Loving my Oldies

I guess I am the only one to believe (or the only one prepared to say it ??) that crating a dog for a whole night is wrong. Crates are an important part of a dog owner’s life. They can be life savers, sanity savers, happy time out places, safe places, etc etc, but all night? I can’t agree.

God help us. How many more poisons can humans create?

Oh lordy. I read the title and prepared myself to be outraged

I just miss my little boy so much. One of the little things he would do ..... Despite having bedding galore, he would lie on the floor up against the wall and I would be at sitting at the table doing whatever and every so often he would get up and walk around to check on me. We would have a little chat and he would go back to snoozing. I think Sooty is missing just having another little dog there as well, but she is getting lots and lots of attention.

@MotherLeaf, I’ve read again your post and I think little Spunky was somewhat neglected by his previous owner. Be that as it may, he certainly has found love and appropriate care with you. I’ve recently lost a little dog who had incontinence, not the continual dripping sort, but just when he’d be asleep or lying down. I did use belly bands on him which were extremely helpful. He was also prescribed Propalin which, although it took a couple of weeks to kick in, was very effective and certainly stopped my washing machine from having to work overtime. Mezza was also very elderly with a variety of health issues. Several dogs have come to me over the years who were severely lacking in the fur department, but that changed very quickly with flea treatment, good diet (as you have done) and medicated washes. With regard to dry eye, this sounds fairly innocuous ...... until you have it yourself. I was diagnosed with it a few years ago and I can tell you, it is the pits. Feels as though someone has thrown handfuls of sand into your eyes. I use eyedrops several times a day and I would suggest, upon advice from the specialist, that you could do the same with Spunky. You would need to check with specialist, but I don’t think you can overdo it. Good luck - keep us posted.

Welcome @MotherLeafand Spunky You nearly gave me a heart attack @persephone. Your post came up first and I thought I was going to have to go into rescue mode, which I am in no shape to do at the moment. Kendra, despite having had a few sight impaired dogs and many elderlies with chronic health issues, I’ve not had one with glaucoma. However from what I’ve read and learnt (mostly via the experiences of many hugely knowledgeable people on this site) glaucoma can be excruciatingly painful. After many years of having several dogs, I now have only one littlie left and that is Sooty, an elderly Toy Poodle who came to me two years ago. She’d already had one eye removed before I met her and she is blind in the other. Cataract surgery failed and she continues to be blind. My immediate thought from reading your post was that you need to see a specialist straight away to alleviate the pain Spunky is in. This is borne out by a snippet I found regarding the treatment of glaucoma which says: Each patient requires a customised treatment plan that generally includes a combination of medications and, potentially, surgical intervention. Spunky sounds a very fortunate little boy who has found someone who is giving him a great life. Let us know how you proceed.

Oh Tallie Cat, you were such a companion to your mum. What a beautiful girl. Deepest sympathies, Persephone. So much loss. For such little creatures, their passing leaves an immeasurable hole in our lives.

Poor baby. Yes, back to vet. I do hope all is well. If wind, my god that is painful. I’ve been known to scream and cry. Used to suffer a lot. Please let us know how you and mum and pup go.

Hard to believe five years have gone by. Great drawing, K. DOL is full of really talented people.

Nothing ventured, etc etc. It pops up onto FB from time to time and I’ve wondered about it. Will be interesting to see if others have experience of it. As a pessimist, I always wonder about reviews.

Yes. I miss him so much.

Thanks LG. As you can imagine, I am pretty miserable and feeling so bereft. Mezza was my shadow, unless he was channelling Rip Van Winkel, whenever I moved so did he. He was such a lovely little dog with not ounce of “bad” in him. Whenever the little boys from across the road came to visit, they always ran into the house to find Mezza. I’m also feeling inadequate for Sooty and I wonder how I can make her life happy. She too has experienced a huge amount of loss and change over the past couple of years she has lived with me. Not easy for an elderly blind dog to manage these sorts of disruptions although she has shown herself to be remarkably resilient. I haven’t taken her out since Mezza died (apart from downstairs to toilet), so I will do so today and see how she copes. The photo below was a couple of weeks ago. This sort of sibling attachment rarely happened and was always instigated by Mezza. Sooty was more likely to growl and jump on top of Mezza to chase him away. They’d been at the groomers and were exhausted, hence the harnesses still on.

Yes, my heart is in pieces. I knew he wasn’t quite right and was going to take him again to my vets after the long weekend. Although his little body was giving up he still had some playful moments in the past week. So it wasn’t the Propalin or the ulcer, he was fading away. At my vet on Monday, he was being given oxygen although his tests showed that his blood was properly oxygenated. So he would be half sitting up watching what was going on and the he’d collapse. The last collapse was really bad and he was intubated. There was no way I was going to put a tiny, 17 years old dog through the interventions that were presented to me and neither would the vet. My darling little man - just floods of tears. And yes, Sooty will be confused and lost. I am talking to her a lot and she actually followed me into the study a little while ago, although she didn’t stay. It’s horrible to know that she can’t see to put things into perspective.

These words are so hard. Mezza passed away yesterday. I’m too gutted to say much, but he had been treated for airways disease for a couple of years with a puffer and medications daily and Cerenia injections from time to time. He collapsed in the very early hours of Monday morning and despite being rushed to SASH and then to my vet, he was in much too bad a way. Just so broken hearted now. Four of my darlings gone within 12 months. Sooty knows something is wrong so my focus must now be on her to ensure her life is as good as it can be.

You definitely need help to overcome your fears. Your dog is well aware that he has become the boss and, if you don’t take steps now to address this for the happiness of both of you, the outcome is not going to be good. If you decide the best action for both of you is to rehome him, there is a Jack Russell Rescue organisation run by Jill on 0408 491 542. Good luck. Dominant dogs can be very daunting and even more so when you are a first time dog owner.

Beautiful ones. Good luck for amassing point

Thanks @westiemum. I haven’t seen any signs of aggression in Mezza. He has always been a laid back little dog and even when Sooty starts growling and leaps on him, he rarely reacts, just tries to get away. Whenever dogs visit or stop by on the footpath to say hello, he is his same placid self.

9 special months. Too few, but Boomer would not have known that. A wonderful experience for all of you.

That’s what I meant. Head is not working properly. God knows where Advanced came from and needless to say the ladies down at the vets when I picked up Mezza and Sooty were scratching their heads until one of them said, “Recovery is very good.” And in the midst of all this, I forgot about Mezza’s ultrasound. I am feeling a bit like a Jack-in-the-Box, @persephone. So we just have to see how Mezza goes over the next few days. The strange thing is that he has not lost any weight. Anyway, next time something goes wrong, I’m just going to consult @tdierikxbecause all I have to do with Mezza’s ulcer is to apply weak Betadine.

Thank you everyone. Well, it was an ulcer, but vet says as far as they go, it is not too bad. Apparently some can be caused through pressure and he has seen some down to the bone - horrific thought. Vet is still mystified as to why Mezza would have done those big throw-ups. And, yes @tdierikx, he did say that a weak solution of Betadine would have been fine . He also suggested trying Mezz on Advanced which is a highly flavoured canned food. He isn’t going to dress the ulcer as he thinks it is better to just dry out and, of course, the AB injection is helping. At least, that is what I think he said: we are in full masks these days . I actually left them both there so I could relax with the plasterers coming and going. They have finished now and tomorrow will be the sanding and painting. Two really nice men, but with my chronic hearing loss and their accents combined, I was never 100% sure what they were saying . Now having a very belated breakfast with the air con blasting away. What with masks and accents, I am exhausted from straining to hear what people are saying. Edited because it is Recovery not Advanced - god knows where that came from.

I thought about Betadine, @tdierikx, but didn’t want to in case it was ulcerated. I will be calling the vet immediately the switch the phone on at 8am. I have repairers everywhere today fixing roof and internal damage caused in a storm in October so I will just have to leave them to it when I get an appt. OMG!! The roofer has finished already. Took nearly three months to get around to replacing a batten and three tiles which took less than 1/2 hour. The kitchen plasters and painters will obviously take longer. Have now called vet and have an appt for 9.40 am.

I am in shock, but I think I might have found what is wrong with Mezza. When I was putting on his harness on Friday to take him to the vet, I felt a lump on his leg. When I checked it, was horrified to see that it was a great lump of poo which had become all rolled up in his fur. It felt dry, so I started to cut it out, but had to stop to get to the vet on time. Awful as it sounds, I forgot about it until I started to bath Mezza this evening and got to work while he was in the bath to cut it out. He is so tiny and with so much fur that I really needed a couple of more hands, but eventually I managed to get most of it out and this is what I found: Needless to say, I was so upset for him and at myself for not even knowing it was there. He had a long lasting AB injection yesterday, so if it weren’t for that, I would be taking him to emergency, but I think he will be okay until I take him to my vet tomorrow. He has actually had a couple of very very tiny meals today, so I think the ABs are kicking in. It looks inflamed and infected, so do you think this would have been making him sick enough not to want to eat?

Well done sheena . . . . naughty Cricket. LOL, he loved it so much he had to show approval somehow.

Thanks @Snook. We’ve been through the ringer haven’t we with our oldies ?

I’m so sorry hear about your dog’s diagnosis. Medicating some dogs can be such a difficult and worrying thing and something I’ve experienced and quite often failed at. With some dogs, I’ve had to get the meds compounded at the chemist and given via syringe. I’ve gone to the deli and bought bits of just about every cold cut available, but that can be dangerous for a dog with renal problems. I’ve whipped up cheesy scrambled eggs and on and on and on. Remember that your dog will be feeling very unwell, so whatever you try to hide the meds in needs to be highly flavoured and deliciously smelly. It will be a matter of trial and error. One of the most successful foods for me has been liverwurst. There is a product you can buy at the vet called Nutrigel which is given to dogs and cats when they are having trouble eating. It is very tasty and sticky like molasses (which it is based on). I used to crush the tablet and mix it in Nutrigel and wipe it into the dog’s mouth. Because it is sticky, it is hard for the dog to spit it out, just gently hold the dog’s mouth closed while they lick and swallow. Good luck and let us know how you and your dog progress.