bad joint day

As an elderly gentleman canine, Kane has good and bad joint days on account of his arthritis. On a good joint day, Kane could walk for hours. On a bad joint day, Kane manages very slowly. Usually a bad joint day passes quickly in a matter of hours, and even minutes, but his arthritis now seems to be deteriorating.

Today was a bad joint day. A really bad joint day. Around midday, we walked to the hardware store and it wasn't any warmer than yesterday. As we approached traffic lights to cross the big road on the way to the store, Kane's back legs seized up and wobbled as he walked. We couldn't turn back as it was a shorter distance to the store where he could rest.

After I finished at the store with wood, screws etc, we walked home very slowly. Unfortunately, walking across the road was also very slow. I feared that he would collapse on a busy road, and he is too heavy to carry.

I spent the late afternoon repairing the side fence/gate (screwing new pailings to cover up the gap under the fence/gate) and painting it some more. There is no point in padlocking a gate if intruders can put their hand under and lift the latch and push both sides of the gate in (making a padlock redundant).

Kane supervised me while I painted, by lying on the drive way. He saw Dusty from across the road and almost barked, but changed his mind when he realised he knew Dusty.

Tonight, two hours after his dinner, we started on the small block walk - safer as there is no big road to cross (there is one, but it is to a cul de sac). Unfortunately, Kane was still a bit wobbly so we went back inside the house - we didn't even leave our yard.

We are going to have to go to the vet next week. It would break my heart to see Kane go lame. He really enjoys his walks.