When Danger Reared Its Ugly Head, Sparky Asked To Be Bathed And Fed

Sparky paid a call to La Riviera Animal Medical Center today. A chronic cough he's developed over the last three months has been diagnosed as heart disease. His right atrium is enlarged and he's accumulating fluid around the heart and lungs (hence the cough).

He's probably about thirteen years old (about 68 human years, according to the dog-age chart for a 16.5 pound animal). He was already an adult when Katherine and I picked him out at the Sacramento County pound, on Bradshaw Blvd., in February, 1994 (or, as Katherine proudly told the story, she was the one who picked him out, because I wanted the white dog instead).

Hopefully drugs and a low-salt diet (meaning fewer French fries) will help arrest the heart disease (something I should emulate as well).