He seems rather perky today, but something's going on. Not going up and down steps as readily as usual, and if he goes down to bottom level, often needs help getting up the stairs.
I walked him when I came home. He moved pretty well outside, but didn't want to go as too far. That's not too unusual. At his age, we let him dictate the length of walks. If he doesn't want to go, we head back to the house. I can usually tell by the way he responds to a gentle tug on the leash what he wants. Most of the walks the past few days have been very good. Last night was probably the longest walk we've had in a while. He kept resisting when I tried to turn him back to the house. Seemed to want to keep going.
When he saw a neighbor, he barked and jumped happily till she stopped to pet him. Seemed good. Right before the walk, though, he followed me to the basement and couldn't get up the stairs. Kept putting his paws on the bottom step like he wanted to just walk up the steps. He doesn't get more than a step or two that way.
Probably arthritis. He started doing this about a week ago, but seemed better for a day or two of arthritis after I gave him some medicine. He's only been needing medicine every three or four days, but it might be time to up the frequency. That worries me. With his kidney issues, I'm nervous giving him an NSAID or a steroid 4 times a week. But we'll need to keep him comfortable till the end, so it will probably have to be one or the other.
Not sure it is arthritis. He has cataracts forming and weakness in his hind legs, so.... We already had a vet appt Friday morning, so hopefully he can sort it out.
