Friday the 28th. August
2:23 am
Buddy would not go to sleep.
His breathing was shallow and rapid for way too long. I got the car keys, filled my travel mug with coffee, and was ready to take him to SJC to the 24-hour vet. But I was reluctant to, after my vertigo episode in the morning.
I did a lot of Googling, and he had no risk symptoms for anything serious. There were fireworks set off earlier, and I think he was stressed, causing the rapid breathing. I tried coaxing him off the couch with treats, and he sprinted off the couch to come get his candy. His tail was wagging, he ate his treat, followed it with a good drink of water. He seemed completely normal except for the breathing, and furtive glances around – like he was jumping at shadows. But he was running around, sniffing at beds, getting some headpats and chin scratches.
While he ate the treats, his breathing would return to normal. When I put my hand on his ribs, his breathing would relax. I felt it was safe not to take him to the vet for a medical emergency. In my mind, he was much more at risk of a problem from getting a ride to the vet from a tired man that had severe dizziness 18 hours earlier.
At a bit after 2, his breathing finally started calming down. At just before 2:30, he suddenly decided to finally give in to fatigue and get some sleep. I came home to get some rest.
11:15 pm
Both guys were still awake. It finally got quiet a short while ago. We didn’t play much in the heat, so we got in a bit more evening play time.
Bubba finally decided to eat around 9:30, first picking chopped treats from a dry foos bowl, then emptying one of the dinner dishes.
I’d tried not disturbing him to get up and clean, but every little bit of motion caught his attention. He was sleeping in the front door bed, his face half-covered by a blanket, staring at me with the one exposed eye.
Buddy had been flopped on the floor when Bubba occupied the couch. He started thinking about the far end of the couch until I got out of the recliner to offer that to him. He quickly jumped into that chair to rest.
I moved over to the couch, which disturbed Bubba, who got up to make a bathroom run then move to a bed. Buddy took the opportunity to take over the now-vacated couch spot.
It was now time to clean up, hoping I won’t bug the guys and they’ll stay asleep.
1:05 pm
Bubba’s asleep, and two pounds of fur is scattered along the seat cushions. We took off the harness and did some brushing to thin out the loose fur. That helps him be cooler, and less-itchy, while also giving him some nice scratching with the brush.
The brushing only went on for about 10 minutes, then he hopped up onto the back of the couch to sleep.
I sat down on the floor with Buddy, who was just finishing off a Greenie. He left me to grab a bunny, and we play some games with the bunny – without me needing to get up. That was also short-lived, and Buddy jumped into the nearest bed, so I moved to the recliner to read.