So they endure, assuming in their deepest doggy subconscious that whatever we abide for them is what is to be abided. It's just an indication of how tired and depleted they are. We must assume that the discomfort we see is much less than the discomfort they really feel. From the moment we embrace these animals when they first grace our lives, every day is one day closer to the day they must abandon their very temporary and faulty bodies and return to the state of total perfection and rapture they have always deserved. We march along one day at a time, watching and weighing and continuing to embrace and respect each stage as it comes.
Today is a good day.
Perhaps tomorrow will be, too, and perhaps next week and the weeks or months after. But there will eventually be a winding down. And we must not let that part of the cycle become our enemy. This is hard to do, because for months and often years we have been in this mode of weighing hard data, labs, food, how many ounces did he drink, should he have his rabies shot or not, etc. But at some point it's time to put all of that in the academic folder and open the spiritual folder instead.