Older Dogs And Surgery

[Kazz]

I don't know if I am looking for advice or sympathy or just need somewhere to talk about dog stuff with dog people, but here is what is happening . . .

We are dog-sitting my partner's parents dog, Wiggs, while they are overseas and not due to come back for about three more weeks. He's an ancient little bitser (probably some Chi in there and I think Pom, but def not a purebred and he weighed in at 4.9 kilos today). They've had him for about 15 years and he was probably at least 2 years old then so he's easily 17 or 18 years old.

Despite his age he is a bouncy little guy, always on the move checking things out. When I bring him his food every morning he literally bounces along and does a little dance on his hind legs in anticipation.

Until yesterday.

He was asleep when I brought his food out, which was weird but I thought we all like a sleep-in every now and again. I woke him up and he wandered over to his food and stared blankly at it. I thought it was because he'd just woken up. I went inside and did the usual - gave our dog his brekky and made my coffee - and when I went out Wiggs had eaten most of his food. I took it away because we don't let the two of them have food together, they both get grumpy about it.

This morning he was asleep again and when I woke him up he just stared at me. I picked him up and brought him over to the food and he couldn't even stand up. He kept falling into a 'sit' and trying to get up and then it was almost like one of his paws wasn't doing what he wanted - he kept falling sideways as he tried to walk. Now I was getting a little worried but chalked it up to him being old and awoken abruptly.

Then I noticed the vomit. I asked around, no one had fed him anything weird. My housemate said he'd been pretty nonresponsive the day before and mostly just laid around, not his usual curious self.

So I took him to the vet, of course. They took his temp (he did perk up and bolt a bit when they stuck the thermometer up his bum) which was very low and said they'd like to keep him for blood work and observation. This is not our dog so we are making these decisions for someone else. OH still considers him to be 'his' dog in a sense as he did grow up with him so we decided that we would make the decisions assuming if his parents cracked it when they got home, then we'd be prepared to wear the cost.

Blood work, possible IV fluids etc. looking to be about $300-400. Cool. We'd do it for our dog, we'll do it for this dog.

Now apparently he has vomited again at the vet's but it had bits of tan bark and bone in it. Both of these things are in our garden so he's obviously eaten them there. They think something may be lodged in his intestine and causing an infection so they are doing x-rays and might have to do surgery. Which now brings the cost up to $1,000 plus. We are still waiting on the x-ray results before they even decide if they can do surgery, and even if they do there is always risk of problems or just Wiggs being too old to pull through.

Also, the vet said he heard quite a heart murmur so even if he does pull through all of that he will probably be on heart medication for the rest of his life.

Our main justification has been that if our dog needed the same attention, we'd gladly pay for it. But the key difference is that our dog is about six years old and Wiggs is OLD.

Part of me says that if there is even the slightest chance of him getting better then we should opt for the surgery, and part of me says that we shouldn't put the poor old boy through all of that as he is certainly at the twilight of his life anyway. But he really has always been just a bouncy, happy dog and he may pull through fine and go back to his silly little self.

Guess I just needed to vent, but if anyone has been in a similar situation or has any advice to offer I would certainly love to hear about it.

[Andisa]

Bugger of a situation to be in. If it were me, I would try to get in contact with your parents. If that is not possible then I am sure that I would sadly pts. They knew before they went away that he is old and knew that he will not last for ever.

Personally I will not put an old dog through that surgery, to me it is not fair. Since he has heart murmur then he may not make it anyway.

I really don't think they would mind you making the final decision for them, I would say it is one they may have been put off before they went away. Even if he did have surgery and he makes it through, he will require medication for the rest of his life, that's ok, but it may only be a very short time afterwards anyway. He will need time to recover from a painful surgery, pain that I personally could not put and old pet through.

I am glad that I am not in your situation, only you can make this decision if you can not get in touch with your parent before the decision is made for you. Is the little fellow in pain?

Did you talk about what should be done if anything happened while they were away. That is what I ask before I agree to look after anyones pets, it is nice to know what they would like to do in case something does go wrong. Would they mind coming home to a hefty vet bill and no old dog. You said that you don't mind paying for the vet bill, but I am sure your parents would not leave it with you, l know my parents would agree that putting him to sleep would have been the better option. Do you know what your parents would prefer you to do?

I have an elderly Maltese with a heart murmur, I would not put him through surgery, his next needle will be his last.

[persephone]

Oh :rolleyes: what a dilemma.

if it were me, I would be giving him his wings, and not putting him thru any more pain.

*thinking of you, and wiggs*

[lucknow]

If it comes down to his needing surgery I would euthanase for his sake. Major surgery and recovery is hard for a youngster, elder statesmans just don't do well enough to justify the trauma they go through.

Good luck with him, I hope it is not as serious as the vet suspects and you don't have to make a decision just yet.

[Staffyluv]

Ask the vet and their opinion on his likely recovery.

I know our vet was not hesitant at all to operate on Ollie and do a cruciate ligament surgery and he is 11 with mast cell cancer (in remission).

Hopefully he will pass what ever is troubling him and he won't need the surgery, I hope so for all of you.

I hope he is OK.

[outatime]

very tough situation Kazz.

Whatever the right choice is, I seriously believe your OH parents need to make that final decision. Especially if pts is it. I can think of nothing worse happening whilst away (or, for that matter, being in your situation while someone else is away), but please speak to them first.

In fact, even if surgery is the way to go, they need to know first. 15 years is a long time and he is probably like a child to them.

I don't think you mentioned whether or not they were contactable?

[kamuzz]

Oh dear

As others have suggested, are you able to make contact with the parents to see what they would like to do? If you can't then I would be having a chat with the vet and would be guided by their suggestion.

Not an easy place for you to be in. Hope it turns out to be a false alarm and he perks up again.

[Kazz]

Thank you all for your kind words.

The first vet that spoke to my partner was a bit hesitant about it and just kept listing one thing after another that was wrong with Wiggs. OH was totally distraught and having a hell of a time keeping himself together at work. Thankfully the second vet that he spoke to was much more direct and told him the kindest thing to do was to put Wiggs down.

He works with his brother so he asked to come along and then they rang their sister who wanted to come, too. Even though none of them have lived at home for years, they still love the little guy dearly. So we all met up and went to the vet hospital together and Wiggs, being the wise old dog that he was, decided to lie down and pass peacefully away about five minutes before we got there.

So RIP Wiggs bouncing around on the other side.

[Staffyluv]

Bless his little heart..

RIP little guy

[Kelly_Louise]

Oh I'm terribly sorry for the loss of Wiggs... it must have been devastating to have to make that decision and bless the lovely little guy for taking it out of your hands.

I too, hope that little Wiggs is back bouncing around at rainbow bridge, happy and free.

RIP Wiggs

[mona]

Condolences to you and your OH Kazz

Wiggs knew it was his time and perhaps he passed peacefully to spare you having to make the decision..... dogs know these little things

RIP Wiggs Run free now little one

[Bokezu]

RIP Wiggs :rolleyes:

[persephone]

Wiggs, being the wise old dog that he was, decided to lie down and pass peacefully away about five minutes before we got there.

Ohhh....

R I P Wiggs.

[Miss B]

Sorry to hear that. RIP Wiggs.

[oceanaussi]

RIP Wiggs.

I was in a similar situation. I moved back to Germany 4 years ago with my then 5-year-old Kelpie x GSD. I had to do a lot of business travel and enjoyed taking her with me to all different countries. Once she couldn't come because it was for 2 weeks and I couldn't find a dogwalker. As I didn't want her being in the hotel alone all day I decided to leave her with my Grandparents who love her dearly.

Anyway, over the weekend I decided to go for a walk and borrow a dog from the pound to walk with me. They've borrowed me a little black Spitz boy who was cute despite the fact that I do prefer large dogs. The way he behaved was funny and when I got back to the pound I've mentioned it. They said "Yeah, it's a pitty, he's going to die in here." I was shocked as we have no-kill pounds in Germany. "What do you mean", I asked. So, I found out that he was 16 years old and that the people who owned him split up, she left the dog behind, so he took it to the pound. Obviously his chances were very low to be adopted at that age.

I thought about it and decided, he's coming with me. He was a lovely little fellow and Hera and him got on really well. We walked every day, he even learnt how to play and he absolutely adored my Grandparents and vice a versa. He turned 17, he turned 18 - no change, no white hair, people often thought he's a puppy. He didn't have any teeth anymore and anything else was fine. Time came that I had to go back to Australia. Money wasn't an issue but I didn't want to put him thru a long flight and quarantine, so my Grandparents agreed he could stay with them. He stayed there quite often anyway.

I did feel bad leaving him and seperating him from Hera but I knew he loves his life on the sofa of my Grandparents. Suddenly he got sick. He couldn't jump anymore, had prostate problems, didn't recognise my Grandparents ect. They took him to the Vet and he put him on medication but as it didn't get better, we decided to put him to sleep. That was one month after we've left and one month before his 19th birthday. I know he was very old but I still feel guilty.

RIP Phyton. :D You're sadly missed.

[outatime]

so sorry for your loss Kazz, give some extra cuddles to Wellie

RIP Wiggs ...run free

[lucknow]

So sorry to hear your news, inevitable does not make it easy. RIP Wiggs.