Well, I'm nervous...but not about parenting, for those of you asking.

No, I'm nervous about my current "responsibility"...

Kazak has been acting strange lately -- as though he's ALWAYS hungry, and that more than usual. I didn't think too much of it, until he ate one of those flour/salt/water "fossils" that kids make in school, that Gina had laying around here yesterday. She came home and it was chewed apart, and he had then thrown up all over the place. He also drank all the water in his bowl. Gina filled the water bowl, and he immediately drank ALL of it. So much so, that his stomach was disdended (sp?) when I got home.

So, I took him to the vet immediately. They didn't find anything obviously wrong with him (and he's acted normal, aside from "eats own feces", which he had NEVER done before). But, he's lost 5 or 6 pounds since last he was at the vet (about a year ago), among those other things. So they wanted to do a comprehensive blood test.

Today, the doc calls and says two enzymes in his bloodstream are mildly decreased, a possible sign of a liver problem. Also, his urine (from the test) was unusually diluted, even more so than expected from all the water consumption. So, I'm waiting to get an estimate on how much a more specific blood test and an ultrasound on his liver might run.

He's an old dog (going on 10 next month), but I don't know if I'm quite prepared for the worst. Then again, I don't know if I'll ever be. He's not just a "family dog." He's MY dog. Let's hope for the best.