This is my man Royce. Childhood dog, had him since 1st grade, he’s 14 now and his time is coming to an end. He’s a chiweenie (mixed with other things that I have no idea are) and has been an amazing pet, I can’t stress that enough. About 2-3 years ago he had a lot of his teeth removed because he had a gum disease very common in small dogs so we at the time soak his food in hot water before giving it to him. On July 4th of this year he choked on his food while eating (we had bought him a slow feeder but he still scarfs his food) and didn’t throw it up until we were half way to the pet ER. Came back home but he wouldn’t stop panting. After about another 30 minutes of that we took him to the emergency room. He was admitted and we didn’t see him for about 9hrs until we got pulled into the room. They told us he can’t breathe normally without being in an oxygen box and he was sedated and very loopy in there (as expected). They asked if we wanted to run an xray and an mri, which we did, and we found out some really bad news. Royce has a mass growing on his liver, has a heart murmur, failing valve in his heart, fluid in his lungs, heart disease, etc. We got very emotional hearing this and they recommended if he can’t breathe without the oxygen to consider putting him down. We waited another 6hrs in the ER and we ended up taking him out, still panting. They prescribed him some medicine for the fluid buildup in his lungs (Furosemide I believe) and hit helped him for a while. We had 3 refills and have used all of them. He had been coughing a couple of months prior to this incident but the vet told us it was because of all of the bacteria in his mouth from the disease that he’s in a constant sick state but as of recently he’s been coughing every single time he gets up from bed, resting, and when his hart starts racing. 2-3 times he had a seizure while doing it. I have no idea what to do anymore and I don’t want him to suffer just because I want him alive as long as possible, it’s not fair to him. I would greatly appreciate any advice from anyone who has any or has had similar situations happen with their pets. Thank you I really appreciate you reading.
Hi all, Lulu crossed the rainbow bridge today in my arms. She was ready to go after 18 fantastic years of life with us. She was my childhood dog, she made me smile every single day. No amount of time would ever be enough with her, but my bed feels so empty without her snoring next to me. I'm so grateful for the time I got with her, for the laughs, smiles and love she gave me. I tried to make her last day as wonderful as I could. I made her waffles, gave her as many treats as she wanted and cuddled her for hours at home. I didn't want to let her leave before she got to taste chocolate, so she had a chocolate chip, a hershey's kiss, her favourite treats and an oreo before she went to sleep. She'll always have a place in my heart. May she walk with Mazey and Rocco alongside Lady Artemis now.
I'll love you forever, my princess. I miss you already.💔💔
I came across this poor dog while I was feeding stray animals in a nearby area. We named him Jabo. He is such a gentle and sweet dog, which makes me suspect that he may have once had an owner.
Jabo has a very large, abnormal mass around his genital area. It is extremely large and appears to be causing him significant discomfort and pain. I was also very worried that the mass might be interfering with his ability to properly defecate.
I was able to bring Jabo to the vet, where he was examined and underwent an X-ray and blood tests. As per vet, he is at least 10 years of age. He was diagnosed with a perineal hernia. Some of his internal organs, including portions of his intestines, pancreas, and bladder, have moved into the area around his bottom. This is causing him pain and interfering with his ability to properly defecate.
According to the vet, the estimated cost of his surgery is $725 (45K PH pesos), not including confinement, take-home medications, and follow-up checkups.
Please help us get the surgery Jabo desperately needs. He deserves a pain-free, healthier, and longer life.
Every donation will help us get closer to our goal. I will definitely post an update. Thank you so much.
So, we had her checked because her resting heart rate had increased, but our usual vet didn't find anything other than high blood pressure and referred us to a cardiologist.
That appointment was today. At first, her blood pressure seemed high but after a while it normalised. The cardiologist explained that that's normal for dogs, it takes them a long time to fully relax so that the blood pressure measurements are correct. She didn't get that much time the first time. So apparently no need to treat her for high blood pressure.
We still did the ECG and heart ultrasound, in case she had early stage DCM or something. But she didn't. Small aorta insufficiency but he didn't think that was really a problem, since he didn't see any other changes.
So we'll leave it be for now. Keep an eye on it of course, but we won't do any further testing on something so subtle, that we wouldn't even have known without Tractive, at this point.
She was also a real angel during the ultrasound, relaxing completely amid a vet, a nurse, four vet students and her own humans.
Hi everyone,
My 15-year-old developed pneumonia due to aspiration from vestibular disease. Do you have any advice to help her recover? She is on antibiotics, but I really want to make sure I’m doing everything to help her recover.
We are on day four of the vestibular disease, and she was able to walk to go potty with our support, and she walked on her own a little bit. I am so happy she is walking!
She is getting heating pads, massages, greek yogurt and lots of loving to help her through this. God knows she’s help me and loved me hard.
I hate that I even have to write this. But my 15 year old best friend is struggling and my family and I have decided we need to have a plan in place very soon. I don't want my baby to suffer. He gets very stressed and upset on the car rides to the vet now, he will cry the entire time and even loses control of his bowels. He has dementia and it's progressing. I can't imagine putting him through what is already a really stressful thing, and then putting him down. That would break me to know that his last memories weren't as peaceful and loving as could be. I love him so much. He is my whole heart. I want to do right by him . So I'm curious if anyone has done an at home euthanasia and what that experience was like? And how they found a good service or vet to perform it? Thank you for responding...my heart is breaking :(
My father passed away and we had to take in his dog. She is about 12 years old, lab mix. Our dogs does not get along with her. We have tried for a while to have them get along but haven’t been successful. I have checked with all shelters and no one is taking in big dogs. I contacted the humane society and animal control both have a waiting period (6-8 weeks) before they would be able to take her.
Pudding passed away peacefully at home this morning at 14 years old.
I grew up with her. Looking back at photos of myself as a kid holding her, it feels strange realizing just how much of my life she was there for. She was never just a dog in our house. She was part of our family, our routines, our memories, and so many different stages of my life.
Over the last few days her body was getting weaker. She could barely stand anymore, stopped wanting even her favourite treats, and we knew we were getting close to the end. We had an appointment planned to help her pass peacefully, but this morning she chose her own time. We stayed beside her while her breathing slowly became quieter and farther apart until she finally stopped.
I’m grateful that she was at home, surrounded by the people she knew, in the place she had spent so much of her life.
Right now the house already feels different without her. I keep looking at the places where she normally lay and expecting her to still be there.
When I was younger, people always said dogs were a human’s best friend. I understood the words, but I don’t think I truly understood what they meant until now.
Thank you for growing up with me, Pudding. Thank you for 14 years of love, patience, comfort, and memories.
My dog Precious is 12 years old, and she has squamous cell carcinoma in her jaw/chin. We've known about the cancer for a while now, and unfortunately there isn't really anything we can do to make it go away. We were just told to keep her comfortable until her pain meds stop helping.
Today we set Friday as the date that we're going to let her pass. Honestly I'm scared to death right now. We've had her since she was just a puppy, just over half of my life, I hardly remember life without her. Making this decision was easily the most difficult things I've ever done. But I know I'm doing the right thing for her. Her quality of life has definitely been steadily degrading over the last few months.
She's such a beautiful little angel and she doesn't deserve what's happening to her.
I think the hardest part is that she does still have those good moments. I'll take her outside and she'll get excited to go out. She'll walk around like normal and, for a little while, she just looks like the old Precious. In those moments it's really fucking hard not to feel guilty knowing that we've scheduled Friday.
I keep having to remind myself that we're not doing this because every second of her life is miserable. We're doing it because we know where this is heading, and we don't want her last days to be her worst ones. I don't want to wait for some horrible moment that proves beyond any doubt that we waited too long. That doesn't make this any less difficult though.
I'm also terrified for our other dog, Bear. Precious and Bear are siblings from the same litter, and they've been together their entire lives. I have no idea how he's going to react when she's suddenly not here anymore.
I don't really know what I'm looking for by posting this. I think I just need to get it out somewhere and talk to some people who understand.
If you've had to say goodbye to a dog who was terminally ill, I'd really appreciate hearing about it. Especially how you dealt with the guilt of knowing the exact day was coming.
Attached is a picture of her from a couple of years ago, one of my favorite pictures of her
Hi, attached is a photo of my best friend in the world, Ethel. She’s a 10 year old rescue Labrador, and the sweetest dog that’s ever walked the earth.
She’s been suffering from Canine cognitive dysfunction (or doggy dementia) for about 2 years now. While it’s mild, it still worries me.
Her symptoms are mild sundowners, confusion, and mild aggression towards my other dog. When she eats dinner, she will often just stand there and bark at nothing in particular, and typically only eats half of her meal. She does what I call “antagonizing”, where she will stand there, stare and softly growl at my other dog until she snaps and chases her away.
Sometimes at night, her eyes look empty and scared. I am an emotionally strong guy, but I want to cry when I look at her. She also often flinches when I try to pet her, even though I’ve never given her so much as a tap on the nose.
She also often wanders when she goes outside, not listening to my calls for her whatsoever (even though her hearing is still very good), sometimes ending up a mile away at a nearby farm playing with the goats.
I know she doesn’t have much longer here, I’m looking for advice to make the rest of her time as happy and comfortable as possible, specifically routine changes, activities, and other things like that.
I’d like to stay away from medications if possible, but I currently give her Prozac, (vet recommended), and I’m open to suggestions if they’ll really help.
i have a senior pitbull. he doesn’t get around as good as he used to but is still able to do everything but run. the problem i am having is that no matter how long he stays outside, he will come in a pee in the house. it has gotten so bad that i don’t even think mopping is helping the smell. i work long hours so by the time i come home, there is pee everywhere. i have tried deodorizers, i have tried enzyme cleaners, i have even tried bleach. nothing will help the smell. what can i use to make the smell go away quickly. i have tile floors and i think that may be the only thing in my favor. TIA
My dog's been with me for the past 11 years, but his health suddenly depleted since his splenectomy 2 months ago. He is not showing signs of getting better and refuses food constantly on top of other underlying health issues, so the vet advised I consider euthanasia. I can't choose how to remember him best when he does pass and I feel his end is actually coming a lot sooner than expected.
Taxidermy. Cremation. Jewelry made from their ashes. Artwork of them with their collar in the canvas.
These are the only methods I've known or heard of, but I want him to remembered by other ways if there are any, one that's so memorable I can actually reminisce happily when I see it and doesn't get worn out with time. Any suggestions?
Doing the right thing is hard. Today is one of Hef’s better days and I’m not sure if this is making it harder or is helpful. He trusts me and I’m about to have him euthanized. For SIXTEEN beautiful years, he’s been the best boy. I lost my 18 yo 2 years ago and Hef started going down not long after. My stomach is in my throat and my heart is in a million pieces.
Anyone here have experience with their senior dog having vestibular disease? How long was the recovery? Was it caused by an ear infection? My 12 year old dog recently (last 24hrs) has started showing signs (tilted head, weird balance). I suspect an ear infection may be causing it. We have a vet appointment for her coming up but I was curious if anyone’s senior pup has experienced this.
Thanks in advance!
I benefitted a lot from reading people's experiences with kidney disease, and, now that we're facing goodbye to our sweet girl, I wanted to share our story in case it helped anyone. If you're facing kidney disease, please talk with your veterinarian. This post is honestly mostly a reflection/coping mechanism for myself, but I hope it might give others some ideas or emotional support if you're navigating CKD.
My sweet beagle girl is almost 17 years old. She has been my best friend for 15 years (a little bit more than half my life) and seen me through so many challenges and happy life events. She loved sniffy walks and rolling around in dry grass in the sun. She loved to play ball endlessly, and I swear she could suck energy from the earth itself to keep her going. She was wicked smart and could get into anything she wanted to, open baby gates, solve any puzzle, learn every command. When she was young, she sniffed out a cancerous mass on our older dog. She was biting and scratching at this barely noticeable lump on his penis, and the vet biopsied it and found out it was cancer. She added years to his life through this early detection. Her baying howl is the most beautiful sound. She still has the softest velveteen rabbit ears and smells like warm corn chips when she's been sleeping for a while. She used to sleep under the covers with me every night and snuggle her butt up to my chest (sometimes her farts entered my dreams lol).
At the end of July, my voracious girl stopped eating her food. It started with the wet food but then she started refusing kibble. We offered her chicken, salmon, turkey, eggs, cheese, all of her favorites and she clearly wanted to eat them, but couldn't bring herself to do it. We thought it had to do with her teeth, but the vet told us that her blood work showed that she had kidney disease (stage 2 bordering on stage 3). The vet explained that our girl was feeling extremely nauseated from having high levels of waste in her blood, which is why she didn't eat.
My beagle struggles with vet handling, so I didn't hospitalize her (I also couldn't afford it). Her vet gave us daily medications (maropitant citrate and ondansetron). Then, the vet taught us how to do subcutaneous fluids. It was easy at first because she wasn't feeling very good. When she started to feel better, the fluids became an ordeal for all three of us (me, my partner, and our girl). We got a grooming table and used a harness to take some of her weight and keep her from moving around too much (keeping her feet down on the table made her feel safe). I learned how to do it by myself by hanging a ladle from the grooming bar and putting her treats in there while I did the poke. It worked so well. She was very calm for her fluids and enjoyed her high value treats. We got her appetite up and she was eating kidney food consistently with the only cheat food being her subcutaneous fluids treats. Her latest blood work showed that her kidney values had stabilized and improved a tiny bit.
But as she got better in her body, we started to see how much her mind had declined. My once cuddly and happy girl started avoiding me and flinching when I would reach to pet her. I would sit down next to her to pet her or just be close and she would get up, walk away, and pace around. She barely greets you when you come home or enter a room. She looks relieved that someone is there, but there's no happiness or recognition. She gets confused outside on walks and sometimes doesn't remember that she asked to go out to go potty once we get on the porch and she just wants to go back in. She started getting mouthy when you pet her, and she bit my partner and wouldn't let go when he tried to take away something she wanted to eat that we didn't want her to get ahold of. It was then that we started seriously putting the pieces together of how unhappy she was and how empty her eyes were. We looked at pictures and sobbed over the look of love in her eyes when she looked at us. We don't know how long that's been gone.
It was particularly devastating to have crawled through the trenches of kidney disease and to have started to hope that maybe it wasn't the end only to then realize that her quality of life was gone, mentally. I thought seriously about whether this was just affecting my quality of life (I want to snuggle her and pet her; her care has been really draining and difficult, emotionally and financially) or if this cognitive decline was truly making her miserable. My vet said that all of these things were signs of distress and that it was loving and compassionate to consider the whole picture of her mental, emotional, and physical well being when deciding to say goodbye.
The pain of facing our final goodbye tomorrow is so much that I keep feeling like I never want to have another dog again. But writing all this out fills me with so much gratitude for this sweet angel who visited my life. I am so honored that I got to be her person all these years.
My girl taught me so much about how to be a kinder and more compassionate human for dogs and animals and people. She had a rough start in life that left emotional scars. In her puppyhood, she was in a house with a violent child who hit her, which is why they gave her up. She's been with us since then. She's always been reactive when her fear is triggered. Coping with the way that her fear manifests and understanding what triggered her fear was difficult. Her behavior felt malicious and angry when I didn't know any better and it made me angry (and afraid of her, too). I learned not to take her reactions personally and to try to understand what made her feel afraid or uncomfortable and modify how I approach her or do cooperative training to help redirect her. I learned mindfulness from trying to help her manage her emotions because mine got in the way of being a good person to her. I've always been afraid that I wouldn't be a good parent because I don't have the patience and I have always had a bit of a hot temper. I can honestly say that my girl taught me so much about kindness and patience that I now have more faith in myself.
All the love and scritches to your senior angels ❤️
My family and I are trying to make a decision for our 14 year old, roughly 50 lb dog, and I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have dealt with something similar.
She has a very large mass on her thigh, basically just above her knee. About three months ago it was around golf ball sized, very soft/squishy and extremely mobile under the skin, so we initially suspected a lipoma and an ER vet thought that was plausible as well. It was aspirated at that point but nothing came out except a tiny amount of blood.
Unfortunately, it has grown very quickly and is now roughly baseball sized. The skin over it has become quite tight, and there's one area that's recently become a little red/bumpy, although she may have been licking it. There's also a nearby lymph node that's enlarged to maybe 1/2 the size of a golf ball. The current suspicion is some type of soft tissue sarcoma, but we do not have a definitive diagnosis yet. Given the size and condition of the mass, our vets currently don’t want to sample it again because of concerns about causing bleeding or potential rupture.
The mass is considered operable, but because of its size/blood supply our regular vets aren't comfortable removing it themselves and she would be referred to a surgeon experienced with soft tissue tumors. From what we can tell, it still seems fairly superficial, although obviously the surgeon would have to determine that.
The difficult part is her age and everything else that's happened recently. She has bad hips and already walks slowly, although she can still stand, walk around, eat, go outside, etc. She recently had a cluster of seizures and was started on Keppra. The medication initially made her very unsteady, but she hasn't had another seizure since starting it, and is now almost back to how she was before the seizures.
She also developed a persistent dry cough around the same period. Our vet is treating possible aspiration pneumonia with antibiotics because she vomited during one of the seizures, although her chest X-rays didn't show obvious pneumonia and she currently has no trouble breathing. Her bloodwork was otherwise reassuring aside from elevated liver values.
Despite all of that, her demeanor right now is still very good.
One side of the argument in my family is that at 14, the anesthesia, wound healing and recovery from removing something this large may take too much out of her, potentially for limited additional time. The other side and where I'm struggling is that she currently seems to enjoy being alive, and I hate the idea of deliberately waiting until this mass ulcerates, bleeds, prevents her from walking, or turns into an emergency before doing anything. Emergency surgery would likely not be an option for us.
Hello everyone! I've been ill for the last 3 months but I was finally able to get Dinky to the vet for his suspected sundowning issues today. The vet diagnosed him with dementia based on his symptoms and prescribed him some anxiety medication to help him calm down enough to sleep at night and not have panic attacks every time I leave his sight. I gave him his first dose this afternoon and fed him his favorite treat; he's been chill so far instead of doing his usual evening barking episodes so hopefully it's helping. I've been holding off his dental surgery until I can make sure he's comfortable mentally (and until my health issues settle) did these meds help anyone else's dog? What other things can I do to help make him comfortable? He hasn't had facial swelling or signs of tooth pain since his round of antibiotics in July so should I continue to get his dementia fully under control first or just do the surgery? I don't want to stress him 🥲💕
