My Baileys

He's turning 6 in 2 months' time. How time flies.... Once upon a time, he was a puppy so small and fragile. Now he's bigger but still feels as fragile.

He's been having dirty ears since we came back, especially his right ear. I'm cleaning them every alternate days to keep them as dry as possible. The inside of his ears seem to always feel damp and there are brown ear wax everytime I clean him. It's not normal because that's about the amoun of wax buildup in a month...

Nowadays whenever I call his name, only Maen responds. Baileys doesn't seem to be able to hear me. I tried speaking in a high pitch voice and in the past, both would cock their heads to the side. Only Maen does that now. Baileys doesn't seem interested, and I wonder if it's coz he's short of hearing.

And he's been very thirsty, lapping up as much water in the bowl as I fill each time. And needless to say, he pees a lot and his pee is clear. Under normal circumstances, I would be happy they drink but he's drinking so much everyday for the past couple of weeks, not just a few days at a time.

I went online to check up symptoms of kidney failure and Baileys seems to be showing signs .... :(

He's also less agile than before. Maen can still leap onto higher places but Baileys climbs his way up. When we were travelling in LA for the last time, Maen learnt to hop onto the car by herself. We used to carry them up the car and then off (to avoid putting them at risks of sprains) but Maen was agile at both going up the car on her own and off, so we allowed her.

Baileys, on the other hand, was cautious and used his hind legs, one after another, to push his front torso up. That was how he tried to get into the car and of course, we carried him up upon seeing his difficulty. It was only towards the last couple of days when he did hop onto the car by himself. We felt more assured at that point that he was not already old or suffering from bad back legs.

He's also becoming my mum's dog. He waits for her when she does housework and follows her around the house like he used to follow me. His attention is constantly on her. Mum came telling me how attentive he was to her when she was standing high up on a chair to retrieve something from top cabinets. He kept close to her, as if he was worried she would fall. Mum said Maen didn't even seem bothered by what she's doing. Mum is not showing affection towards them, besides feeding them every morning without fail and clearing up their papers. But it is amazing how mum will talk to me about them.

Baileys even scratches on her door some mornings now instead of mine! Mum said he is trying to make sure she's still alive after the night's rest. I said he misses her (and breakfast). Hehe.

I am thankful for my parents who have been tolerating with Baileys and Maen. I'm so thankful they haven't been very destructive when the whole family is out. They have only been chewing on plastic bags with things in them, but they leave those things inside, alone. It's still messy when we return home though. Instead of feeling upset, mum actually laughed about it. Dad just picks up those pieces of chewed bags silently.

Once, the furkids actually ate up a pack of Mr Liow's prawn crackers when we were out. My folks were more worried they would die than feel upset that the floor got sticky from their feasting. Mum said they went to disturb both of them constantly to make sure they were sleeping or resting, and not dead. She kept asking if they would die from eating a pack of crackers.

Maen has promoted herself to watchdog status and is proudly performing her duties each day. She barks when some strangers stand at the common stairways to chat on the phone (everyday without fail, these people will talk over the phone loudly and it's kind of a nuisance. Why can't they make calls inside their house? And they do not stay at our level. What are they doing here?)

Mum appreciates Maen's barking at times like these, hoping that these people will go somewhere else to talk because they either can't hear, or fears the dogs in our house, if they happen to be up to no good (not as if 2 cavaliers can protect us much. Hehe)

Dogs do change people. My parents used to dislike them a lot. Mum used to fear dogs. Now they become part of my parents conversations some times. I know my parents still appreciate a clean home, something that's not possible with dogs in the house (there's constantly fur and pee stains on the floor). They have never complained about it and silently clean the house up.

Appreciate everything they have been helping us with. And I pray Baileys will be healthy and strong.