Portrait of a Princess

Gigi wasn't feeling well last night. She didn't vomit as she sometimes does, but she clearly wasn't comfortable and it wasn't obvious why. I had to move her to get my legs in bed, after which she just sat up and stared at us instead of settling down again. Clay took her outside at some point during the night, after which she acted like she couldn't get back into bed. She actually spent part of the night laying on a dog bed on the floor. That's unheard of and a definite sign that something is wrong.

She seemed to have trouble coming down stairs, doing so only after much prompting and then very slowly and cautiously. In the office this morning she spent more time sitting up rather than laying down, as if it hurt her to do so or she couldn't do so comfortably. She didn't eat this morning either, but that happens occasionally and I really don't call the vet every time it happens. But Gigi is probably nine years old now, which is beginning to push the envelope for a Great Dane, so I worry.

The result was that I did call the vet today and made an appointment to take her in this afternoon, not because she wasn't eating but because of how uncomfortable she seemed to be. We went in and had a pretty thorough workup done: exam, blood work, and xrays. The good news is that everything seemed normal. I opted to get her vaccines done as well rather than have them come due one at a time over the next six months. We made it into her annual check up and exam visit so I didn't feel like a complete fool for dragging her in there.

She seemed more active and animated by the time we got home. She ran upstairs, jumped on the bed, but came down again when I called her. I offered her this morning's food again and she ate it all like nothing was ever wrong. Apparently she just needed daddy to drop a few hundred bucks on her and be the center of attention for the day. It's fair to say that she played me like a violin, as she has done since the day we met. She got her nails done too.