(please don’t tell me about how wrong it is to own pugs, he was a stray I adopted who was found on the street, not a breeder dog I bought. He has a lot of health problems and I’ve devoted a lot to keeping him well cared for).
My poor old puppy. The restlessness and spinning in circles, the staring off into space, the coughing fits. We are already treating the cough but started some dementia-type medicine and melatonin last night. I don’t want to do extensive interventions if he’s unhappy but I want to try to improve his quality of life and make his geriatric years as happy and peaceful as possible.
It’s so hard to make good decisions about elderly pets isn’t it? You want to do the right thing.
Losing pets is hard. “Restlessness and spinning in circles” sounds to me like possible symptoms of a stroke. Pets usually don’t tell us what kind of discomfort they’re feeling, so we have to make these kinds of decisions on their behalf. Our vet office has thanked me for not waiting on this kind of decision too long.
This is your call to make, and as long as you’re making it with the best interest of your pet in mind, you will make the right decision.
He saw the vet last night and she didn’t think it was. He’s not spinning all the time, just sometimes, so she thinks it’s just dementia behavior. Thank you for pointing this out though, I did indeed ask. We’ll try some things that are more palliative treatment than big intervention and see what that does. It’s just so hard to know what the right thing to do is.
Another thing I know to pay attention to is how their hind legs are doing. If I saw weakness and loss of coordination there on top of the other symptoms you’re already seeing, I would make the hard choice.
The fact that you care enough to be concerned about the right thing means that you will do the right thing.
Thank you. I will watch everything. My poor baby. As my friend says, dogs have many good days and one really bad one.
It’s so so hard. I went through this with my Shih-Tzu (similar thing, pound puppy, not a breeder) last year. He passed on February 29th in my partners arms. He was halfway to 19, and I treasure every lucky moment I had with that dog.
I am just happy that he seemed happy and content, albeit confused. He still loved walks and loved us.
Aww I’m glad he had such a nice long life and was happy though. What a good life he had!
My pug doesn’t love walks anymore and doesn’t seem content is the thing. Still loves cuddling and food, but seems very disoriented and restless. I’m happy to try other things and try to make him happy but I hate seeing him so not himself. Even a year ago he was still a funny cheerful dog who could sing like an opera singer and stole the celery out of the grocery basket.
He actually once went into the garden and dug potatoes that were growing out of the dirt and ate them raw. He had raw potato shits for days and was absolutely delighted with his snack. What dog does that?
We just had our great Dane cross the rainbow bridge a week ago today, which was a super tough decision. He was still having good days, but the bad days were starting to outnumber them, so we made the decision before his entire existence was suffering.
At some point you have to take a hard look at things and decide whether you’re keeping them alive for them, or for you.
I’m not a vet, but an elderly dog with dementia isn’t going to understand why it’s unable to breath, so it might be good to talk with a vet who will give you a straight answer about what they’d do for their pet in the situation.
Yes, agreed. I read a great article about making these decisions for your pet, and how all your pet knows is how they feel in the moment and that doing a lot to preserve their life is something you really have to consider each step carefully. We actually went to the vet last night and discussed it all, and that our goal is to make him comfortable and safe and content, but not to put him through too much. She was very supportive and reasonable, she said an x-ray was something we could consider if things didn’t improve but he’d have to be sedated for it so I want that as a last resort. I’m willing to play with medication and see if anything improves but not to drag anything out and make him miserable by any means.
He is a such a comical dog that to see him unhappy and uncomfortable is not a great place to be. This is him singing me the song of his people. https://i.imgur.com/Xh01sK9.mp4
I’m sorry about your Dane. They don’t age well, neither do pugs, so it’s so hard. My other mixed breed is only a touch younger but you’d never know it at all, he can do everything and is super enthused about life, can walk for hours, and is determined to fight all the pit bulls despite being 16 pounds. Mixed breeds must be healthier in general.
I’m really sorry to hear. We’ve been told the family pet has a “collapsing trachea”. I’m assuming it’s similar. Really hard to watch such a loving being struggling to breathe. We have her on cough medicine as well but honestly I don’t know how effective it has really been.
Whatever the outcome, know that you gave him and wonderful life and I know he has loved you and what you’ve given him.
It’s the same thing yeah. Maybe you should try a bronchodilator medication for your pet too? That’s the other thing we are doing now. I can’t say that the cough syrup helped much either.
Thank you for your kind words. I have done my best by him. It’s just so stressful to know what the best answer is and when to say it’s enough and let him go.
Thank you for the suggestion! I have a stupid question about it…does that mean your dog has an inhaler type device or is it some sort of oral medication? Our dog had been taking oral steroids for some time but the vet stopped them in favor of increasing cough medicine usage.
I’m sorry I didn’t see this comment. It’s an aerochamber on an inhaler.
