Aging dog

[tanksalotct]

Our daughter (an emergency vet) recommended "Hills aging brain care" dog food. It's pricey, but it Does seem to make a difference. Our dog is less "snappy" and somewhat more aware.
The body's still aging, she's mostly indifferent to our presence, but at least I don't feel like "the enemy".
It's a sad, long road; especially since she used to be one of the best dogs we've ever owned.

[TC Wndsr]

14 year old poodle, healthy but sleeps about 22 hours per day. She has no energy or desire to walk with us. Recently started getting snappy with us and once with our 2 year old grandson. She has started to pee inside so we feel like we have to crate her whenever we go out. It’s tough living in such a small space with the smell and stains. Thinking it might be time to let her go. Would a vet put her down based on this?

[tizzyfit]

Originally Posted by TC Wndsr

14 year old poodle, healthy but sleeps about 22 hours per day. She has no energy or desire to walk with us. Recently started getting snappy with us and once with our 2 year old grandson. She has started to pee inside so we feel like we have to crate her whenever we go out. It’s tough living in such a small space with the smell and stains. Thinking it might be time to let her go. Would a vet put her down based on this?

Hate to say it, but it's time. Yes, a Vet will and YOU are justified in making that decision. God Bless!

[vettenuts]

Originally Posted by TC Wndsr

14 year old poodle, healthy but sleeps about 22 hours per day. She has no energy or desire to walk with us. Recently started getting snappy with us and once with our 2 year old grandson. She has started to pee inside so we feel like we have to crate her whenever we go out. It’s tough living in such a small space with the smell and stains. Thinking it might be time to let her go. Would a vet put her down based on this?

I would consult a vet. The snappy to me indicates something is amiss more than she is upset. My Golden was snappy with me but he had a brain tumor. She may have something going on but is unable to tell you. It is a hard decision and I would consult a vet to get further insight.

[tcg]

We've had a few pets go naturally and a couple that had to be put down.

We currently have five cats, the odlest is 15.

A few months ago she started limping when she walked and she had some other new symptoms. Plus she just wasn't herself. We started thinking maybe it's time.

We also thought maybe she fell when we weren't home and injured her leg so off we went to the vet.

After some xrays and blood work turns out she has some bone on bone rubbing in her shoulder. That was taken care of with a shot and some anti inflammatory medicine she gets every day.

But the bigger issue was, turns out she is severely diabetic. Vet said it was the worse he's ever seen and was amazed she did not have some organ damage.

That was easily resolved with insulin shots twice a day.

Within a few days she was a different kitty. Clearly she's no kitten anymore but she can now jump into our laps when she feels like it. Something she hadn't done in a couple years.

Point is a good vet can help you make decisions once something is diagnosed. We were prepared for the worse and it turned out she's old but still has some time left.

The sad thing we found out, our vet said many people choose to have a pet put down instead of give it a couple shots daily.

She gave us so much joy why wouldn't we make her as comfortable as possible in her senior years.

[JDT]

We have a 14 year old Boston who is the best among the many we have owned thru the years. She can no longer jump into our laps and sleeps a lot. She doesn't have that personality that so endeared us to her any longer, doesn't like to be held and limps some but she still gets excited when it's chow time and still knows how to beg for a treat. She can also still take off on a dead run when she sees something that shouldn't be in our back yard.

Because of family issues we have not been able to travel this year but have a 2 week and then a 5 week trips coming up. I kind of dread it not knowing how much the travel she used to love will affect her. The five week trip will be going from our 500 foot elevation to around 8000. We may have to shorten our time out of the fifth wheel to let her out more. We'll see.

[LynnD]

We travel with our cats (we now have 9) and always had our lovebird, Sunshine with us as well. This year we added the 9th cat, George, a 17 year old fella with no teeth, whose owner died and ended up at the shelter.....and on a very sad note, we lost our Sunshine a few months ago, she was 19. Traveling will not be the same without her. George has two highpoints to his daily life....sleeping and eating. We're anxious to see how he does, we head out for a few days next week. It's a worry when they get older.

[Mr_D]

I have a 5 1/2 yr old Japanese Bobtail cat that I will have to take back to the vet and let her go to join my late wife. Something is going on and they can't say much other than one of the white cell counts that should be over 20,000 is down to 20. I'll bring her home tomorrow and head out camping for 10 days.
The small blue heart beside 'Chimi contains some of my late wife's ashes.

[LynnD]

I'm so sorry, Mr. D, she's a beauty, and so young.

[Forkyfork]

Its a difficult decision to make. When our dog Moshi moshi changed we had the vet give her a once over. They found nothing. She wasn't angry, she was physically fine. Her personality left and never came back. She was like looking at an empty page. She had gone deaf years before so it wasn't that. She had also started to pee in the house. She would have been mortified had she been her old self. Now she would look at you and pop a squat even after taking her out a few minutes before.

She just checked out. She didn't want to play. Before this she loved to play fetch and hide and seek. We decided to take her for a swim in the lake. It was her favorite thing. She didn't even change when she saw her life vest. Just stood there while we put it on. We had to take her to the water. Nothing. We knew then that it was time. Its been 8 years. Still hard to think about it.

My 17 yr old cat is having some issues. Her x-rays, blood and urine tests were all normal. Thought it might be thyroid. She has improved and I am weaning her off her stomach meds that were preventing her from spewing volumes of liquid across the floor. It was so forceful she could barely catch her breath.

She has brightened up again. Sleeping at the top of the cat tower instead of the cave in the bottom of the scratcher. She hasn't started chasing the other cats around again. I don't think she will ever do that. She is still not fully herself. Reminds me of an elderly human in a rest home. She still loves to go camping. Thankfully she hasn't spewed in the camper. I did pick up a small Bissell spot cleaner just in case. She has decided that poop goes just outside of the cat box on the litter mat. It may be the meds she has been on, starting to wean her off now. It can change their personality. Sometimes animals leave their waste where you can see it if it is part of why they don't feel well.

If she doesn't stop losing weight after eating 15oz canned food daily we may have no choice because that is a slow torturous death if she keeps losing weight. As cats age their digestive system changes and doesn't function very well.

[tanksalotct]

We've had our dog on "Brain Aging Care" dog food for about 4 months, and it HAS made a difference. I can now pick her up and she'll sit in my lap while my wife drives, and she RARELY snaps and growls at us. It used to be a daily occurrence.
She's still a little "wifty" and forgets to come back to the camper, but it's a lot easier to tolerate now that the "snappy anger" seems to have abated.
I'm jealous when we meet someone with an affectionate, younger dog, but the food has made a big difference.