Any tips for parenting aging senile dogs? Advice, please

[Cindy B]

I have a beautiful, kind, gentle 15 year old purebred Lab. She is a wonderful pet. (sorry if this is long!)

However, we have some issues with her. Her eyesight is pretty bad, and I believe that her hearing is going as well. She will respond if you call her name but you have to use a louder tone of voice and use another signal like clapping hands or such.

Her routine has been pretty much the same for the 2 years we have had her. She waits for the adults to go to bed (1130-12 midnightish range). We take her outside to do business and she usually goes and comes back fairly quickly. She then settles in and goes outside again around 7-8 am no problems.

But the past two weeks, I have seen her poop near her bed even though she goes outside at night. She never goes on her bed, but very very near it. We just clean it up and not make an issue of it. (this is still the same time period that we have always kept).

For the past few days, she's been getting up and barking at 4 am to go outside. I've been getting up, getting to do her business and she's fine. Last night however, after the 4 am business, she started yelping. Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark. She's not much of a barker, so it got more and more barking. This was at the foot of our stairs near our bedroom. We tell her "come on up cody" and she comes up. Last night she didn't, she kept on barking.

She's been following me around a lot, when she isn't sleeping. If I go to the laundry room, she's behind me. If I go outside, she barks. I'm not certain if since we move around she can't locate us and is using the barking for a "homing signal" of sorts.

She's a big mother hen to our kids. She starts off sleeping in each of their rooms for a little bit and then waits for us to go upstairs. The stairs are tough for her, but she still does them. We did move her bed downstairs and she still followed us upstairs. However, she is still barking/yelping.

The vet is pretty complacent about the whole thing. They just said she's aging and this happens. Technically there is nothing wrong with her besides her aging. And also if there was something medical they could do, her age does not make her a good surgical candidate.

I was off over the summer, and am now teaching. I have had that schedule the entire 2 years that we have had her. We haven't changed her diet or introduced anything new in the house. The other dog, a mini poodle is fine.

Any ideas? What do you think is coming besides the inevitable? Is she really suffering?

 

[DawnCt1]

My toy poodle is aging, her eye sight is bad and her hearing is limited. I have found that I have to crate her at night in her bed. I worry that she will fall down the stairs, (she did once). Last night I let her out and forgot about her. We found her 3 hours later huddled up in a ball near the road. I feel we really dodged a bullet on that one. It is so sad. I think we just have to protect them from themselves, comfort them and if necessary, crate them for their own protection. I just put papers in one end of the crate now and take her out regularly. I know she is embarrassed. She has brought us years of joy, the least we can do is to make her last years comfortable.

 

[drgnfly30]

 

[damo]

Our dog has been like that for a year and a half. He is totally deaf and blind. Other than that he is perfectly fine. Our guy doesn't bark though but will go "aroooooooo" if you ignore him when he wants attention. We have all adapted to him being like this and he seems happy as a clam. As soon as he wakes up from one of his many naps, we put him outside. He sleeps very well at night from about midnight to 7:30.

He's not going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Any ideas? What do you think is coming besides the inevitable? Is she really suffering?

One of the uses of "crating" is that the dog only feels responsible for inside his crate. It lifts the burden of caring for a big house off of the dog's shoulders.
It sounds as if it is creating some anxiety in her as she cannot keep up her usual pace, as one thought.

Now I don't know what to say to accomplish this since she is not a crated dog. Perhaps have her in a secured area so she doesn't have to be responsible for the whole house?

Of course I don't know if this is the case but that is my thought from your description.

 

[Cindy B]

See her previous owner crated her as a puppy, but she hasn't been in a crate/cage in a long time. I think her previous owner "over crated" her, if that makes sense.

We are thinking about putting her in downstairs only but with a gate to the steps. We have moved her bed down there, but she will ignore the bed unless its in our room upstairs.

I can tell she feels guilty. She has this worried look in her eyes often.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Have you talked to your vet about your dog? When I started getting concerned about my older dog, I had a talk with my vet. She had been taking care of Molly for several years and had seen her at her best. After our discussion, we both decided that Molly's quality of life was no where near what it should be. She had cataracts very badly, couldn't make it up the stairs anymore. She was very incontinent. Her hearing was bad and she just couldn't do much any more. She whimpered a lot like she was in pain. She couldn't eat very much because of a liver problem. So at my vet's suggestion, we put her to sleep. It was very sad, but the decision was ultimately mine because she was my dog. I held her while the vet did the injection and she just went to sleep in my arms. She was almost 15.

Our current dog is almost 14 and starting to have quality of life issues. It will be time soon to talk to the vet about Missy.

 

[Cindy B]

Have you talked to your vet about your dog? When I started getting concerned about my older dog, I had a talk with my vet. She had been taking care of Molly for several years and had seen her at her best. After our discussion, we both decided that Molly's quality of life was no where near what it should be. She had cataracts very badly, couldn't make it up the stairs anymore. She was very incontinent. Her hearing was bad and she just couldn't do much any more. She whimpered a lot like she was in pain. She couldn't eat very much because of a liver problem. So at my vet's suggestion, we put her to sleep. It was very sad, but the decision was ultimately mine because she was my dog. I held her while the vet did the injection and she just went to sleep in my arms. She was almost 15.

Our current dog is almost 14 and starting to have quality of life issues. It will be time soon to talk to the vet about Missy.

That sounds a lot like Cody. The last time we talked to the vet, they sort of stated that she is old, these things happen type thing. I think we need to talk to the vet again and make a decision, but some days she is fine, and some days she is a mess! I'd hate to put her down if she still has some time.

The vet did say in our last conversation that Labs usually pass away at 12-13. Cody is 15! Her life expentancy is much longer than anyone has anticipated. Her previous owner took care of her, but they were elderly and eventually passed away. Since we have had her, she lost weight (she was overweight) and more trim. She gets exercise, which she also wasn't getting with her previous owner.

She is still eating and drinking, and going to the bathroom. She does get tired very easily on walks (we do easy walks like one-two blocks and back)

 

[minkydog]

I'm sorry your old doggie is having so many problems. I guess they are a lot like us in their old age. I agree, it sounds like your doggie is having anxiety over something. Older dogs don't adjust to change and it could be that she is lonely and anxious when she's away from her people. That would explain why she won't go to her bed downstairs. She also may be getting disoriented at times, which would make her want to stick close to you. I don't know if there is any medication that would be safe to use to lessen her anxiety.

Talk to your vet. aw:

 

[Disney Doll]

She probably is getting a little anxious that she can't "protect" you like she used to. Dogs are funny that way.

Have you spoken to your vet about an anti-anxiety med or some Aricept-type drug for dementia??? It might help lessen her level of anxiety. Maybe if you could give her an anti-anxiety med near bedtime, it would lessen her level of anxiety and she'd sleep through the night instead of wandering around.

 

[iggbees]

Have you talked to your vet about your dog? When I started getting concerned about my older dog, I had a talk with my vet. She had been taking care of Molly for several years and had seen her at her best. After our discussion, we both decided that Molly's quality of life was no where near what it should be. She had cataracts very badly, couldn't make it up the stairs anymore. She was very incontinent. Her hearing was bad and she just couldn't do much any more. She whimpered a lot like she was in pain. She couldn't eat very much because of a liver problem. So at my vet's suggestion, we put her to sleep. It was very sad, but the decision was ultimately mine because she was my dog. I held her while the vet did the injection and she just went to sleep in my arms. She was almost 15.

Our current dog is almost 14 and starting to have quality of life issues. It will be time soon to talk to the vet about Missy.

this is what started to happen to our dog, jasmine, last year. except she had diabetes instead of a liver problem. she was only 10 going on 11. it was rough to see her whimpering all the time, not eating, and not being able to move around without bumping into things. in the end we decided we needed to put her to sleep. her quality of life was starting to dwindle and we couldn't bear to watch it any more. it was the saddest thing for us, as it was our first dog, but when it comes to how poor her life was becoming, we had to.

 

[Disneylovers]

I'm glad I saw this thread tonight, you see, we put down our 15 year old beagle this evening. She was blind, had kidney disease, had stopped eating and her legs kept giving out on her. For the past last two years, she couldn't make it through the night without need for a potty break, so DH or I would get up with her to let her out. Since June, she went down hill very quickly, at least the night time excursions subsided, she couldn't get down the stairs anymore. Today, she couldn't get up, so we took her to the vet, and the vet was very caring explaning about Taylor's quality of life. It was a difficult decision to make, but we feel we made the best decision for her. It's very sad, Taylor was my younger DD's dog. Since she's disabled, we're going to break it to her tomorrow that Taylor is gone (she thinks we left Taylor at the vet because she's very sick - so, no, we didn't stay with her when they let her go). I would strongly suggest, Cindy, that you take your cody to the vet and discuss the different medications available. They can suggest different treatments for your dog. Thanks for letting me share. Pat