Older dogs..

[_Acolyte_]

Does anyone else find themselves stressing about them, and wanting to wrap them up in cotton wool?

Talisker is approx 10 years old now, but seems to have aged more rapidly since I lost Jura (my little brindle greyhound) in April? Perhaps he was ageing before that but seemed healthy compared to Jura...

Really he only has a bit of arthritis in his hips (being treated!) and at the moment he is off his food a little with a minor stomach problem (also being treated!) but I find myself worrying about him all the time

I'm not sure whether this is just because I never really found out what was wrong with Jura (despite loads of blood tests/vet visits etc) - she just got thinner and thinner until she was too weak to cope

and there didnt seem to be anything I could do to stop it

I just dread this happening all over again with Talisker some time...

 

[vizzielover]

I know exactly how you are feeling having recently lost my old girl aged 15 yrs and 6 months. I knew for a while that I wouldn't have her for much longer but when the day came I was so shocked and feel like a part of me is missing. She was such a pleasure to live with, never a days bother and never showed her teeth to man nor beast. In short - the perfect dog. So, I think it is perfectly normal to feel the way you do, I would think it abnormal if you didn't.

 

[_Acolyte_]

Thanks for your reply Vizzielover - that was a fantastic age for your girl to live to, but I know exactly what you mean. You know perfectly well that it is coming, but it is still a shock. Oddly I miss Jura more than I have ever missed a dog, probably because I am single now and the dogs are my company in the evenings

I know logically that that Talisker is still very fit and healthy (and is snoring gently next to me on the sofa at the moment

) so hopefully I am worrying about nothing for a while

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Is it anyone else that has looked at your old, sleeping dog and found yourself waiting to see their chest/belly raise from their next breathe?

I stoped counting the number of times that just as my heart is pounding so I could hear it and I thought "No, not breathing!" that's when they happen to take ONE breathe, so heart slows down a little and I thought "Okay, she's breathing" and expected to see the next breathe, and wait, and wait, and waits... heart starts pounding louder and louder again, and just as I thought "No, now she's really not breathing!", she takes ONE breathe...

Every time ending with me finally reminding myself "No, wait she's old, they can breathe slower then"

from Sweden.

 

[rema]

Yes very much so.The old boy was the last thing on my mind at night and the first thing on my mind in the morning.I would just sit and watch him breathing.He had no idea i was there because he was deaf.He has now gone to the kennel in the sky aged 17 years and 3 months so he had a good long time with me.But when he got ill two years ago with old dog syndrome i became abit neurotic about him and was forever fussing over him.Must of drove the old boy nuts

.Enjoy every day with them.Some one said to me make a new memory every day then when they have gone you will have lots to last your life time.Which i thought was a sweet thing to say!.

 

[Oneofthepack]

I may be a bit warped but I quite enjoy their last years. I know it's leading up to the inevitable but I like getting Indie snuggled under her duvet so her hips are warm and making her tea just that little bit nicer than all the others and getting her the best place on the sofa. I will be terribly sad when she goes but not as sad as when Charlie and Jake had to be pts at 10 and 7.

 

[CAYLA]

As u will guess from my posts,Im a pretty firm, take no nonsense owner, and my dogs don't get away with much, however my old 15 year old whippet x greyhound, basically does what she likes, she sleeps on settee and in my bed with heat blanket on, other don't

get the same special allowances, I wrap her in a little cotton wool world, don't allow other dogs to pester her and panick when they knock her when out on walks and they play, she gets all human left over foods, and lots of extras in dinner to keep her weight up, she is my old girl, and I have had her since I was a teenager, I want her around for aslong as poss, and pander to everythng she needs

 

[dingle12]

I worry about my old dog ben, he went through a bad time the other month and its making me think this could be my last winter with him. I would love for him to be around for summer but he is 16 now. But on the other hand touch wood he is feeling very well at the moment and if anything he is getting naughty but i dont want to shout at him

. We are just taking every day as it comes and my fab vet says he is very pleased with him.

 

[Patches]

I am stressing about Jasper, my Cocker Spaniel. He is 13 years old. Totally fit as a fiddle, no signs of slowing down or stiffness at all. Infact if he hadn't gone grey around his mouth and ears (he is a black dog, so it's more pronounced) you'd never believe he was 13.

Still jumps over the back of the settee and the garden wall. I am just painfully aware that he will most probably suddenly become old one day. I don't know how I'll cope when anything happens to him. I've never lost a dog before.

 

[_Acolyte_]

Thank you for all your replies, I really thought I was getting rather paranoid or something

but it seems that I am not

Finnish_Lappund - I have done exactly the same with the breathing thing

I actually remember with Jura laying my hand on her ribcage so I could check her breathing and heart rate several times every evening

Rema - that is a lovely thought, and is what I am trying to do with Talisker. He can be a bit neurotic in some ways, he has been badly treated in the past, but he is a lovely dog when he is happy and settled in a routine and gives me so much enjoyment

OOTP - I do feel for you, Jura was 11 when I lost her and I was expecting her to go on until at least 15

Cala - sorry but

, I thought you would be like that even though you are very practical and sensible too

I got my first whippet when I was 17, she was with me for 15 years so went through a lot of life with me, and she was equally spoiled

Well, she lasted longer than my first marriage, so she deserved the best in life!

Dingle - how fantastic that Ben has reached such a good age

I hope he carries on enjoying life - and being a bit naughty

- for a good while yet

Patches - similarly I hope Jasper continues to thrive

It is hard when it is the first one you lose - I remember how hard it was when Isobel (my first whippet) was PTS, all I could think was that it was the right thing for her

But I'm sure Jasper will be with you for quite some time

 

[Samcook]

Sadly I lost little Shanzee dog on Sunday morning while we were out on our walk with Abby the lurcher. She was running round sniffing and playing one minute, and the next minute I couldn't see her. I walked back down the lane and found her collapsed in the lane. She died a couple of minutes later. I don't know what caused it - she had never had a days illness in her life with me. It looks like her heart just gave up. I had had her 12 years to the day, and got her from the dogs home where she was of unknown but young age. I just can't believe she's gone - she was so full of life, not slowing down at all, and finding everything exciting. A typical Staffie X.

I thought Abby would be the one - she was about 2 or 3 when I got her 12 years ago - she had slight brain damage, a heart murmur, incontinence and a large tumour on her side that was untreatable. After Shanzee had gone she was inconsolable - they had been together so long and loved each other. Abby just kept looking for her and crying. I made the heart wrenching decision to have her put to sleep on monday morning so she could join her 'sister' at Rainbow Bridge.

I am devastated, and my house is so empty without them there, but I wouldn't have been without them all these years.

 

[GinaB]

My Tinadog is now 10 years old and seems to be getting greyer by the day! Although she is still out retrieving

but we make her take it easy and don't let her get carried away. We will retire her at the end of this season and let her take it easy and be spoilt the rest of her life.

 

[Bossdog]

I have a very old lady called Meg (black springador) who is probably about 14 now.... I went to see a derilect farm three years ago that was up for sale and on the 2nd viewing, we found her in the coal shed. So I marched up to the neighbours house and demanded to know what the hell was going on! He said that the old boy had moved out a year ago and left her behind and that he just chucked scraps in to her once a day.... he was a Lincolnshire old boy and saw nothing wrong with keeping a dog in a shed.

He then told me that she was 11 years old and had lived there her whole life, that she had never been for a walk and that the farmer just bred from her. I got the estate agents to ring the vendor and ask if I could have her and said he didn't care if I did or not. So I went up there straight away and stuck her in the car. She was compltley souless, she showed no fear, affection or interest, she was just like an empty body.

In three years she has transformed into the most amazing dog I have ever met, she's a dream to have around. I got her checked out straight away by the vet and she was basically healthy but her ears are thick with scar tissue from years and years of untreated ear infections, her ear flaps feel like they're filled with little sausages, it's so sad. She couldn't walk more than a few metres at a time, she had NO muscle at all. With proper food and gentle exercise she has become fit, livley and still likes to bomb around now and again. The most noticable thing about her is her eyes, when I first got her they were reallly pale amber and now they are dark brown, I think it was just lack of sunlight.

I let her do whatever she likes, but to be honest, she is most content with a nice sleep by the radiator after her tea, at the risk of anthropomorphising, I think she's just grateful, she has never put a foot wrong (well, she weed in the hosue for a while but thats nothing). I am terrified of losing her and am starting to notice her finding it difficult to get up now plus she is totally deaf but as long as she remains the happy little sausage she is, I'm happy. She's had three good years out of us and I'm so glad I found her, just wish it had been earlier.

 

[MurphysMinder]

You are not alone in being paranoid about your oldie. I lost my old GSD last month (she was actually my Mums but had lived with me latterly), she was nearly 14 and had slowed down quite a lot but had been quite perky. she was however stone deaf which meant she didn't wake up when you came in, many a time I thought she had gone but she woke with a start when I touched her. Sadly in the end she didn't go in her sleep and I had to make the decision to pts after she had a stroke. I still have her daughter who is nearly 11 and although she is very good for her age I still worry about her slowing down. She had a mass removed from her mammary glands earlier this year, which was benign, but I am constantly prodding the poor girl to check there are no more nasty lumps.