it's a dog's life

I went for my annual check-up to the vet yesterday.  After schlepping all the way out to the Northeast, in rush-hour traffic, being chased around with a urine-collection device and strapped on an x-ray bed, I was finally diagnosed with stress.   Yep.  Not kidney disease, not arthritis, not colitis, not deafness or blindness.  Stress.


Mom always said that she raised me an existential dog in her own image, so that much was expected.  But stress?

Apparently it's not uncommon for "mature" dogs to suffer from stress.  It has to do with all of the above, discomfort, loss of hearing, and other conditions related to aging.  Probably that explains why I run after mom like a puppy these days.

So I guess I'll have to take up yoga and meditation, now.  And valium.