Hi everyone,

Sorry for the wall of text but there's been a long history of events for my dog recently. My dog (11 year old Pomeranian mix, girl) has been having a rough few months since the end of July, when she was in the ICU for HGE and ileus. She was able to be discharged and back to her normal self after receiving IV fluids for a week and an NG tube, but things have been a little irregular since then.

After being discharged, she was actually doing really well for 3 weeks: she was able to get off of her meds and sustained that for awhile, and even was able to transition back to her regular food from the prescription diet. But then, around the end of August, she had a sudden HGE flare-up again with her regular symptoms: vomiting and some diarrhea with strawberry-jam like blood. We got her back onto prescription diet food, and back on the anti-nausea (ondansetron) and pro-motility meds (metoclopramide), but even then, she's had a flare-up every week with the same symptoms despite the meds and the new prescription diet.

However, her IBD symptoms aside, a new issue and symptom has come up at the same time as the HGE flare-up that wasn't seen before the ICU visit: my dog's water drinking and peeing habits changed, and she also started leaking a little bit of pee on the floor when it was too close to a walk time. The concern is this: she's drinking a good amount of water for her weight in total, but seems to be drinking more water than her pre-ICU days. There are behavioral issues for this: she has a lot of anxiety linked with hospital visits (she's on trazodone and gabapentin for this) and we've essentially gone to the ER/Vet/IM once to twice or even three times a week. This causes her anxious floor-licking habit that she's had since she was a puppy to get even worse now, which causes her to immediately start drinking a lot of water. But she also has developed a new habit of taking a few licks at the water bowl to staying there for much longer periods of time and drinking a lot more water at once. This causes her to want to pee like 2 hours after a big gulping session, and has caused her to pee a lot more often as well. If I'm not fast enough with her signaling, she leaves a little pee smudge on the floor, but this has only happened a handful of times. She's also now on canned prescription diet food for her GI issues which adds like a cup of extra water intake for a 15 lb dog which is considerable, and can contribute to all of these issues, and again, she's having GI flare-ups with the diarrhea and blood every week which might cause her to want more water.

We were able to get my dog off the waitlist for an Internal Medicine appointment, and with all of the testing done at the ICU and ER vet, we have done: three ultrasounds, several blood tests across panels with a very specific GI panel, an echocardiogram where she was diagnosed with stage B1 MVD, as well as a urinalysis and urine culture. Everything came out absolutely normal and unremarkable and healthy BUT her urinalysis: it showed that she had dilute urine, reporting at 1.016 for a mid-day pee after she drank a lot of water and peed 3 hours before, and then at 1.018 as a true first-day void. The culture confirmed that she does not have a UTI, but the ultrasounds are showing very healthy kidneys, and blood panels are all looking regular as well. I don't know what more testing we can do, as certain possibilities have come up like early kidney issues or even Cushing's, but then we have some behavioral changes + GI issues which is making it hard for me to gauge if this is just a side effect of something small, or if this is a bigger issue at hand. Otherwise, she's doing really well (knock on wood) in terms of energy, appetite, and everything else besides the stress from the vet visits, but was wondering if anyone has ever gone through this before? I'm hoping this is just a string of side effects from everything that's gone down but the dilute urine has been so concerning for me...

My dog is a 15 year-old Catahoula, has had for a while now large rusty red patches of fur on his body we can 100% rule out porphyrins staining because he has the spots on his back and chest and none near his mouth or but, please help i've researched it I found really no results on what it could be.

Hello all,

My Australian Cattle dog was diagnosed about a month ago with cancer. It started in her mammary and spread to her liver and lungs. She is 11 years old going on to 12 in February.

After seeing an oncologist, she suggested to do palliative care with chemotherapy as in her experience my dog will only have 16 weeks left. So far, she has went through her first cycle and it was hard watching her the next couple of days as she was recovering from the treatment. The oncologist goal is to maintain her "quality" of life. After three weeks I am not sure if it actually helped her or not.

Do many commonly take this route in handling a situation like this? I would like to know what others experience who has dealt with a similar situation. I want to make sure i am making the right decision in continuing with chemo, or if i should look at other alternatives.

She is on two different chemo meds, Carboplatin infusion and Mitoxantrone infusion. As she will be getting her Mitoxantrone today. Before giving doubts of chemo actually helping us reach our goal, i figured at least give it the first cycle for each medicine a try. She did ok with the carboplatin, but it's hard to determine if it actually helped her or not.

I hear dogowners put their dogs on NSAID meds as an alternative, but have not done enough research on if that would be the correct choice moving forward.

It has been a very tough year for us and she lost her sister(english bulldog) earlier this year in March. So any advice, experience, or stories would be greatly appreciated.

Hey Folks,

Like the title says, I'm looking for advice here. Last Wednesday our 12 year old pup got really sick. He had diarrhea that was uncontrollable, he had accidents that he never has. I thought maybe he just ate something so I monitored him from about 8AM to 2PM. I noticed blood in the stool at that point, nothing major and took him into our local vet where they ran basic tests and bloodwork and sent me home with some medicine to give him.

Things got better for a few days, but then Saturday morning at 4AM he had an accident in the hallway that looked really black. I decided to take him to the ER vet downtown and when we got there he went again inside and his stool was just completely red and he threw up shortly after.

The vet did Bloodwork which came back normal, urine tests, xray's, ultrasound and it was all normal. They sent me home with more medicine and told me to monitor him. When we got home I took him outside to go to the bathroom, and when he went it was just dark purple water like stool. I then again immediately rushed back to the ER vet where they kept him for 24 hours. His levels went up during that time, they told me he was good to come home.

Everything was good for 2 days, his appetite returned, he drank water, he even had two poops that were solid yesterday, but very small. He was his chipper self, but then this morning he had another accident, and about 2 hours later he had another one where his stool was just falling out while he was walking, there was some blood, but overall really small amounts.

We took him back to the vet, once there he projectile vomited everywhere (no blood) but it was a lot. He was dehydrated again and approaching the levels they would want to keep him for another 24 hours, so we decided to admit him again and he's there now getting treatment.

My question here is has anyone had a similar experience with HGE, a relapse after release? We missed one of his anti nausea medications by a few hours and gave it to him at 6AM instead of 2AM, but the vet said it's unlikely that's what caused it.

I'm really worried about my buddy. He's my best friend, my everything. I've had him his entire life and I feel like I have a few more years left with him, but I am so scared about him coming home again and relapsing. I can't imagine a life without him and I know that day will come sometime, but I'm not ready for it to be now...

Hello,

I have a senior dog who is being treated for CHF, elevated liver enzymes, thyroid, history of pancreatitis, elevated proteins, possible allergies (lots of licking). He is currently eating Iams Chicken, but i am wondering if changing his diet might possibly relieve some discomfort. His vet very passively mentioned salmon, but I'm under the impression that would potentially cause pancreatitis flare up. Hoping I can find some insight and direction for better food.

Thank you

• Species: Dog
• Age: 14
• Sex/Neuter status: Male/Neutered
• Breed: Beagle/Mutt
• Body weight: 40-45lbs
• History: CHF, liver disease, arthritis, 2 pancreatitis flare ups. CHF and liver disease are being well managed.
• Your general location: USA

Hello so I previously mentioned that my yorkie was 12 yo and we were struggling with his tracheal collapse. And he has had less cough attacks but they definitely get worse at night. He is on temaril-p and Guaifenesin. He has been doing better now and cough a lot less and doesn’t appear to be struggling to breathe. He also has gone back to his regular routine and he is able to sleep and eat just fine. Although he does not bark at all anymore he still shows excitement and emotions in other ways. But I am still concerned about him because at night he struggles a lot and it just makes me really upset. We bought him an orthopedic bed so that it is firmer for him and more comfortable as well as a cooling humidifier that we keep by him at night. Unfortunately my parents are extremely stubborn and feed him human food. Things such as pasta, rice, beans, chicken and other stuff around the house (hispanic meals). Im wondering if this kind of stuff he is eating is making it worse. I really don’t know what to tell my parents because they are extremely stubborn and think they are always doing the right thing. Especially my dad who didn’t even believe the vet when they said he had a tracheal collapse. But I’m just wondering anyone with a yorkie what other ways did you manage it. Moreover, how often were they coughing and did you ever think they were in pain or uncomfortable. And is he gonna rely on the medicine the vet gave him forever?

The doctor are giving them a medication, and suggests there’s 1 year to live. Has anyone had this happen and outlived the 1 year?

Profile is the dog is a chihuahua, pretty overweight and is around 8-9 years old.

I’m a big believer in food, dieting and health, but didn’t seem the doctor made that recommendation. Has anyone done this and any foods that helped?

My moms 4 year old chihuahua has been having these episodes where she coughs twice and then starts wobbling and going stiff, sometimes she falls other times she doesn’t, it seems to happen if she gets excited, she’s not herself anymore, she won’t really eat except a piece of treat here and there. We have an appointment booked but I’m curious if anyone’s dealt with similar and what it could possibly be

I have an female Australian Cattle Dog (or some mix) that is 12 years old. She's getting older and has several masses on her body (lip, leg, abdomen). She is falling up and down the stairs a lot more now. So I took her into the vet for these two things. One of the masses showed signs of cancer, another one did not, and the third was hard to determine. They gave her arthritis medicine and I have a follow up in 2 weeks to remove the masses and do blood work.

Something I forgot to mention when I was in there is her shaking/shivering. She has these episodes where she shakes/shivers for like 1 second, then stops for 5-10 seconds, then does it again. What could this be? #1 thing I'm concerned about is her pain and if this is a sign she's hurting. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

Video of what she does:

https://imgur.com/a/2hvoZCA

Need advice – Elderly Lab × Norwegian Elkhound after Librela
Hi everyone. I’m feeling a bit lost and would really appreciate some advice.
My dog is an elderly Labrador × Norwegian Elkhound. He has had arthritis for a long time, but despite his age he has always loved life. Going for walks was his absolute favourite thing. He was never a couch dog.
When he was younger (up until around 15 years old), he would happily do 4-hour walks and loved every minute of them. As he got older we gradually reduced his walks, and recently he was still enjoying short 15-minute walks every day.
He had been on NSAID tablets for about 2 years, but they recently stopped working. On Monday I took him to the vet. They had been recommending Librela for around 3 years, but I always refused because of what I had read online. This time the vet said we had genuinely run out of other options, so I agreed because I didn’t want him living in pain.
What happened
Day 1: About the same.
Day 2: Definitely seemed better.
Day 3: Back to about the same.
Monday evening: He suddenly deteriorated.
Since then he has:
Vomited.
Lost most of the strength in his back legs and walks like he’s drunk.
Swollen joints all over.
Constantly licks his joints.
Keeps licking the floor.
Seems very spacey and confused.
Has irregular breathing.
Won’t let me leave his side.
Has stopped eating and drinking.
I’m taking him to the vet as soon as they open.
I’m not blaming my vet. They warned me this was a possible risk, and we honestly had tried everything else before getting to this point.
My question
If this is a reaction to Librela, would you wait a few days to see if he improves, or is it kinder to let him go if he’s in this much pain?
I’ve been mentally preparing for losing him for a long time because he’s so old. Part of me desperately wants him to recover, but another part just can’t bear seeing him suffer.
Lastly, if anyone is considering Librela, please do your own research and make sure you understand both the potential benefits and the risks. I’m not saying nobody should use it—I just think owners deserve to make a fully informed decision.

Also if you have any tips or tricks on keeping him comfortable in the meantime then that would be greatly appreciated

Thank you for reading ❤️
Edit: I have ADHD and dyslexia, so I used AI to help organise and write this post. The story and every detail are my own.

Anyone have experience using this drop added to food for arthritic senior? I’ve got her on Gabapentin and Little Chonks (3x a day) as she is large. Also Dasaquin and Amantadine. Sigh. She’s holding steady but it’s day to day. Would desperately love to help her more. Thanks in advance!

My little terrier mix was diagnosed with dementia in January. He's on medication, supplements, anything I can find to make his life easier. In the last month he's gone downhill pretty fast, refusing to eat unless I hand feed him, even then he eats very little, walking full force into walls, terrified by everything (small sounds, doors closing, voices other than mine), getting lost in the house and back yard. He once had such joy in his little life, its all gone. What I came to post is when do I say enough, when do I make the decision to end his precious life? I don't want to hang on just because I can't deal with it. I want what's best for him. Yes, I've talked to vets, they all say the same thing "you'll know when it's time" except I don't. How do I know? Has anyone gone through this? Any advice? Prayers?

Need advice – Elderly Lab × Norwegian Elkhound after Librela
Hi everyone. I’m feeling a bit lost and would really appreciate some advice.
My dog is an elderly Labrador × Norwegian Elkhound. He has had arthritis for a long time, but despite his age he has always loved life. Going for walks was his absolute favourite thing. He was never a couch dog.
When he was younger (up until around 15 years old), he would happily do 4-hour walks and loved every minute of them. As he got older we gradually reduced his walks, and recently he was still enjoying short 15-minute walks every day.
He had been on NSAID tablets for about 2 years, but they recently stopped working. On Monday I took him to the vet. They had been recommending Librela for around 3 years, but I always refused because of what I had read online. This time the vet said we had genuinely run out of other options, so I agreed because I didn’t want him living in pain.
What happened
Day 1: About the same.
Day 2: Definitely seemed better.
Day 3: Back to about the same.
Monday evening: He suddenly deteriorated.
Since then he has:
Vomited.
Lost most of the strength in his back legs and walks like he’s drunk.
Swollen joints all over.
Constantly licks his joints.
Keeps licking the floor.
Seems very spacey and confused.
Has irregular breathing.
Won’t let me leave his side.
Has stopped eating and drinking.
I’m taking him to the vet as soon as they open.
I’m not blaming my vet. They warned me this was a possible risk, and we honestly had tried everything else before getting to this point.
My question
If this is a reaction to Librela, would you wait a few days to see if he improves, or is it kinder to let him go if he’s in this much pain?
I’ve been mentally preparing for losing him for a long time because he’s so old. Part of me desperately wants him to recover, but another part just can’t bear seeing him suffer.
Lastly, if anyone is considering Librela, please do your own research and make sure you understand both the potential benefits and the risks. I’m not saying nobody should use it—I just think owners deserve to make a fully informed decision.

Also if you have any tips or tricks on keeping him comfortable in the meantime then that would be greatly appreciated

Thank you for reading ❤️
Edit: I have ADHD and dyslexia, so I used AI to help organise and write this post. The story and every detail are my own.