Max at the vet

Max had a vet appointment today. He's a senior dog, probably 12 years old at least, the vet's records have him at 14 but it all depended on his actual age when I took him in 10 years ago. 

He's been showing his age more and more, moving slower, and the back end is definitely weaker. He made a valiant attempt to jump into the van today but only the front end made it, I had to pick up the rear. But he still gets around, enjoys walks out in the pasture, and even manages the stairs in the house. Max had been making some wheezing sort of sounds a couple weeks ago but they have abated for the most part and today his heart and lungs both sounded good. 

Max hasn't been eating as well lately so we did some blood work and I'm going to start him on something that might help his stomach and perhaps change his diet. Tonight he got a can of canned food and a dose of panacure for good measure. I also cooked up a big batch of chicken and rice that I'll be feeding him to see if we can get him more interested in eating again. His weight wasn't down, however, in fact it was up from his last visit. 

I wonder if he's got some dementia going on because he gives me a blank, confused, unknowing look whenever I call him or try to get him to come to eat. Of course, that's not entirely new with Max, he's always seemed to have a lot of voices in his head competing for attention. He got his ears cleaned out today too, that might help. He was really good at the vet today, even gave out some kisses.

I stopped at McDonalds afterwards and got Max two cheeseburgers. 

He wasn't sure about the cheeseburgers, but he ate them.