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Townandcountrygal, so sorry to hear about Hobbs. It's so sad to lose our beloved pets.
I was in the Vet ER this weekend with my almost-18-year-old. On Friday evening, she started "leaking" while laying around. On Saturday her urine was a dark yellow/orange. By Sunday morning, her urine was a dark red.
Spent about 2 hours in the ER. Definite UTI. More confirmed kidney issues. We were only at our regular vet 10 days ago and started the Galliprant. The anemia seemed a little worse, but I think that was due to the macroscopic blood in the urine. ER vet put her on Prilosec and an antibiotic. The urine cleared up quickly!!
Reading this thread makes me sad for what everyone and their dogs are dealing with. However, it also makes me happy to see the strong bonds and care the dogs are getting.
One month ago I had to let my 16 year old poodle go, and it was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. We got him as a twelve week old puppy and he was so smart and so loyal. I still have difficulty talking about the loss.
His last few months were filled with difficulties like others have written about and I have always had a strict "no suffering" policy with my dogs. In the past year, I lost my mother and my niece was killed in a car accident, so dealing with another huge loss was terrible to face.
Now I feel guilty sometimes and hope I didn't let him linger too long because of my own issues. He certainly brought a lot of light and love into our family.
Reading this thread makes me sad for what everyone and their dogs are dealing with. However, it also makes me happy to see the strong bonds and care the dogs are getting.
One month ago I had to let my 16 year old poodle go, and it was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. We got him as a twelve week old puppy and he was so smart and so loyal. I still have difficulty talking about the loss.
His last few months were filled with difficulties like others have written about and I have always had a strict "no suffering" policy with my dogs. In the past year, I lost my mother and my niece was killed in a car accident, so dealing with another huge loss was terrible to face.
Now I feel guilty sometimes and hope I didn't let him linger too long because of my own issues. He certainly brought a lot of light and love into our family.
Thanks for your kind words and sorry to hear of all the loss you have experienced. It's so hard to know where that line is between suffering and just being old.
As I've posted, I've got this 18 y/o dog. She has arthritis but doesn't demonstrate any of the typical pain symptoms I've seen in my other dogs. Oh, I know she's feeling achy but there's not panting or any other sign of acute suffering. Just what you and I might imagine we might feel if we were 90 years old.
But she has no real quality in her life: She has limited vision due to aging in one eye and cataracts in the other. She is now hearing impaired. She doesn't move fast and due to her age, we can't get her teeth cleaned so I'm sure her mouth doesn't feel good. And yet, I still can't figure out if "it's time." All my other dogs had clear signs of when it needed to be done. It's just so hard to know what to do and then you spend a lot of time after, second guessing your decision.
I recently had to have my 15 year old Pippin put to sleep. Still working on getting over losing her. She was a really good dog. Over her last few months things did get poretty difficult with her care. The biggehst problem for me was getting her to eat. She had always been a picky eater but also a little pudgy so when she started droping weight and got skinny it was really worriesome. She had me cooking for her to try to get something into her. In the last few days she simply stoped eating. She also would have issues with pacing and restlessness at night and she became incontinent. It was easy toi see that this distressed her as much as it did me. She could not see very well and would often get stuck in corners at night until I would rescue herr. She isnsted on coming to bed and then went through a period where she would wake up and wanterh off the bed so I got afraid she would fall and get really hurt.
I hated losing her. But in a way It was a relief to finaly have an end to the constant worry. Every day comimng home wondering if she was sthll with me and if it waws time to make the final descision. Even on the day I knew it was time, she seemed to be trying to stay. I think she didn't want to leave me.
The really odd thing was that I had told the vet to haveh her ashes spread at the pet cemetary in the communal field and was a little shocked when they called me to tell me Pippin is back. It took me a few moments to understand that she was not back from the grave. I guess she just really wanted to come home. It turned out to be the better thing for me too.
I have a second dog, Merri, also 15 years old, who is still doing fairly well. Yesterday we went on a 3 mile hike. She regularly walks 2-3 miles 1-2 times a week and really enjoys it. She has arthritis that is managed on a daily oral chew. The most noticeable things about her age are that she sleeps all of the time and she tends to get confused. last week she walked head first into a tree..Sometimes she trips and falls when she comes running from the yard or when she hits some rough ground on a walk. She was once a dog that needed a slow feeding device to make her not inhale her food and now she tends to eat less and will leave food in her dish. She has lost some teeth so she prefers her food wet. And I do supplement her with some home cooking. She does okay with letting me know she has to go out but I do have to leave her to go to work and she can't wait all day for me. So I have an extra large dog crate for her. She is a smaller dog so this works well. She has a cot style bed on one end of the crate and pee pads on the other. She has gotten quite good about using the pads, even when I am home with her.
Miss Merri has never been an only dog before but she seems to be adapting well to the loss of her lifelong partner. She clearly missed Pippin for a few days but the two of them had been spending less time together over the past several months so I think she knew and accepted that Pip was gone easier than I did. She refused to use the bed that Pip slept in for the last weeks of herr life so I got rid of it an got herr a new one which she clearly knows is just for her.
Pippin used to rule the house so Merri never got to own anything. Beds, treats, all of the house was Pippin's. Now Merri is really enjoying having all of the good things. which is one reason I am not getting another dog.
Not sure how much time I will have with her. I am not able to spend a lot of money on meds and treatments for age related problems so as long as she is comfortable and content I will enjoy her company.
I may not get anymore dogs after Merri is gone. If I do I think I will be looking into fostering or adopting another old dog. Theyn are a little challanging to care for and it is hard to say gooodbye but there is jsut something about an old dog....
Paisley, who is my almost-18-year old will also be my last dog as well, I think. I have had dogs since I was about 19 years old (in my 50s now). It has gotten extremely expensive (at least in my area) to have a dog. To think back when I had very little money and I had 3 dogs at one time that I actually could financially manage it. In the last 15 years, it's gotten kind of crazy.
But, like you, the worry, stress, and work involved is just more than I want now. Maybe I'm a little jaded at this point because of all the care Paisley is requiring. She's on an antibiotic this week and her appetite is down so I'm cooking special meals, and she has diarrhea so we are cleaning her and whatever else several times a day.
Sounds like your Miss Merri is going to have some time to be spoiled for awhile. I almost feel a little sorry for dogs who were the beta dogs. When I had three, I had one of them who was like that.
Reading this thread makes me sad for what everyone and their dogs are dealing with. However, it also makes me happy to see the strong bonds and care the dogs are getting.
One month ago I had to let my 16 year old poodle go, and it was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. We got him as a twelve week old puppy and he was so smart and so loyal. I still have difficulty talking about the loss.
His last few months were filled with difficulties like others have written about and I have always had a strict "no suffering" policy with my dogs. In the past year, I lost my mother and my niece was killed in a car accident, so dealing with another huge loss was terrible to face.
Now I feel guilty sometimes and hope I didn't let him linger too long because of my own issues. He certainly brought a lot of light and love into our family.
MaryMeriMarry, I'm so sorry for your multiple losses. The past two years, I lost Hunter Wold, my nephew, my best girl friend, and now Hobbs. While it causes us great emotional pain, it makes us more empathetic toward others with similar losses. I, too, am finding that the responses to my post indeed shows how caring and loving other dog owners are here. If only all of my neighbors showed that kind of love toward their animals!
My 14 yr old or so blue heeler passed away in his sleep yesterday. He was the EXGF dog and she left him here after leaving me three years ago. He's been here four years. Took a year to finally trust me, a very intelligent "soul ful" dog. Loved to run and run and catch his ball. Past few weeks he started collapsing and was very wobbly when he walked. Seemed confused disoriented and in the past few days gone completely blind.
This morning I reached down to pet him in his bed next to my bed where he sleeps. I'll stop this silly crying someday.
Jim, I am so so sorry. I went through something similar with my 14 year old cocker/golden retriever cross eight years ago. Her symptoms were the same and there was nothing to be done. I had her PTS when she couldn't stand without leaning against a wall. It came on very quickly just the same way as your heeler.
She was one of the best dogs ever and I still can't look at her pictures to this day without coming undone. Embrace the good memories. He'll be with you forever in your heart.
Some sort of good news...sort of. The Trazadone experiment was a failure so we're back on Tramadol but at a much higher dose then before, pretty much the normal maximum (I hear you can go higher if necessary). It has cut down on his midnight rambling, except when it doesn't, and he isn't dopey as hell. And just 30 mg of Proin in the morning has kept him almost 100% dry hasn't made him too hyper except if I forget a dose of Tramadol.
Getting all these Trammies in him every day is a challenge since he figured out all the tricks weeks ago. So far he hasn't discovered the hot dog trick though...soft foods dont work because that just spreads the awful taste. They should make enteric coated Tramadol to cover that taste up...then even if they find it hidden and know you tricked em, at least it doesnt taste bad so they might forgive you haha.
Well so much for Miss Merri being my last dog. I am now working through the process of adopting a 10 year old Shiba Inu from a local shelter. Merri is lonsome for canine comanionship and this little fellow won't get off my mind. He has some aging issues but is still a happy little dog that wants to have fun. The really cool thing is the shelter has a program for senior adoptions where they will pay for all of the dog's basic veterinary care for the rest of their life, and eventual euthanasia. Dog gets a home, I get a new friend and a little help with the finacial burden that comes with an older pet.
I really miss my Pippin. Last week I stoped to pet a neighbor's yoyrkie and almst burst into tears. The little head felt so familiar It could have easily been my Pippin. I discovered a comany called cuddle clones and I want to get one done of her someday when I can afford the hefty price tag.
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