Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum THE LOUNGE Old dog advice… Can anyone help?

Viewing 21 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • LBJ10
      Moderator
      16869 posts Send Private Message

        As many of you know, my sweet girl is 17 years old. She is like a child to us and has been with us since the “beginning”. I love her dearly, but watching her age has been difficult. She’s a dachshund and she has a lot of problems.

        Cataracts (can’t see well)

        Partially deaf

        Arthritis

        Tooth problems (vet said it just happens at that age)

        Fatty tumors (large, but benign)

        Heart murmur

        Anyway, I was hoping people would have some advice for me. She still gets around and all, but she has trouble (obviously). We keep having to buy more and more expensive things (new medications, new expensive food, etc). She whines pretty much non-stop, wakes us up in the morning, and my husband has been very frustrated with her. I don’t blame him. I think maybe she is anxious, but there are times when she is inconsolable. She also has accidents in the house, but never in the same place. I thought about puppy pee pads, but I’m afraid she wouldn’t use them.

        I’m not necessarily looking for advice on what to do in her specific situation. Just wondering if anyone has gone through a similar experience. 


      • MoxieMeadows
        Participant
        5375 posts Send Private Message

          The only “Similar” experience I’ve had was with our dog Sky. He was about 13-15 (he was a rescue so we didn’t know his exact age) when he passed (he was put down, but he was in a coma and would have died that day anyway). Around 6 months or so before he died he became unable to control his pee. I was pushing for an x-ray about the time when he died because I had known deep down something was wrong. (He died of a ruptured internal tumor, which the vets said it was pretty much definitely cancerous) It was terrible.
          I don’t really have any advice to give, I don’t even know where I was going in the above paragraph. I know this can be very frustrating, you are trying everything you can do to keep her comfortable and it’s hard to see them age like this.

          {{{{{VIBES}}}}} for you, your hubby and your dog.


        • Mimsy
          Participant
          271 posts Send Private Message

            Sounds similar to us and our border collie, Howard. he’s 19 and is completely deaf, his eyesight is still great and there is no cloudiness. Also has lots of large fatty tumors, also benign. His big medical issue is kidneys. Luckily he still has a huge appetite and drinks a ton of water. (I go through about a gallon of water a day with him) Failing kidneys can lead to them not eating, so that is our big worry.

            He is down to very few things he can eat that do not cause seizures. Toxins build in his system from many foods, causing the seizures. He can eat sweet and regular potato’s, white rice and eggs. Even vitamins cause issues now.

            He does well with the potty issues if he has clear access to outside. So we set up the mud room with his doggy bed and a dog door so he can go outside at any time. That is also my husbands tool/craft room. he’s very arthritic, but even the chron/gluc supplements are too much for his kidneys. We have to just make sure he stays at a good weight and encourage him to move around. He gets really stiff if he lays in the same spot too long.

            Luckily he doesn’t seem to be in pain and it’s a matter of how much we can control the diet. When the diet no longer works, I fear he’ll go into chronic seizures. At his age we hope to make him comfortable for as long as we can.

            Oddly enough his teeth are really great. Our 13 year old pitbull, Lump, has horrible teeth already. Lump has a lot of environmental allergies and is prone to painful hot spots and the itchys. he also seems allergic to most grains. He also gets mast cell tumors that come back repeatedly. We are no longer removing them. Spirit wise, Lump is a very happy spirited dog still and loves going on car rides.

            Both dogs were rescues, but we believe they were only about a year to 2 tops when we got them. Basically full grown, but still fairly juvenile in behavior.

            Their old friend was Velvet a beagle/doxy mix. She had to be put to sleep at around 14 years of age due to cardiomyopathy. The medication only gave her about 2 years and then we could no longer control the liquid build up around her heart. I really always wish that they would pass peacefully on their own, but that doesn’t always work out. Once the pain got out of hand and she could not longer breath without holding her head up it was just too much to ask of her.

            Getting old is hard, but it happens to us all. I know it’s hard if we get woken in the middle of the night from a seizure. It’s frightening, sad and we loose sleep. We probably question whether we are making the right decision on keeping him with us every time it happens. But I don’t think he’s in pain right now and the seizures only happen once every 2 weeks or so as long as we are very stict on diet. He certaintly is not getting all the nutrients he needs, but I think it’s the least of our concerns now, it’s all about making his time as comfortable as possible for as long as we are able.

            Whatever you decide to do, it’s a personal decision and only your family can really know what is the right and humane thing to do. My heart goes out to you, it’s so hard to see someone you love get old. Your husband, if losing sleep from her is getting cranky, you can’t blame him, some folks don’t do too well without their needed amount of sleep. Perhaps you can make arrangements to make this easier on him though. earplugs, a place for your dog to sleep that won’t interfere with your husbands sleep, painkillers for your dog before you all go to bed at night?


          • BB & Tiny
            Participant
            637 posts Send Private Message

              Our cat is 14 and this year alone has suffered cancer ( eye removal ) and recently hyperthyrodism. He has been on expensive food for many years due to urine crystals, so I can relate to both the expense and the constant howling, especially in the morning !

              Thankfully after a month on medication he has turned a corner and is gaining weight and seems like his old self again.


            • Hazel
              Participant
              2587 posts Send Private Message

                I’m sorry, LBJ. My hubby and I have just been through this with our dog, she was 17 years old as well. She had fatty tumors, had accidents in the house and trouble getting around, mostly when going outside to potty. She had to be taken out every couple of hours so I completely understand what you’re going through in regards to losing sleep. Taking care of an old dog with these kind of issues wears you down and it caused tension between me and my husband at times, simply because we both became exhausted, mentally and physically. We went through this routine for over a year. We could have put her down but we refused to do it just because she was an inconvenience. If she had been in pain, it would have been another matter. We were lucky in a way, because she did fairly well up until one day, when it became obvious what we had to do. She didn’t suffer and we knew when it was the right time.

                With your dog it seems a little different, considering she’s crying/seems scared at times and is in pain from arthritis. Generally, I would keep an old dog as long as it’s happy and reasonably pain free. But if you can tell that they’re suffering, physically or mentally, then I think they should be let go.

                Sending lots of vibes to you, your hubby and your puppy.


              • LBJ10
                Moderator
                16869 posts Send Private Message

                  Thanks everyone for your replies. It has been draining, that’s for sure. We both lose sleep and, yes, there has been tension between us because of her. We love her though. Like I said, she has been with us since very shortly after our relationship began (my husband got her for me as a present when I was still in high school). She has been there my entire adult life.

                  I also forgot to add that the food we’ve been buying her is not only expensive, but it makes her poop all mushy too. This problem actually started quite a few years ago. She would throw up stomach acid all the time and the vet thought she was starting to develop a grain allergy. We decided to try a grain-free food. Naturally we were mixing it to make the transition. She was doing much better. Then we got to the point where it was all grain-free and she started having diarrhea. We couldn’t figure it out until I Googled it. Turns out some dogs just can’t handle grain-free food and it makes their stool loose. So we went back to mixing it half and half and she was doing just fine that way ever since. Well now she won’t eat dry food because of her teeth, so I’ve been buying canned stuff. Guess what, it’s grain-free. *sigh* I’ve been trying to mix some dry food in with it to sort of balance things out. But, as you can see, this isn’t exactly working very well. =\ Here I am buying food that costs over $60 a month and she has yucky poop.

                  As far as the whining goes, she has ALWAYS been a whiner. She has separation anxiety that she never outgrew. But now she just whines for seemingly no reason. She’s lying next to me right now and she’s letting out little noises as we speak. I don’t know what the problem is. She can’t tell me.


                • LBJ10
                  Moderator
                  16869 posts Send Private Message

                    I remember about a month ago we were at the little neighborhood park. We carry her there and then set her down to let her walk around a little. We just let her go until she signals she wants to be picked up. So here we were, walking behind her at her little snail pace, and an old lady happened to walk by. She commented on what wonderful people we were, taking care of her the way we do.


                  • Mimsy
                    Participant
                    271 posts Send Private Message

                      You could try and do what we do with Howard. Make your own food. It’s not bad once you get it down.

                      Start with something really easy on her and then work up to see what you can mix in. Maybe something like sweet potato, a little tums (for the calcium) and eggs. There are lots of good sites on making dog food. Though I only used them to get a rough estimate on nutrition and then go by what our dog can handle. Being that in their old age, comfort is better than perfect nutrition.

                      Also is she on digoxin for her heart? That caused horrible diarrhea with ours. the dose had to be adjusted down a lot for to be able to handle it.


                    • MoxieMeadows
                      Participant
                      5375 posts Send Private Message

                        Since your dog needs a mix of grain-free and grain foods, is there any way you could purchase a cheaper canned dog food (with grain) to mix with her grain-free food so she can still eat it easily? I obviously don’t know about her dietary needs and what she can handle, but it’s something to think about if it’s possible. And like Mimsy said, at this age comfort for your dog is better than perfect nutrition.


                      • LBJ10
                        Moderator
                        16869 posts Send Private Message

                          I’ve been buying some cans from Petsmart that are $1.50 a can. They are big cans though, so one per day unless I’m mixing it with the dry food (then it lasts longer). I don’t really know anything about it. It’s called Simply Nourish (Petsmart exclusive).


                        • Bam
                          Moderator
                          16836 posts Send Private Message

                            I think making your own dog-food could be something, depending on what you can get in local stores of course. I make dog-ffod for my dog, I’ve done that for most of her life. It’s not so time-consuming as you may think but you have to be comfortable with handling raw meat. I buy innards like heart (heart counts as normal muscle-meat) and some liver and kidney. I cook it (we did raw food for a while, but I actually think cooked veggies are more easily digested and the nourishment better absorbed, and at least liver needs to be either cooked or deep-frozen for 48 hous to prevent intestinal parasites. My dog won’t touch uncooked liver anyway). You can also use fish and chicken of course. Buckwheat, rice or potatoes are often well tolerated carb-sources. For calcium I use finely crushed egg-shells, if she’s not getting chicken, she eats raw chicken with bone but that takes some getting used to for the stomach so in the beginning I smashed up the bones with a big knife. Don’t give raw egg-white, it binds to biotin and makes it inaccessible to the body. Raw yolk is fine.

                            It is very hard to have an aging dog. It’s so sad. You and hubby really are wonderful people.


                          • LBJ10
                            Moderator
                            16869 posts Send Private Message

                              Hmm, I wonder how that would compare cost-wise. I’m paying over $60 a month now and it’s hurting us. The price of beef has skyrocketed. It’s $6/lb for the lean hamburger, for example. I have no clue what hearts and stuff would cost. You can’t buy that at the regular grocery store anymore. That would likely be at the specialty store that sells high quality meats.


                            • MoxieMeadows
                              Participant
                              5375 posts Send Private Message

                                You might be able to get cheap stuff from a local butcher.

                                Also, wouldn’t raw chicken make your dog sick?


                              • LBJ10
                                Moderator
                                16869 posts Send Private Message

                                  Not necessarily. Although I wouldn’t do raw food with an elderly dog.


                                • LBJ10
                                  Moderator
                                  16869 posts Send Private Message

                                    I thought we were going to make it a day without peeing on the floor. But that didn’t happen. *sigh*


                                  • Bam
                                    Moderator
                                    16836 posts Send Private Message

                                      I’m so sorry, LBJ.
                                      The food I cook for my dog is cheaper than bought food, but that would of course not be the case if you have to go to a special store to buy innards.I could never cook dog-food from full price regular beef.

                                      Here old and weak and sick dogs are often recommended boiled white fish and over-cooked rice, because it’s easy on the tummy. It doesn’t matter how good and full of nutrients a certain food is if the dog or person can’t take it up, so uptake is important with the elderly whether it’s old people or dogs. I know you know these things, of course, and I don’t (of course) know if you can get frozen fish for a reasonable price.


                                    • Vienna Blue in France
                                      Participant
                                      5317 posts Send Private Message

                                        LBJ, I logged on just now and the title of the post goes straight to my heart.

                                        Kyra is my 15 yr old lurcher cross which means she’s very slim and doesn’t harbour any excess weight, which is good because she getting very wobbly on her back legs. She was a rescue 13 yrs ago and has been my absolute world and companion and my laughter ever since. She is literally my “other half”. People don’t really recognise me, they see HER first and I’m just attached at the other end of her lead! (other dog owners will understand! LOL)
                                        My heart will simply crumble into a million pièces when she goes.

                                        Kyra was sick last week, just normal vomit (she’s a dog…!) but this obviously took the wind out of her and she was (what i thought) almost on her last legs during the evening. No strength at all. And then the next day after gobbling down a few chicken breasts she bounced back to being her normal old self again!

                                        Have you heard of the SuperVet? A British vet (with TV series) that does just amazing things with prosthetics for animals. He really is incredible (mended a rabbit leg with a bit of metal smaller than a matchstick!! lol). Ever so often, when he sees dogs who limp, he says that “dogs suffer in silence, they never complain”, but he can tell from the xrays that the animal IS in a great deal of pain. I’m just so afraid that Kyra is, even though she doesn’t say so. And that I’m holding out from making any sort of a decision to give “ME” an extra few months or even years.
                                        There is always a gift on the floor when I return home – one or the other (or both) – but when i’m home she’ll always tell me she wants to go out. It’s not incontinence, but she can’t hold it as long as she used to. (Luckily I have tiles, I don’t know how people who have carpet manage!!!)

                                        Some say “you’ll know when that time comes”…. but I just don’t want her to have suffered for several months before that day comes.
                                        Is it really as simple as saying “when they stop eating”….

                                        I saw a dog the other day that really was a skeleton on legs. He could not walk, or see or hear or even pee, really. IMHO he should have been ‘put out of his misery’ long ago, but the owners obviously just didn’t believe in euthanasia. So who is right?

                                        What difference really is there of making the decision now, or making it in 3 months time if we think our animal may be suffering?
                                        And if the question is already in our minds, deep down if we ask ourselves “is this the time”, deep down we know what our answer is.

                                        I think we, each of us, know our own animals, and our own beliefs and what needs to be done, and when.
                                        If only they could talk and tell us…!

                                        My heart goes out to all of you with elderly animals (and elderly humans too!) – rare tears have fallen in writing this…

                                        (((((( Warm and loving hugs to the oldies out there )))))))


                                      • LBJ10
                                        Moderator
                                        16869 posts Send Private Message

                                          Bam – Yep, you used to be able to buy all sorts of organs from different animals at the regular grocery store. Years ago, we would buy chicken hearts for our lizard. They were cheap and he loved them. We used it as part of his rotation since mice were expensive. Now, you can’t buy any of that stuff. I think it all gets shipped off to dog food plants long before the meat reaches the grocery store. That’s why I would likely have to go to a specialty store that deals in meats. I know of one, I might have to go there to see what they have.

                                          Vienna – Thank you so much for your post. That made me want to cry too. Yes, it is very difficult to know those things. As you pointed out, they cannot tell you how much they are really suffering and, often times, when they are so sick that they won’t eat anymore then you have to wonder if you waited too long. Our girl still acts happy most of the time. She still wants to go to the park, although we have to carry her there and then she wanders around for a bit like a little snail. She still eats really well. I picked up some Rimedyl from the vet and her whining has lessened over the last few days. She seems to be sleeping better. Unfortunately, it does nothing for her accidents. LOL I let her out this morning, fed her, then took a shower. In that short amount of time I was in the shower, she decided to poop on the floor. Lucky me, the mixing of dry food into her canned stuff has been helping with making it firmer.


                                        • Vienna Blue in France
                                          Participant
                                          5317 posts Send Private Message

                                            I thought about sitting with Kyra and watching “Marley & Me” tonight (its already evening here in Europe !!) , but maybe not a good choice of films (the ending!)….. I’ll choose something else LOL (Watership Down maybe….) ;o)


                                          • LBJ10
                                            Moderator
                                            16869 posts Send Private Message

                                              Aww, wish my dog could still cuddle. She gets too hot though. =\


                                            • Sr. Melangell
                                              Participant
                                              1708 posts Send Private Message

                                                LBJ10, I’m sorry to hear this, we had a dog he lived to 22 years old, he should have gone to the vets when he got really bad with arthritis, but mum knew what would happen if she took him, so he ended up 5 years in a lot of pain, dogs can get arthritis, this is why I chose my Olly instead of a dog because I’m not fit enough to look after a dog, I wouldn’t be able to take a dog out every day because of my arthritis in my legs and back and it has spread to my jaw now, it is painful, so I know what your little girl is going through, can you massarge her? Oh and what about pads or nappies (Diapers) for puddles?


                                              • Vienna Blue in France
                                                Participant
                                                5317 posts Send Private Message

                                                  I come home to a big dog wee pretty much every time now.
                                                  If I put my dog in a nappy, i’d give her 30 secs to rip it off with her teeth, and probably another 30 secs to rip it into a thousand zillion shreds.
                                                  She would NOT be impressed ! LOL
                                                  I think if it got to the stage that she was wee’ing in my presence and didn’t know how to control herself any more, then that – along with ‘not eating’ – would be a big tick for my elderly dog to go to the vets that one last time. I believe dogs have dignity too and I know she’s not happy (but has no choice) doing it inside.

                                              Viewing 21 reply threads
                                              • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                                              Forum THE LOUNGE Old dog advice… Can anyone help?