Sparks

Something’s up with Sparks. Saturday night (about 3:00 am) I woke up to Special K freaking out – Sparky was stuck in a corner behind the dresser/printer cabinet, where there are all the wires from the TV/cable/printer/heater, etc., making all sorts of ruckus because he couldn’t get out. I got up, got him out (had to pull him out by his tail – so glad I caught a Westie documentary once where they said the tail was bred to be real strong, to drag Westies out of rabbit holes, etc, since they love to dig and tunnel.) Once I put him down, he kind of stumbled a bit, trying to get up, but it was like his back legs wouldn’t work. When he finally got up, he started walking. And walking. And walking. In circles throughout the house. Over and over and over again. I would pick him up and cradle him and rock him, but it was as if he couldn’t/didn’t either see me or know me. He would wiggle violently until I put him down where the walking would continue. And he kept getting into places that he couldn’t figure out how to get out of, and that would agitate him even more. After nearly an hour of this, I finally put him the hallway bathroom after I took everything off the floor except the fluffy rugs, plus I put one of his beds in there and then I closed the door. I sat up for another 15-20 minutes and listened to him bumping into the walls as he walked and walked and walked. Talk about scary. In the morning, I opened the door and he was lying on the rug. Once he saw me, he got up and was his old self again. Sunday night, he slept the whole night through. But then it happened again last night. This time I knew to put him right away into the bathroom and we listened to him thumping around for a bit, and this morning, again, he was on the rug, just lying there, like nothing was wrong.

I looked it up on the Internet – it can be a number of things, but the one that fits is that he’s having some sort of seizure and then the walking comes. He had a total blood work-up done about 6 mos ago, but it looks like we need to do that again and see what’s up. I certainly hope this is treatable.

Some of the other senarios: he's in pain and trying to walk away from it. Animals do that - weird, huh? Their brain can't comprehend that one cannot walk away from pain. Don't think that's it, though - he's not wimpering. And it could be part of the dementia/blindness thing. I guess I shouldn't try to guess and just get his furry little white butt to the vet and find out for sure. Won't be Banfields - fed up with those folks.

Just really hope it's treatable and that he's not in any pain that he cannot tell us about. I really truly do hope the Rainbow Bridge is real and that one day, he'll be able to share stuff with us. So frustrating not knowing what he's thinking and feeling.

Dr. Doolittle, where are you when I need you?