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Old 03-26-2017, 01:06 PM
 
34 posts, read 20,225 times
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Steering away from all my posts about my service dog, I figured I'd get an opinion on my pet dog back at home /see what others do.

She's getting a bit older and tbh, she hasn't always had the healthiest diet. Once we got my SD and learned the importance of a diet, her diet sort of changed with his. But I know my family is slipping with it, and when I'm at home I admittedly do too. I just feel bad because she's older so I tend to give her what she wants so she can indulge/enjoy. I know the "harm is already done" mindset isn't exactly a great one, but if she only has a year or two left I'd like her to enjoy it.

So I'm curious, do you tend to be more lenient with your older dogs?

I guess some background info is she's a Jack Russell Terrier mix, a healthy weight, but has some other issues. She's at least 15 (we got her from the shelter though, so it's really an estimate beyond that)
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Old 03-26-2017, 02:13 PM
 
Location: My beloved Bluegrass
20,099 posts, read 16,023,864 times
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In the last year of my old guy's life I gave him whatever he wanted and catered to him whenever I could. Don't regret it for a single minute. He was getting ready to turn 17 and was a 60 pounder, we knew his time was limited.
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When I post in bold red that is moderator action and, per the TOS, can only be discussed through Direct Message.Moderator - Diabetes and Kentucky (including Lexington & Louisville)
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Old 03-26-2017, 02:58 PM
 
Location: NW Nevada
18,126 posts, read 15,520,670 times
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My old dog that passed in 2015 I seriously spoiled. Her last year especially she got the best I could give. Lots of attention, I would scramble eggs for her to top her dry food, gave her quality canned food, her favorite treat was apple fritter and I indulged her frequently. She got to hurting in her hips and some days it became hard for her to get up. In addition to some anti inflammatory stuff I got from the vet I would measure out doses of my own pain medicine for her. Morphine or oxycodone. At her age I didn't think twice about giving her some relief. And it worked great as well. It seriously raised her comfort level and she could get up and move, even get a little frisky. I refused to see her suffer when I could do something about it. Her entire last year I shared my meds with her and it really did help.


As for "the damage is already done" thing ...well, I don't particularly care what anyone else might think about how I did things. It's not like there was anything else to be done that would have made the difference the medication did. We can't turn back the clock. It sure didn't hurt her in any way, and it made her a LOT more comfortable. I told the vet I was doing it, told her what dosages I was giving and my rationale behind it, and she didn't think any differently than me. At her age, anything that gave her some quality to her life couldn't hurt a thing.


She wasn't so bad she needed put down. She was healthy and happy overall. The medication just made her as comfortable as could possibly be. She passed quietly in her sleep that Summer. One of the saddest days of my life. She was a beautiful snow white Husky mix. Ice colored eyes and looked for all the world like a white wolf. I have face shots of her that are picture postcard quality. So the way I see it, an old dog that has been a loyal and loving companion their whole life deserves a bit of pampering and "forbidden" indulgences in their twilight years. It's the least we can do. That is all I have to say...
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Old 03-26-2017, 06:49 PM
 
1,009 posts, read 1,559,759 times
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We've had two old pups.
The first was a 120 lbs in his heyday. BIG dog. But he developed diabetes and a lot of other illnesses, so we couldn't really pamper him with his diet, other than giving veggies, which he loved. Bell pepper and broccoli florets were his favorite things.
In the end, a neurological issue took him from us at 10 years old.

Our other dog was about 13 when she left us. Beautiful, beautiful girl. We spoiled the bejeezus out of her in her final couple of years, and she left us much too early.
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Old 03-27-2017, 12:40 PM
 
Location: The Triad
34,091 posts, read 82,482,448 times
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I suspect that when the time comes I'll be spoiling an old Cheech too.

I just finished preparing some chicken for the oven...
but first I peeled the skins off and cooked them down in the skillet.
The puppy loves these treats.
Attached Thumbnails
Do you spoil your older dog?-chickenskins.jpg  
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Old 03-27-2017, 01:40 PM
 
12,823 posts, read 24,286,846 times
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Rotisserie chicken!

Thaaaaaat's the ticket!

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Old 03-27-2017, 03:26 PM
 
Location: North Idaho
32,493 posts, read 47,458,225 times
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Not for diet, except I know the things she doesn't like to eat and I keep those out of her dog food. Anybody else can eat it or go hungry. She now wants her food in small pieces and that's what she gets.

But leniency, yes, when she doesn't hear me, or doesn't see, or gets confused. Also, she now gets lifted up onto the sofa and bed and everyone else is expected to jump under their own power.

As she gets older, I am even more careful about what she eats and especially that her weight stays trim and fit so it doesn't strain her heart or joints.
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Old 03-27-2017, 03:49 PM
 
910 posts, read 2,315,983 times
Reputation: 607
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmc94 View Post
Steering away from all my posts about my service dog, I figured I'd get an opinion on my pet dog back at home /see what others do.

She's getting a bit older and tbh, she hasn't always had the healthiest diet. Once we got my SD and learned the importance of a diet, her diet sort of changed with his. But I know my family is slipping with it, and when I'm at home I admittedly do too. I just feel bad because she's older so I tend to give her what she wants so she can indulge/enjoy. I know the "harm is already done" mindset isn't exactly a great one, but if she only has a year or two left I'd like her to enjoy it.

So I'm curious, do you tend to be more lenient with your older dogs?

I guess some background info is she's a Jack Russell Terrier mix, a healthy weight, but has some other issues. She's at least 15 (we got her from the shelter though, so it's really an estimate beyond that)
My wife and I spoiled our 17 year old Shih Tzu in the twilight of her life. She had to go often sometimes unable to hold it anymore in the house despite being potty trained. So much so that my wife slept with her downstairs, so she can take her out quickly if necessary, while I stayed upstairs. We fed her whatever she liked or shared our food with her, within reason so we don't negatively affect her stomach in the process.

That's what hurt about her passing, we tried to give her the best life we could towards the end of her life, only to leave her in a vet kennel which she actually had good (even great) care for the past 3 years we've left her, but this past year I don't know why she got neglected and we ended up having to put her to sleep within two days of taking her back from the kennel. She was blind and had her eyes removed due to cataracts for 10 years, but it seemed like the vet staff didn't know if she was asleep or not, you figured they would know after taking care of her after 3 years. I checked that vet's website again for reviews, and though they got decent reviews back then, which is why we went with them in the first place, but it seemed they were hiring as they were short of vet techs, so I'm trying to rationalize how she got neglected and dehydrated after a week of being kept there. The head vet tried to rationalize with us that she was old, but suing his practice won't bring her back. And what particularly hurts is that my wife and I feel responsible for her passing for dropping her off in the first place.

Because our new puppy who I've been talking about recently on this forum is so needy, even once I properly train him, I think I'm going to go with the sitter services from Rover just like you recommended to me, because I don't want him to go through what our first one went through at a vet kennel again, even though he may be relatively young by the time he's ready to get boarded. I know my wife may have a little bit of an argument with me as to why this new pup will get special treatment with a sitter service versus being boarded, but again I don't think this pup should suffer or get less care just because our first dog didn't get the best of care because of our inexperience or ignorance of better care or services such as pet sitting at the time we had our first dog.

Sorry to divert from your original post, it just hurts thinking about it again.
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