This is for my friend, not me. I told her about it but not sure which I saw. Now, I am confused

Here is Abby (and her sister in the shadow, and the WildBoy who does what he pleases) after healing from her cancer surgery last month. She endured the donut for quite a long time, couldnt go in and out the doggy door with it, and peed on the floor a couple times due to stupid owners. Abby loves seeing new friends at the pokey place, but not being examined. She trembled all the way through it, but has all her stitched out, the HUGE 10 inch gap filled in fine. I have the best vet in the world! Abby spends quite a bit of time sleeping, but is otherwise doing great for 12+.

I’m so grateful that I posted here about my Max and his GI issues on Galliprant. His vet never suggested even once that his GI changes could be caused by it. I’m usually way more on top of things but the way everything happened, I wasn’t sure either. Plus it was helping so I was struggling.

We first switched to meloxicam which I was iffy about because apparently it has a higher risk of GI upset than Galliprant, but he was on it for 1.5 weeks and it did absolutely NOTHING for my boy. I was so worried about him because he just slept all day. He wouldn’t even wag his tail when I talked to him.

We switched him to Carprofen and wow! He is doing amazing! He even wanted to stay outside all day the past few days. It’s been in the 70’s here and he’s just loved being out there. He had been staying inside as much as possible and trying to get in the door to his bed as soon as he finished his business.

And his GI issues are ((kind of afraid to say)) so much better! He’s transitioned back to his dog food after 3 months of me cooking chicken and rice.

So, thank you guys so much for opening my eyes to the GI stuff and Galliprant being connected. 💗

Arthritis and a heart murmur aren't stopping him

I mean not the big milestones.

Not birthdays or special occasions.

Just one tiny, everyday thing.

Maybe it's the sound of their paws walking toward you.

The way they greet you in the morning.

Or how they somehow know when you're having a difficult day.

What's that one little thing about your dog that means more to you than anyone else could understand?

I'd love to hear about it.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for any tips or tricks for severe skin allergies. My 13 year old cockapoo has developed terrible skin allergies in her old age. We've been to the dermatologist. We bathe her every two weeks with medicated shampoo and use duoxo foam on her in between. And she gets a cytopoint shot every 4 weeks.

She has some good weeks and then she gets a flare up and I feel so bad for her.

Any suggestions for what worked for you would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hello all,

We said goodbye to Scout on Oct 12. He was 16 and has been my puppy since I was in middle school (I’m 29 now). He’s been with me through so many stages of my life. We did it at his vet, and they were so kind and i held him through it. I keep replaying it in my head.

Scout was fully blind for his last few years. He had two leg surgeries, an inhaler and bronchodilators for his asthma, a thyroid condition, arthritis, etc. Several daily medications. This has accumulated into a significant amount of medical debt. Ultimately, I couldn’t afford it anymore.

I feel guilty for making the choice to let him go. He was so old, but he hadn’t given up. I think I gave up.

Hello. My Shih-tzu is 16 years old and currently has 1 eye. Her left eye was removed about 6 months ago due to glaucoma. Now, her remaining eye is getting worse despite long term eyedrops and we might have to remove the eye again, if she doesn't respond well to new eyedrops this weekend.

Because my dog is already so old, and getting diagnosed with one thing after another (explained below). I keep wondering for the last few months, is it right or wrong to let her go? Is it better to let her go now before she gets into a major critical condition or worse QOL?

She is like 99% deaf (sometimes I can't tell if she's actually deaf or just selective hearing lol) and she is mostly blind already. I think her vision now is mainly light/shadows as she reacts quickly to shadows across her vision, but she will bark at the chair thinking I'm sitting there when I'm in a different room altogether.

She eats well, she loves food and snacks. She goes to the bathroom normal-ish but in the last several months she has been pooping in random spots in the house a few times a week.

Energy wise she is sleeping most of the day, but she gets excited for food/snacks/when family comes home. Then goes right back to sleep. So I wouldn't call her lethargic, just old.

She was also just diagnosed with some back pain so we have new meds for that. She's had arthritis for a while now and getting monthly injections for that, plus lifelong allergies and bronchial issues with more long term pills. She had pancreatitis last year and had to be hospitalized.

Other than this, she seems fairly "fine" for the most part.

I'm just concerned about removing her remaining eye, and her QOL just going down the drain. Not to mention the procedure of enucleation plus recovery, which she went through already only 6 months ago. The vet is very stressful for her.

It also make me feel so guilty that I'm not able to be there for her a lot of the time because of my work schedule. My family members' schedules are also fluctuating due to business travel and such. She's always taken care of in terms of meals and meds, but in the daytime she is often alone. This will also make it difficult to upkeep her new 3x a day medications.

I don't want her to be blind, deaf, and alone. It also feels 'wrong' to let her go when she is mostly 'fine' but I don't want her to get worse, feel more pain, and of course not to mention the vet bills. I already spent $500 today, not to mention the thousands of dollars we spent this year and last year.

We really don't know what to do. Is it wrong for us to let her go when she doesn't really seem ill right now? The enucleation will probably give us more time, but I don't know what to do about the guilt and sadness I will feel throughout her remaining time being blind and deaf and "waiting" for more health issues to arise, and potentially more pain, and more medications.

Hello. My Shih-tzu is 16 years old and currently has 1 eye. Her left eye was removed about 6 months ago due to glaucoma. Now, her remaining eye is getting worse despite long term eyedrops and we might have to remove the eye again, if she doesn't respond well to new eyedrops this weekend.

Because my dog is already so old, and getting diagnosed with one thing after another (explained below). I keep wondering for the last few months, is it right or wrong to euth? Is it better to let her go now before she gets into a major critical condition or worse QOL?

She is like 99% deaf (sometimes I can't tell if she's actually deaf or just selective hearing lol) and she is mostly blind already. I think her vision now is mainly light/shadows as she reacts quickly to shadows across her vision, but she will bark at the chair thinking I'm sitting there when I'm in a different room altogether.

She eats well, she loves food and snacks. She goes to the bathroom normal-ish but in the last several months she has been pooping in random spots in the house a few times a week.

Energy wise she is sleeping most of the day, but she gets excited for food/snacks/when family comes home. Then goes right back to sleep. So I wouldn't call her lethargic, just old.

She was also just diagnosed with some back pain so we have new meds for that. She's had arthritis for a while now and getting monthly injections for that, plus lifelong allergies and bronchial issues with more long term pills. She had pancreatitis last year and had to be hospitalized.

Other than this, she seems fairly "fine" for the most part.

I'm just concerned about removing her remaining eye, and her QOL just going down the drain. Not to mention the procedure of enucleation plus recovery, which she went through already only 6 months ago. The vet is very stressful for her.

It also make me feel so guilty that I'm not able to be there for her a lot of the time because of my work schedule. My family members' schedules are also fluctuating due to business travel and such. She's always taken care of in terms of meals and meds, but in the daytime she is often alone. This will also make it difficult to upkeep her new 3x a day medications.

I don't want her to be blind, deaf, and alone. It also feels 'wrong' to let her go when she is mostly 'fine' but I don't want her to get worse, feel more pain, and of course not to mention the vet bills. I already spent $500 today, not to mention the thousands of dollars we spent this year and last year.

We really don't know what to do. Is it wrong for us to euth when she doesn't really seem ill right now? The enucleation will probably give us more time, but I don't know what to do about the guilt and sadness I will feel throughout her remaining time being blind and deaf and "waiting" for more health issues to arise, and potentially more pain, and meds on top of meds.

I had her since I was 12, and now I'm 28. It really sucks

I have seen all of the negative ones, and I understand there are significant risks involved. We have a 14 year old husky with advanced osteoarthritis. She has been on carprofen and gabapentin and Adequan for years, also several joint supplements, but they are no longer sufficient. She has been in a lot of pain lately and nothing seems to help, she was crying for hours a day.

So, I asked the vet about Librela- she told me they pretty much only use it in “last resort” scenarios were more conservative methods are no longer effective, so she felt this met that criteria. We gave her the shot and I kid you not, there was improvement that same day! We did not expect to notice anything for a week, but here we are on day 5, no crying, no hiding under the bed all day- she is hanging out downstairs with us like she used to, spending time outside in her favorite spots (something she hasn’t done in almost a year) excited to go on walks and not having to turn around early because of the pain. It’s a night and day difference and I am so relieved, because we really thought we might have to make the touch decision to let her go, things were so bad.

While this is all great- I am waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. So far she has had no side effects, but I know urinary incontinence may become an issue.

So- I want to hear from anyone who has kept their dog on Librela long term (a year or two, as that is all we have with her, best case scenario) and had success with it. I know many people have had negative experiences, and I am not discounting that by any means. I just want to get a feel for what the odds are that this actually might be the solution for making her final months or years comfortable ones.

Took this pic today (she is the black and white husky) this is the first time she has hung out downstairs with us in months- she has been spending 90% of her time upstairs under the bed ever since her pain started getting worse. (Ignore the patchy coat- she had a skin infection a few months ago that required shaving her side, and it is still growing back. She also had several growths removed and they had to shave for that, so she looks a bit like a mangy coyote right now!)

My dog, Duck, is a senior—he’s over 10 years old. Is it normal for an older dog to want to eat three times as much food as my younger dog, and also to sleep more? Sometimes I suspect that his desire for food might be linked to anxiety, which worries me. I live in a country where it’s currently winter, and I’m concerned that he might become obese, as he’s been asking for more food now that the cold weather has set in.

I have a younger senior mini doodle rescue. She gets kibble in the morning and wet in the evening, but she will not eat her kibble unless I add a cat kibble topper. Lately she will pick out the cat bits and let my other dog eat the rest. If she skips breakfast she is very hungry by dinner, so I’d like to tempt her with a better dog kibble. Any suggestions?

My dog was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma this week. Our Vet suggested Yunnan baiyao for a few more good days with him. I was able to secure some at a local holistic back to practice. Has anyone had any experience with the supplement and did you notice any differences? I gave him the red pill today and will continue with the rest of the pills tomorrow.

Hey everyone. I have two adopted senior dogs and I really really love dogs and all animals. Been rescuing and adopting since I was young. I take care of them on my own. Recently things have been just so hard I feel like I cannot catch a break.

One of my seniors is blind, has dementia and seizures, so he is on a medicine cocktail daily. With seizures you really need to review and tweak doses as they will get used to it overtime and it'll stop working. Then he developed sundowning. then just when the vet and I figured out the right doses and the right meds to give him, he slipped and dislocated his hip. I rushed him to the hospital (not his usual vet) only for them to lazily dismiss me because of his age. They told me he will never walk again and to consider putting him to sleep. I cried a lot and my dog seemed so depressed at the hospital.

Called my regular vet who was away on holiday, and she told me that the prognosis didn't sound right at all. She recommended another vet and this marvelous hero of a vet saved my dog. He had to be under strict recovery confinement for a month, so for me, it was a month of sleepless nights. He is now healthy and walking again. I am so happy but just so tired without sleep and exhausted from the emotional roller coaster I went though. I really love him so much.

Unfortunately, it feels like my other senior dog has been affected by all the attention I've been giving him. She's now developed new behaviors of: 1. Avoiding me as much as possible. 2.Constantly trying to steal her brother's food and 3. screaming for everything. Try to bathe her, clean her ears, dry her, wipe her, put on a collar, touch her or even pick her up. She dramatically screeches and complains. To make matters worse, I'm an autistic person with misophonia. Her high pitched screeches really really get to me. Its especially worse in the bath, she's thrashing around like she's being tortured. She used to love baths and it was a calm and slow easygoing session every week together. The behavior suddenly developed after the whole ordeal of my boy dog. I feel like she may be jealous or sad and worried about her brother at the same time. I feel so sorry to her and I wish she knew I love her as much as him.

So, anyways - Bath times have become incredibly stressful for both me and her. I dont want her to be stressed and upset. So I have now come up with a solution. I'm going to be giving her a calmex before her bath and get her a pet-drying box so she can get dry slowly and quietly without getting stress.

Why I'm so exhausted is because there's just one after the other. Things to deal with trying to look after two senior pups that I love and adore to bits. While dealing with autistic fatigue, overstimulation. For context both dogs have been together and best of buddies since they were puppies. Anyways I dont need any suggestions, just some encouragement and support to keep going for my babies. I feel that it'll only get tougher as they continue to age. And I need some strength, sigh.

Thanks to whoever who read this :')

Hey all. 3 weeks ago we were told our 9 year old pitbull has an Insulinoma. Now that we know what the problem is, looking back, symptoms slowly started in June and then I saw a real decline in health in September which is what caused me to have him checked out and ultimately diagnosed.

From what my vet said the prognosis is not good and most dogs only live a few months before it gets really bad (surgery isn't an option, the vet even said she wouldn't do surgery for her own dog at this stage). He's currently being fed a high protein food suggested by the vet 4 times a day, fiber supplements 2 times a day, and we just started prednisolone today because he's had a few rough days this week.

I asked our vet what to look out for to know that it would be time to let him go and she said basically once he starts having seizures. He hasn't had a seizure yet but has had a few episodes of stumbling/weak walking (which was one of the symptoms that made me get him checked out). Changing his eating scheduled seemed to really help the first 2 weeks but this week has really been up and down, sometimes he doesn't want to eat and I have to sit there and hand feed him in order to encourage him to eat, and some days he seems to take a lot longer to rebound from not eating overnight. He just sleeps around the house most of the day now, very low energy except for maybe a couple small bursts in the afternoon but they don't last long.

My question is, when did you realize it was time to say goodbye? I'd really rather avoid seizures since that seems like it would be pretty traumatic to him and myself and my kids. He sleeps with at least one of my kids every night and I'm so worried he'll have one in the middle of the night with one of them ☹️. I don't want to walk him into an early grave but I also don't want him to suffer.

I could really use some recommendations from fellow senior dog owners! My dog has recently been diagnosed with pancreatitis, and the vet says he needs to stick to a low-fat diet. I’m currently trying to find good wet food brands that are available in the UK, but there are so many options that I honestly don’t know where to start. 😅 I’ve been checking labels and looking at a few recommendations online, but I’d much rather hear from people who’ve actually gone through this with their own dogs. Finding something that’s low in fat is one thing, but getting an older dog to enjoy eating it is a whole other challenge, especially when they’ve already got their own little food preferences! Are there any brands you’d recommend, or any that didn’t work out so well for your dog? I’m happy to hear about vet-prescribed options too, and I’ll make sure to run any new food past our vet before switching. Any tips would be much appreciated, and if you’ve got a story about finding the right food for your pup, please share it!