late afternoon after my dad had thrown cola into the pool, after began to moan, grunt and seize with cramping pain, his gums bloodless and white.

it was only then, after he lay down, that we noticed his bulging body, bloated and taught, tightly stretched like a drum, with the associated percussive effects.

i watched him strain, his eyes widening in white-eyed despair as his muscles convulsed, and a regular wave of cramps contorted his expression. i felt helpless as we waited with him for the vet outside the practice, the saliva bubbling, slobbering and dripping all over his legs and transported dog cushion, in the boot of my mother's mercedes.

like the persistently misbehaved lab in marley and me, cola was suffering from a twisted stomach, more accurately known as gastric dilation and volvus.

something the vet said was extremely painful. something not many dogs survive without immediate attention, and something that older dogs like cola often struggle to recover from after they are treated.

it's such a serious affliction that even euthanasia was one of the options.

but not willing to let cola go just yet, my dad opted for the operation option. a procedure that discovered a large amount of water in his stomach, which may have contributed to his painful torsion.

and so far the operation option has been successful and cola has survived the night post-gastropexy.

but at this stage it seems 50/50, as although he is recovering, the next three days are critical. and, like the vet said to my mother over the phone, he is an "old man", and maybe too old to recover from such an invasive emergency procedure.

but my cousin went to visit him this morning, and she says he looks strong.

and as i sit here in the study with lonely thula, very close by to where he would always lie, stretched out in the sun on the parquet dining room floor, i'm thinking of him.

being strong with all that pain, all those pipes, drips and stitches.

i'm thinking that maybe i should have given him more attention than i gave thula all these years, his quiet, almost emo presence often overlooked due to her insistent energy, panting, jumping and ball dropping.

i'm thinking, that like marley, he was a good dog, even though he bit a few people and drew blood, and kept a number of scared friends and family members on the other side of the gate with his aggressive territorial noises and defensive snarling.

he was a good hound, because he was always consistent in his defense, and walked diligently on his leash, most of the time.

in fact, he is still a good dog, because he is still in the hospital, alive and fighting, so his dog days aren't over yet.

i like to think he still has a year or two more at least of seeming ferocious, even though behind the gate he is actually a soft-hearted, gentle, and lazy soul.

i also think he still has some more drive in him to annoy the dog next door, and to run around the muckleneuk trim park in search of other dog friends at dusk.

but mostly, i'm hoping he is okay, because the truth is, he has become a taken-for-granted almost sibling-like pet these last 10 years, a feature of our household like everyone else.

and i'll miss him.