Family

I grew up in a family that always had pets. My husband grew up in a family that didn't have any pets until his youngest brother was in grade 10. One of the things he wanted once we had a place of our own was a pet. Within the first 3 months of having our ow home we had acquired a cat and a dog. The cat was a birthday present for me from one of our friends. Tiger is a Manx/Tabby/barn cat cross. She is also a rather rare orange female. The dog was a birthday present for hubby from the same friend. Hubby had always wanted a German Shepherd. Misty is an SPCA find who it is speculated is a female German Shepherd/Husky mix. (I've had people stop us in the street saying she is undoubtedly a Norwegian Elk Hound. Others think she might be part Keeshond.)
We have since added another cat (Siamese/Tabby) and dog (border collie cross). But it was Tiger and Misty that set the tone of our home. Misty was about 2 years old when she came to us, but you could tell she had been around kids and cats before. Once she realized this was her forever home, she settled right in to turning us into the owners she wanted. We became regular walkers and could understand the various 'looks' she would give us. She never barked for your attention. She would move into your view and look at you. Once you had correctly deciphered the look, she would give you a restrained wag of the tail.
The last 2 weeks have been heart breaking for us. Misty has always gone for 2 daily walks (depending on weather). The last month she has only wanted to go for one. Since she is 16 years old we put it down to her age. But the last few weeks have seen her lose weight, refuse to go for walks at all, and generally deteriorate. She even refused to eat for several days. On the weekend I resorted to bribing her with chicken (she even turned down fish which is her favourite food). We have worked up to 2 meals a day, but she is very weak. The boys have been carrying her outside if she can't do it herself. Once she is out she does her perimeter sweep and then lays in the sun for a while. Inside she lays for hours on her rug in the living room. She is alert and watches everything we do.
Tomorrow hubby and I will take her to the vet to see what decisions need to be made.