My Old Man

Toby will be 11 this spring. I still clearly remember adopting him from that vet's office on College Street with Sarah Rawls (now Talley) and how he got car sick on the short drive home. I took him up to meet Matt at the Hotel & Conference center where Matt suggested calling him Toby and it stuck. Toby has lived with us in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia, with a good few stays at Camp Nina & Woof in Florida.

After we moved to Marietta, but before Abigail was born, Toby was officially diagnosed with Pituitary Dependent Cushings Disease. That's a fancy way of saying there's a tumor near his pituitary gland and when the tumor is too big it shuts off the signals saying 'you are not hungry' and 'you are not thirsty', and with that came lots of tummy infections from all the non-food items he ate. (It reminded me a it of my Abuelo eating potpourri thinking it was potato chips but with all his health issues he couldn't actually taste any of it.) Toby's been on 3yrs worth of meds which will be a constant for the rest of his life in order to keep the tumor from regrowing.

Sometime late summer Toby started with these ridiculous bloodshot eyes and produced nasty eye boogies. He seemed fine otherwise and our vet said maybe he was getting some allergies in his old age. Right before we were about to leave for Tampa before Abigail's birthday Toby gets diagnosed with a severe bladder infection (with possible stones). We headed south with his new script in hand - and fingers crossed that it wasn't stones because removal required surgery.

Fast forward through Christmas to last Monday. A couple symptoms came back and we went back to the vet. Urine results showed different results and she requested another test. Vet also gave Toby some eye drops that have been helping the redness and minimizing the boogies. Test results came back yesterday. Toby has a severe staph infection and will be on antibiotics for the next 2mo. On the positive side, these antibiotics are free at Publix. Vet also found small crystals in his bladder but those can be treated with a special food.

Toby started his new round of antibiotics yesterday and we picked up the food today. Abigail insisted on putting the food in his bowl, as she does most days. This food must be amazing because he started following her to get it and she gave in. He devoured the entire bowl while she held it and she was quite proud of herself.

Now as I type, a few hours after the photo was taken I'm listening for Toby's 'rescue me' bark. Abigail now insists on Toby sleeping with her in her big girl bed at night. He really is so sweet and patient with her. <3