'Premonition' feeling

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SadKen

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I have a strange feeling that my old boy (who I recently posted about, slowing up on our walks and dropping weight, he's a 10yo GSD) might be reaching the end.

Nothing specific, he isn't himself (had a dodgy tummy the last two days I think because I gave him some cooked meat in an attempt to spoil him). He's been up and down constantly and whimpering quite a lot, wants a cuddle one minute then be on his own the next, OH and I didn't sleep last night because he wouldn't settle, so we both got up to him and in the end I stayed up... He's still hungry and wants to go on his walks but I have the strangest feeling that he won't be here much longer.

We are off to the vets tomorrow to discuss additional pain relief for his hips. OH mentioned earlier that he has considered that he might have an internal cancer, which had occurred to me too with the weight loss. We would only treat for pain and PTS is appropriate if this was the case, same as with the hips.

I hope I'm wrong (i am a total pessimist and didnt think he would see 10, which he has) and it's just additional pain and we can alleviate it. Weird feeling.

Pointless post really. There's outwardly nothing wrong. Nothing we can do that we haven't already done. And I'm probably just being daft. Someone give me a slap!
 
Thanks PS, yeah I rather think he is, even if it's just that his hips are hurting and his poorly tummy is making him not want to be here any more. Perhaps some better pain relief will put a new perspective on things for him but I know an hour is a long time for a dog, and even longer for anything in pain.

I would take him to the vets now but to be perfectly honest I have zero tangible reason to do so, and he has form, because once he went so lame that we thought he had broken his leg, but when we got him to the vets 5 mins later he bounced out of the car like a pup and made liars of us all. (He is on pardale so has certainly had some pain relief, otherwise I would take him now).
 
I hope things go well at the vets and that the problem is one that can be easily treated. If he is unsettled at night it may be that he cannot get comfortable with his hips.

If he has an upset tummy they might prescribe Ranitidine for a few days, though are sometimes reluctant to give it to older dogs as it affects the kidneys.

I hope it is nothing too serious.
 
SadKen said:
Thanks PS, yeah I rather think he is, even if it's just that his hips are hurting and his poorly tummy is making him not want to be here any more. Perhaps some better pain relief will put a new perspective on things for him but I know an hour is a long time for a dog, and even longer for anything in pain.

I would take him to the vets now but to be perfectly honest I have zero tangible reason to do so, and he has form, because once he went so lame that we thought he had broken his leg, but when we got him to the vets 5 mins later he bounced out of the car like a pup and made liars of us all. (He is on pardale so has certainly had some pain relief, otherwise I would take him now).
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Yes it does have to be a true emergency to go for a vet visit at this time of night doesn't it? Could you ring your vet and ask if it is possible to increase the dose of the painkiller he is on now, until you can get him to the surgery tomorrow?
Fingers crossed that the vet can make a difference tomorrow.
 
Thanks both :) we have already been given the flexibility limits on the Pardale in case he needed a bit more, there is room for us to give him another dose overnight if he gets up. He is sleeping at the moment bless him. I am morbidly watching his chest rise and fall on dog cam which isn't doing much for my comfort levels. Glad I never had kids!
 
I feel for you so much SadKen - I got like this with Hoover before I had to make the decision for him, and now I watch poor Flick (who will be 12 in January) very closely. Elderly dogs are so much more stressful than puppies, I absolutely hate it but at the same time I adore them and would do anything for them. I hope you are wrong and it is his hips that are causing him discomfort xx
 
10? I dunno, my old boy has had a day or so like this in the past, but the minute I think about doing a vet visit, he rallied and was literally dancing round at tea time. As my OH says, sick as a dog then suddenly fabulous again. Last week, he was walking round crouched for an hour and didn’t want his tea. Later, he’s dancing at the sight of the pigs ears. Odd.

Let us know how he is tomorrow.
 
He is still with us this morning, settled better last night, only one call to let him out for the loo. He is a bit sad still, and he didn't really want anything to eat this morning so I gave him some more tempting stuff which he eventually ate.

So in some ways better, in some worse... he does seem to be having quite a few 'absent' moments where he doesn't seem to be in his body for want of a better word - he just becomes static and pays no attention to stimuli, then seems to rouse himself if I insist.

Hopefully I'm reading too much into it. I'm leaving work at lunch to go check on him, then we have the vet at 4.40. I'll pop back with an update after we have seen the vet.
 
We have just got back from the vet. Some good news, the vet said he is tender in his cranial abdomen but can't feel anything sinister. Thinks it may be a touch of pancreatitis brought on by fatty food which he did have earlier this week because I gave him some sausage as a treat. So he has had a jab for sickness and we will give him a bland diet. And we have tramadol for his hips in the evening. So hopefully that'll hit the pain properly. The vet says his weight loss looks to be mostly muscle and he has lost 1kg in a year. He's now down to 39kg. So looking a lot better than I thought although we still need to be aware that he is getting old quite fast. I can sleep tonight now. Hopefully!

I have given myself half a slap but I'm pleased I took him as I'm sure he will be more comfy with the tramadol. He looks a bit better for his outing anyway.
 
Good news! You were right though that he was telling you that he was uncomfortable, you listened and he now has some treatment to make him feel better.

You should all sleep better tonight!
 
Bless your old boy: glad it looks like nothing serious.

However, as much as I don’t want to be the downer to your good news, I felt something ‘wasn’t right’ with my GSD nearly 2 years ago now when he was just 5. Husband brushed it off and I decided to go to vets anyway. Gave us antibiotics encase he had an upset tummy- showed discomfort touched there. But made no difference. Seemed in pain and just a bit off. But eating and keen to go out. Sadly we then decided to investigate further and ultrasound showed he was riddled with cancer and we decided to PTS less than a week later while he still had some spark left.

However, I did have to slap myself a few months ago: I thought the cat was acting strange. Nearly booked vets and tried to remember where her cage was as she hasn’t seen a vet in years. Turns out it was just the heat- she was too busy sun bathing to bother coming in to eat. Now it’s cold I can barely get her out of the house. I was googling cat behaviour changes and leaping to serious conclusions!
 
Ahh Pippi I'm so sorry, that's really sad. I do believe that there remains the potential for it to be something worse as does the vet, so we will treat for pancreatitis and see how he goes.he is booked in for next week as a check up with a view to further simple tests if still amiss. We will treat the same as the hips of it does happen to be cancer though, I.e. there will be minimal testing, no treatment as such just palliative, and when he wants to go we will let him go.

All roads lead to that unfortunately; either he loses the use of his legs due to the hip problem or it becomes too painful to continue. We are ready for that and I think he will be ready within the next few months anyway, but if we get a little while longer that's great, provided his pain is managed. He's 10 so I think he's done well.

I fed him at lunch today and he didn't want to eat and was whimpering a lot, managed to get his pardale in then I had to leave for a while to muck out, and I was worried I'd come back and find him dead or in huge distress. Luckily not the case. I worry about that happening as I think my younger GSD will be very distressed; he also has hardly ever been alone and will be for a while when we lose our old boy which I am worried about. If this gives us a chance to choose when he goes with a bit more flexibility as to advance warning and location, that will be preferable.

The price of loving a dog always feels high when the balance is coming due. He's been a great lad tho. I've added a pic of him on his 10th birthday 3 weeks ago. He's on the left.

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He is gorgeous.
Yes the price of love is grief when they go. have two more dogs now and a second child but I still miss my boy daily. It makes me sad that my first son won’t remember his time with him.

What ever the case I’m sure he will have a wonderful time to the very end with you
 
I’ve only just read your thread and I’m so relieved to hear he has more time left yet. It’s easy to jump to drastic conclusions when our furry friends are getting on a bit, especially if they’ve suffered with poor health or ailments for a while.

What a lovely photo of your two shepherds.
 
what beautiful dogs and i really feel for you. i had a similar problem with my lurcher, she had arthritis in her hips and tramadol didnt help as it upset her digestion and didnt seem to help with the pain. she was almost 13 and as we couldnt get her comfortable i made that horrible decision. hopefully you will have your boy for a bit longer and from the sound of your post you are watching him all of the time and will know if its time....hope the medication works
 
Thanks so much for the kind words all.

He is still with us at the moment and although still a bit sad he does seem to be rallying a little. He is now eating again, he's just on chappie at the moment which seems to be settling his tum, and he's back to normal toileting (a relief for everyone as nobody in the house slept between Wednesday and Sunday). He is still slightly steady when eating which is unlike him, but it's all getting eaten.

He had a little wriggle on his back on the rug this morning, which he hasn't done for a few days.

Don't think we are quite out of the woods (and we are not kidding ourselves, this may be the beginning of the final decline) but I think the pain has abated relatively well.

He looks rather old now, but I think he may well recover some of his old cheer for a little while yet. Fingers x'd anyway, and we will certainly be continuing to make sure he has as nice a time as he can while he is here. Although this will no longer include fun food like sausages!
 
I noticed you said he was on Pardale twice a day. Did you know the effects of Pardale only last for 8 hours and it can be given 3 times a day at 8 hourly intervals? It might be something to discuss with your vet if he is still in pain.
 
Hi SD- yeah we've gone up to 3x a day now :) he seems relatively pleased with the extra meal, although if I'd offered him an extra meal a week ago he'd have been made up!

He'll be back on metacam as well once his tum has improved. He's pretty much rattling! The vet said he may be a bit dopey until he gets used to the tramadol. I think he's higher than a hippy on the 3rd day of a festival at the moment.
 
It is so worrying when you know, realistically, that your pet is approaching the end but you don't want to make 'the decision' unnecessarily. Like you, I always try to judge quality of life and if medication can improve that enough to give enjoyment to all concerned then it doesn't really matter if they are as high as a kite. Fingers crossed that the improvement continues.
 
I feel for you so much SadKen! I'm glad he has perked up a little and is eating again, hopefully you can keep him comfortable, pain free and eating so he can have quality of life for a while longer yet
 
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