This post is part of the Caring For Critters Round Robin which was created by Jodi at Heart Like A Dog. Each day a different blogger will be sharing their experiences with a particular injury, condition, disease or illness. Since it is a “Round Robin” one blog will pass the baton, so to speak, to the next each day. Yesterday Jen at My Brown Newfies shared her story of her dog Sherman’s torn ACL . At the end of this post, I will pass the baton on to the next blogger so you can follow from blog to blog. Jodi is also gathering all of the posts here for quick reference.
Kobi’s Story
Our beagle Kobi was our first dog to make it to being a senior, and he lived to be over 13 years old. Before him our next oldest dog had only lived to 8. Kobi was very healthy up until he was about 12, and then we started to learn about some different issues that senior dogs can have to deal with.
Kobi’s first big issue was weakness in his hind legs. We started to notice him slipping and sliding on our wood and tile floors. We took him to the vet where he had a thorough check up as well as blood work and x-rays. Everything came back normal, and even though our vet said a spinal issue was a possibility, he felt it was more just due to old age and advised us to watch for any worsening. We never really saw significant worsening, thank goodness. He started to get a sore spot between two of his toes, which I felt was from splaying of his toes when trying to get traction.
Here are some of the things we did to make things easier for him:
- We put carpeted stair treads on our wooden staircases in the house.
- He started wearing rubber booties for walking, and slipper socks in the house.
- We treated the sore spot between his toes with coconut oil.
- His walks became shorter but we tried to walk more often.
All of these things helped and the weakness never became a significant problem for him. He was a tough guy anyway, and if he slipped a bit and fell, he just picked himself back up and kept going.
Another issue he had was runny eyes. Again, he went to the vet and everything was ruled out, leaving seasonal allergies as the probable cause. We started using an all-natural eye rinse, and even though his eyes were often squinty, they didn’t seem to be significantly uncomfortable for him. His eyes never really got better, other than for a short time, after allergy season was over, so we tend to also think that the runny eyes were just another symptom of his age.
One thing we always noticed as Kobi aged was that he slept more often, and he slept more soundly. I have heard this from other people with seniors and I think that is a normal sign of aging, and even though he gave us a start more than once (when we had difficulty waking him), we just had to get used to that. We believe his hearing was diminished as well, which probably also contributed to the ability to sleep so deeply.
If you would like to read more detail about any of these issues and how we dealt with them, I wrote a post summer of 2013 – Living & Learning – Seniors.
Earlier this year, Kobi had an on and off appetite for a bit before ultimately refusing to eat completely. We added different things to his food to entice him to eat more, and that always worked, up until he was refusing a meal even with extras. That’s when we took him to our vet. Our vet was concerned because Kobi had lost some weight, and he did x-rays right off. The x-rays revealed inflammation of his liver and kidneys. The doctor wanted to do blood work to rule out leptospirosis. There were issues with their machine reading the blood, and it couldn’t be tested at their office, so it had to be sent out. In the days of awaiting the results, Kobi stopped eating completely, and nothing we could do would entice him. The results finally came back negative for lepto, and showed signs that his liver and kidneys were failing. By then, we knew we were looking at the end anyway. A beagle that won’t eat or drink has very likely reached his time.
Even though I second guessed ourselves for not taking him to the vet when his appetite started to change, I don’t really think we would have done anything different. At Kobi’s age, even if tests had revealed cancer weeks earlier (which was a possibility, though we’ll never know for sure) I doubt we would have put him through any treatment. That is a personal decision for everyone of course. Kobi ended up dying peacefully at home, just as he wanted to.
My advice for anyone that has a senior pet is just to make the best of all the time you have with them. If you see a symptom you are unsure of, a visit to the vet is probably warranted. We made a few that turned up nothing, but to us it was worth it for peace of mind. When we started to see more and more signs of Kobi’s aging, we took just him for a special trip apple picking, which was the fall before we lost him. We continued to go for walks even as they got to be more difficult for him. They were slow, rambling walks, but he loved to get out and sniff things. The week before he fell extremely ill, I had taken him for a nice walk out in the snow and he loved it. The weekend before he left us we took him for a car ride, which he always loved. Now we have a lot of very special memories of his final months, weeks, and then days with us.
Please keep in mind, I am not a vet and this is not advice on how to handle issues with a senior pet, this is just my experience, and what worked or didn’t work for me. Always consult your veterinarian before choosing any course of treatment.
Tomorrow’s Caring For Critters Round Robin is going to be hosted by Dawn of NEPA Pets who will be writing about gallbladder mucoceles.
Thank you for sharing Kobi’s story with us, I know how hard that must of been for you. Hopefully you will help some one else out with the great information you provided. As for wondering if it would of made a difference if you took him in earlier, they could of gave him a appetite stimulant that may have worked for awhile but in the end it was just buying you some time. It was so nice he passed at home, so many people want their loved ones to pass as home and not have to make the decision but it doesn’t always work like that. Hugs.
Thank you so much for saying that about bringing him in earlier, it made me feel better about that. I know how lucky we were to have him pass at home….especially since we lost our last two (one cat and one dog) undergoing surgery to try to save them, which didn’t work. I wish for everyone that their animals could pass at home peacefully, though I’m sure it’s rare that it goes that way.
Very good information especially the things to keep an eye out for and to have checked. We lost our 13 year golden to kidney failure about a month before we got Thunder. He stopped eating too due to the disease. Nothing we could do to get him to eat.
Now every time any of the pets don’t want to eat, I have to try not to go into a panic….it always scares me. Luckily it doesn’t happen too often….mostly with our cat Sam. With her it only lasts about a day though, and then she’s back to normal, thank goodness.
Making the most of your limited time together and heading over to the vet if any unusual symptoms crop up have to be the two most important things to remember when living with a senior. So glad Kobi enjoyed a good life!
Thank you, Kim. Since we have two more senior dogs now, and 2 senior cats, we really need to remember what’s important.
Oh Jan. Thank you for sharing your story.
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
I hope it can be a help to others with senior dogs. It was tough to write….still a bit too fresh, but I really wanted to do it.
“My advice for anyone that has a senior pet is just to make the best of all the time you have with them.” Yes, yes, yes! It is difficult to see our pups age. You did an amazing job with him, and I’m so grateful for you sharing your story.
Thank you so much, Maggie. It is difficult to see them age, and we don’t want them to suffer in any way so it can be very stressful when they are ill or uncomfortable. I think our love for them can naturally guide us to do what’s best….at least I hope so.
My Kissy’s senior years saw her heart and kidneys both start going bad on her. Her heart medicine made her kidneys worse and her kidney medicine made her heart a bit weaker. At one point she could neither eat, drink, nor pee/poop without straining. So at 15-1/2, I decided she had suffered enough and could not let her go without me being at her side. She had been my heart dog for her entire life, and I couldn’t let her suffer any more. Even the vet had to wipe away a few tears. Now, nearly 11 years later, I have two senior Goldens with lumps and bumps that the vet and I check and monitor closely. They both also have arthritis and other issues that require monitoring. But they’re both still happy-go-lucky “pups” attitude wise. Thank you for a great post, and the reminder that we all need to be aware of subtle aging effects on our dogs!
No matter the signs of aging, they seem to stay very young at heart, don’t they? Sheba is starting to have many lumps and bumps that we’re constantly checking as well. Cricket has a couple too.
It sounds like Kissy had a good long life being well taken care of, and I hope the rest of both of ours can live that long too.
We have been very blessed with our dogs. With the exception of Tucker last summer who was only 12, most of our dogs have lived to be around 15. I pray that Bentley stays with us at least that long. ♥ Your story put a lump in my throat.
I was so hoping for Kobi to live even longer, though I guess 13 is the average life expectancy for a beagle. I hope you are right about Bentley, and also hope our current dogs can outlive that expectancy!
It was great what you did for Kobi. I agree the stairs can be a problem for seniors. it was difficult to carry our two old huskies up and down, they totally disliked it, but couldn’t manage the stairs with their arthritis.
Thank you. Towards the end we did have to carry Kobi up and down stairs. Luckily he only weighed about 35 lbs. Sheba has arthritis, but it’s pretty under control now, and I do worry about what we’ll do when she gets worse, since she weighs over 65 pounds. Since both girls are older, we’ve left the carpeted treads on the stairs, anticipating that they will need that help too.
Katie is 12, Mom’s last and first dog passed away from cancer at just over 10, so it is Mom’s oldest dog ever. Katie is healthy as a horse according to her recent senior panel, but she does have arthritis and when walking, sometimes her back end will collapse a bit. Mom works on strengthening exercises with her and we do everything we can. We cherish every day with her and always try to show her lots of love. It was so sad with your Kobi, but it was fast and he could pass at home. Mom hopes when any of us goes it will be fast and not drawn out and painful. Hopefully we will all live long healthy lives and all of you as well.
We wish the same for you and your siblings, Emma, long healthy lives. I’m trying to get ahead of Sheba’s arthritis as well by doing some strengthening also. I’m glad Katie is healthy other than the arthritis! It’s difficult to see them go downhill, and we were so lucky with Kobi that it wasn’t long and dragged out, and having him pass at home was just the best thing that could have happened under the circumstances.
Such a lovely post Jan..indeed we do see changes..much like ourselves as we age..at 11 and nearly 12 we know we have to be aware of subtle changes..the boys take longer to respond when it’s time to go out for a night wee before bed…they are a bit stiffer after playing and due to Docs knee o years ago he can no longer play for as long as he would like..we call a stop to it as he forgets he will be sore..so more swimming in the dam in summer as a great non weight bearing way to exercise..Doc had pancreatitis from a marrow bone something he used to be fine with..so no longer fatty bones..more rib bones..he has warts..we have had them checked..and him and Forrest have fatty cysts which scared the daylights out of me but we had them checked ASAP…i have noticed even today..a roo hopped past and Forrest barked and ran to the fence..but lost interest quicker than his usual long winded carry on..could be he is used to them ..could be age..they have annual bloods done as do the senior kitties..i look at them..grey muzzles and eyebrows but the eyes of a puppy..i know we are lucky they are with us..and hope we have many more years to come… a great and informative post 🙂 …bless you boy he was well loved 🙂 hugs Fozziemum xx
Thank you so much, Bev. Kobi had a lot of lumps and bumps as well as warts too. We had them all checked, and had some removed when he had to go under for a dental cleaning, but others were just left alone and monitored. We’re seeing a lot of bumps on Sheba as well now too and the vet checks them and then we monitor. Our two cats are seniors as well, and we’ve started to add the extra blood tests as well with all of the seniors. I hope we all get many more years with our seniors….they are so special!