A few weeks ago, I noticed Peter wasn't himself. Then, his chauffeur noticed, then his therapist mentioned he was unenthusiastic.
And that's when my angels mobilized.
Our Dr. Brown answered the mayday call and made a house visit to see her patient and draw blood for testing. It's not every vet who'll drop what she's doing when you text that your 14 year old dog is lethargic and morose.
Lisa, who had also noticed the change, made sure to give him extra lovings during his voyages to Auburn for physiotherapy.
On top of the overabundance she usually gives her little old man...
It was 7 years ago when Cole began his long journey to recovery after surgery.
I'd take him every day until he was 100% again. Then for years, we kept going a couple times a week for maintenance. The head physiotherapist, Liz, puts her heart into everything she does. Cole would not have returned to a full life of trail running and hunting squirrels if it hadn't been for Liz.
And Peter is equally lucky to have her in his life.
And he know it.
To try to get Peter out of his funk, folks dropped by to share snacks with him and a former physiotherapy intern visited with him via Facetime. Beat that for devotion.
On his day off, our resident farm vet, Cristian, had Peter over for a play date with his dog, Vicky.
Peter started getting ice cream treats .
When all his blood work came back normal and a diagnosis of depression was tentatively made, I thanked Peter for making me think he was dying of cancer, and decided that perhaps keeping Peter indoors during the scorching hot Alabama days maybe wasn't a favor to him after all.
A sentiment he shared twice by digging a hole in my new $1400 mattress and shredding sheets and mattress of the guest bed. I hear ya, buddy.
Back to work like the rest of us then..
Who knew he'd prefer 100'F temps to sitting on a couch in air conditioning!
Lesson across the species: sitting on a couch leads to depression. Sometimes you have to be coerced, forced and shoved, but get out there and grab life by the you-know-whats.
Heather, Peter's other chauffeur took this picture this week. I swear he's smiling again.
Huge shout out to all of our angels.
