Notes from the Kobe Front

I know this blog is about fostering, but sometimes we learn our greatest lessons from our own companions during foster 'down time.'

The cat was a little tired of being chased, so we're taking a break from fostering to give him time to relax. Little did I know that we would desperately need this time to focus on our tireless teacher, Kobe.

During our first ever vet visit for allergies, Kobe was given the steroid prednisone to help keep him from itching. Although he's an incredibly healthy dog (at least physically ;)), Kobe started to react poorly to this medicine. Upon further testing we've come to know that our poor baby is in chronic kidney failure. Now, once I cried and got that over with, I realized that this is much more common than I thought, and Kobe still has the chance to live out his many senior years comfortably. After a few weeks on new food (what?!?! it's not organic?!?!) we will retest his levels to gauge exactly how progressed we think the disease is. Kobe is feeling a little better already, as my clean (sans dog pee) floors can attest to. He's just totally thrilled to be eating this new decadent canned food.

Having a senior dog is starting to show its challenges. The rewards, however, are countless.