Cyber Monday 2025
8 pm
Bubba is trying to make me crazy with worry. He was up on the couch, on Buddy’s perch, dozing off. Buddy was busy chewing on his reindeer. I sat down at the piano. I could hear Bubba snoring heavily behind me. I turned to look, and saw that he was wide awake. I didn’t like the sound of that. I got up and went and sat on the couch. He continued to wheeze, and didn’t look like he felt good. I sat with my hand petting his head, trying to be soothing.
After a few minutes, he got up. Jumped down onto the cushion next to me, and wanted more attention, especially scratches in on the tickle spots that get the legs going. He seemed okay, so I got up to do some things that might coax him off the couch; things he normally feels compelled to investigate. I changed both pee pads, taking my time so I was lingering out of his sight – he needs to check me out when he can’t see what I’m doing. Then I washed the water dishes. First I picked up the empty food dishes and dropped them into the kitchen sink. He sat with his eyes following me the entire time. Then I went into the bedroom to get the water dish. I stopped by the bed and just stood, not moving. Buddy came to investigate, but not Bubba. I grabbed the dish and went back out.
Bubba was still on the seat cushion, watching. He got up and paced on the couch, rubbing his head on the seat backs. It’s awkward and a bit unstable, but he didn’t seem to be having any issues with his feet or joints moving back and forth. I was worried that he might need down, but was in too much pain to jump. But he jumped. It seemed a bit timid, but there was no reaction when he landed – it was fine. He went into the bedroom. I thought he might he headed for the bathroom – I followed – but he went to get a drink, despite watching me with the water dish. He came back out and joined Buddy watching me wash the dish. If he was thirsty, there was an already-refilled water dish in the living room.
I carried the cleaned dish back to the bedroom, both guys still shadowing me. I put the dish down and refilled from the Evian bottle, and Bubba came over to drink as I was filling it. Then while I refilled the Evian bottle at the fridge, he went to get a drink from the bowl in the living room. Their thought processes are baffling, sometimes.
I hung out with the guys a bit. Stealing the reindeer from Buddy to throw, and performed a bit of Canine Magic – carrying the toy behind my back, showing one empty hand at a time, which didn’t fool Buddy. But I backed up to a wall, and pinned the toy between my back and the wall, and showed both empty hands at the same time. Buddy’s baffled expression was worth the bit of effort in performing the trick. I then pulled out the toy to throw and enjoy watching him fetch it, and sprint out to the living room with this giant thing in his mouth.
Bubba seemed fine. He hovered around Buddy and paced around. I wasn’t going to play chase with him tonight. I want him taking it easy, even if I might be over-thinking “symptoms” that I may just be imagining.
4:30 pm
We did dinner early tonight. I had been petting Bubba, who was sitting up on the couch with me. He seemed fine once home. He was resting on the back of the couch for a bit, then jumped down to sit next to me and press for attention.
Buddy jumped all over dinner when it was put out, but Bubba stayed seated on the couch, staring at me in the kitchen while I cleaned up. I got concerned when he whimpered a bit. Then he growled at me – not menacingly. Then whimpered a bit more. I took it as he just wanted me to come back and pay attention to him. Then I noticed that he would stand at the edge of the couch, looking down at the floor, then whimper. I think he was afraid to jump down. I picked him up and put him on the floor, and he went straight over to eat.
He looks fine, physically. But it seems he’s now become afraid of jumping off the couch.
2:45 pm
I’m now extremely worried about Bubba’s mind. We went for a walk, across the street. We walked the length of the park with no issues, and then suddenly Bubba went into a defensive posture, tail tucked. He was afraid to walk along the fence side of the pathway, just like he had been at the harbor, and then off Santa Clara at the ends of the street where you could see the harbor. When we got back past where he could see the ocean, he calmed a little, but was still skittish. He seemed better, but still being very cautious, still slightly crouched, tail slightly tucked.
Back at Selva, he was afraid to cross the sidewalk. He stayed in the planter on the side of the sidewalk away from the street. I kept trying to coax him. He suddenly crouched deep, tail fully-tucked, and he dashed across the sidewalk into the street. He continued to show signs of fear all the way home, and even seemed afraid to approach the stairs at the condo.
Something isn’t right.
8:20 am
Bubba was in a special mood this morning.
The gamesmanship started immediately. He would not let me put on his harness. Buddy came right over to get dressed and go for a quick bathroom-break walk. When we got back, both guys wanted to play. I was sure they’d be exhausted from yesterday, with less napping that usual, me staying a bit later, and a lot of playing in the evening. But Bubba wanted to play Chase and had lots of energy to run. Buddy wanted to play our various games with the reindeer.
When the playing finally calmed down, breakfast was finished marinading and I put it out. I sat down to allow Mozart to frustrate me, and a few measures into practice, I could hear the telltale pattering of feet in the bathroom that signal a poop in action. He wouldn’t walk, and now he was punishing me for not taking him on the walk. I cleaned up the bathroom, changed both pee pads, “penciled in” mopping inside and out for this afternoon – it’s already warm and sunny, so a perfect day for mopping the deck.
Bubba had gone to nibble on breakfast while I was cleaning. I had finished, so I sat down at the piano to practice the next two bars of the Mozart piece. I repeated them until I had the muscle memory down, and turned around to check on the guys, both now very quiet. Buddy was sitting by the front door, and Bubba was in the fireplace bed, and then I noticed: Bubba had eaten the entire bowl of day food! I reflexively said, “holy shit, Bubba!” a bit too loudly, and it scared Buddy who thought it was an exclamation of anger, and he ran into the nearest bed for shelter. I got up and went to pet him and try to assure him that I wasn’t mad.
Bubba watched me approach, then closed his eyes to nap.