misst
Well-Known Member
Nothing helpful to add except that you can only do your best. My elderly neighbour has no relatives and we have tried to help over the years. She too convinced the GP she was fine for several years and only got diagnosed after an emergency hospital admission for a stomach problem where it became apparent most of what she said was fantasy.
Her two dogs are overfed and underwalked but she will tell everyone they get 2 hours a day and is totally convincing despite never leaving the house. Her carer walks the dogs sometimes. They are incontinent because they don't go out. She feeds them anything and everything she has plus tins of food. She has nothing else in her life and so we try to make sure they have some sort of decent existance. However she can get angry and agressive if you "interfere" so a softly softly approached is needed. We are currently bathing one twice a week for his skin problems and he sees our vet for this as her vet was not helpful. The day we remove the dogs is the day she will have to go into a home and she's not quite bad enough yet. She looks for them if we take them to the vet and gets agitated if one is missing. She will wander the street in her dressing gown looking for one.
It's a fine line between her welfare and the dogs and I am sorry for all of them. She is lucky to have carers that help even when they don't have to. Social services are aware and have regular meetings with us to monitor but I cannot quite bring myself to agree to the dogs being removed at this stage. It's a sad state of affairs, and like Mrs. M I hope I will realise what is needed for my own dogs when the time comes.
Her two dogs are overfed and underwalked but she will tell everyone they get 2 hours a day and is totally convincing despite never leaving the house. Her carer walks the dogs sometimes. They are incontinent because they don't go out. She feeds them anything and everything she has plus tins of food. She has nothing else in her life and so we try to make sure they have some sort of decent existance. However she can get angry and agressive if you "interfere" so a softly softly approached is needed. We are currently bathing one twice a week for his skin problems and he sees our vet for this as her vet was not helpful. The day we remove the dogs is the day she will have to go into a home and she's not quite bad enough yet. She looks for them if we take them to the vet and gets agitated if one is missing. She will wander the street in her dressing gown looking for one.
It's a fine line between her welfare and the dogs and I am sorry for all of them. She is lucky to have carers that help even when they don't have to. Social services are aware and have regular meetings with us to monitor but I cannot quite bring myself to agree to the dogs being removed at this stage. It's a sad state of affairs, and like Mrs. M I hope I will realise what is needed for my own dogs when the time comes.