You Know You Have Eldery Pets When...

You know you have elderly pets when:

You buy special, soft food for your dog because she only has six teeth.

12-year-old Little Dipper posing with a pile of soft food.

And you don’t care that your cat likes some of the dogs’ food more than his own.

The spritely six-year-old Purrkins licking the sauce off Little Dipper's dinner.

You cut up your dog’s favorite snack into small pieces so he doesn’t crack another tooth.

12-year-old Dusty munching on small pieces of baby carrot.

And you slice food for your 8-year-old guinea pig, too.

Lincoln, the 8-year-old guinea pig eating split carrots and grapes.

And while you’re feeding old dogs and guinea pigs, it occurs to you that hamsters don’t live very long and it’s hard for them to hold a whole grape. So you chop a grape in half for your hamster, too.

Little Buddha half-awake, munching on a grape slice.

You add warm water to soften the food for your elderly ferrets.

Five-year-olds Chip, Peanut and Smiggles eating soft food.

You make sure your pals are warm when they venture outside in the winter.

Dusty and Little Dipper in their winter garb.

You go on shorter, slower walks so they don’t get too tired.

DSC_8773sm — Dusty after throwing himself into his winter walk.

Afterwards, you know which one likes to be wrapped up a warm blanket . . .

. . . and which one will curl up on the floor.

Even when it’s late and you’re tired, when an older dog wants to play like a puppy again, you can’t help but play with him.

You lift your elderly dogs onto your bed, which has more fuzzy animals and fuzzy, stuffed toys than people.

Dusty and Little Dipper with their toys.

And you do all of this because your eldery pets are your pals, and they deserve all of this, and more.