Glad you found a solution you can feel comfortable. I do understand how hard it can be - we are away for a week at the moment (been gone since Wednesday), and it was VERY hard leaving the dogs, especially Mulder. He is in pretty good shape considering he is 15, but then again, he is 15. We used a pet sitter who's been caring for them for over 10 years now, so they are used to the routine with him, and so far so good, except for Chloe apparently stealing an empty can of green beans off the counter and making off with it when he wasn't looking, LOL. I'll feel better when we get home though. One funny thing though was that we warned the sitter than Mulder occasionally sleep poops these days and asked him to keep an eye out so if it happens, it doesn't sit there for a week, and he told us that many of his elderly clients have the same issue, so that was reassuring to hear.

If there had been anything obviously wrong other than old age, I wouldn't have gone, but aside from arthritis, being hard of hearing and the sleep pooping (which I think is related to the arthritis) there's really nothing seriously wrong with him that we know of ... he's just old.