Our lovely old German shep/retriever cross is quite ill 🙁 He has been refusing food for two days now, although this morning I managed to coax him into eating one or two pedigree meaty chunks.

He’s about 10, and large, although I don’t know his weight, he seems very weak and cronky, and his ribs are becoming visible. His coat is getting somewhat haggard, especially around his eyes. He has a little bit of arthritis in one of his back legs, so we give him condroitin with his dinner as recommended by the vet, but no other known issues.

He normally eats two decent meals a day, one at 8am and one at 6pm. He wont even eat a Bonio which he normally loves.

Does he need a trip to the V E T? Or is he simply avoiding food due to a stomach upset? Haven’t seen him eating much grass, and he is drinking water which seems like a good thing.

Any serious advice?

A trip to the vet wouldn’t harm, so I’d be doing that.

I think that’s a question for a vet. Well that’s what the vet next to me says. What if you couldn’t eat for 2 days

For 2 days of being off food I’d take him to the vets.

In my experience the vet will have a feel at his stomach for any obstructions, ask if he’s still drinking, give him a jab of antibiotics and tell you to start him on a diet of pasta/rice and fish/chicken for a few days.

haggard, especially around his eyes

They’ll probably ‘pinch’ his fur to see if it returns to flat. This tells them a little about dehydration.

All the best

Vet.

Quite a lot of dogs seem to have stomach problems due to the standing water from the flooding, not so much an issue here now though. Mine was a veritable brown water jet for a couple of days

Roger. Thanks for all that, will get him down the vet today then. He’s probably eaten something in the Garden which is now fighting back.

Take him to the vet asap. Not worth hanging about with a 10 year old dog. Not eating is less of an issue than not drinking.

Vet, pronto, dog can’t tell you why its not eating and could be a wide range of things…

Rang the Vet, earliest they can see him is 5.30 – I have to drive up to London in half an hour, so a bit worried about leaving him on his own.

Take him with me in the car in his bed? Or leave him at home on his own with water etc?

Petrified our dog is going to have to be put down. I always have and always do get very attached to our dogs. We’ve always had them around but for me that experience with them never reduces the sadness of the situation. When your dog dies or is ill it’s always like experiencing it for the first time. Prognosis was unclear yesterday, he still isn’t eating properly and is now having difficulty walking – vet is seeing him again in 2 hours.

We’ve only had him two years but the saving grace of the situation is that when we took him from Battersea Dogs Home 2 years ago, he was the oldest dog there, and no one else was going to take him because of his age. He’s had a second chance at life and he’s loved every waking minute of being part of a loving family again.

Fingers crossed there might be something they can do, but it seems we are half way down the slipper slope of an old dogs life where they just get more and more sick. I guess I have to man up and ensure that he goes out on a high note. I don’t believe prolonging his suffering with drugs that make his life terrible (if it can be treated) to have him around for one more Christmas is fair.

My poor Rotty, developed a form of Crohns Disease (something geneic to Rotties) at about 7 years old, it was the most heart wrenching thing to see. A once very lovely bounding happy girl, turned lethargic and beaten. The insurance paid out around £12K on exploratory work and medicine, but it got to the point where the funding was cut off. She was such a lovely girl that the vets, well specialists, continued to do what work they could with here for free which we did not expect at all, this included 2 more operations and check ups. Unfortunately it only pro-longed an uncomfortable time before one night she was so ill it was time to go to the vets for the last time….

Sorry not nice to hear, but reality is a <unt at the best of times. I still miss her after 2 years.

Fingers crossed for your pup. We lost one of ours in the middle of September and it is hard but putting the dog first is the correct thing and the last act of kindness but hopefully it won’t come to that.

Thanks for all the kind words, and very sorry Sui, Cupra et al about your lovely dogs passing on 🙁 I think we can all rest sound knowing that you are what made their life fantastic, and they lived it as well as any dog ever has, maybe better.

Back from the vet an hour or so ago. Good news and bad. Short term he is going to be OK. But has bad arthritis from 10 years wear and tear in his front right elbow, and both back haunches. Apparently this is very common in retrievers and labradors.

He also has a tumor in his gentleman’s area which has gone unnoticed as he was never neutered as a pup because he was always very mild tempered and calm. It is unlikely to be dangerous at all due to the area it’s in, and it’s one of those doggy things that they die with not of apparently. So that’s mainly a good thing.

So apart from peeing all over the stairs up to the vet, the bill for medication and an old woman screaming at me for temporarily blocking her car in the car park for 30 seconds, it could have been worse lol.

He’s on a load of painkillers which is a shame, but if it gives him back his mobility and he can enjoy life a little longer then that will be great. I am however not going to put him in the position where his life revolves entirely around being drugged off his head, because it’s not fair. He’ll be on painkillers/arthritis pills for the rest of his days, but nothing more than that, and if the Arthritis becomes too much we will have him put to sleep before he has to endure days of never ending pain.

So we’re seeing how the pain killers and anti inflammatories/antibiotics go and we’ll see from there I guess. The Vet reckons the medication will cost around £40 a month whilst he’s on antibiotics to get rid of his infection and then will probably be around £20 from there. We always joke about him coming from the bargain corner of the dog supermarket because Battersea only charge £150 + plus a donation for their dogs, and you simply can’t put a price on what they’re worth to us as animals. I’d sooner spend £40 a month on him than a ruddy phone bill haha.

Glad to hear things have [sort of] worked out.

Hearing about an ill dog is always a big wrench for me as another dog owner and I am glad this has a mostly happy ending.

Give your boy a big hug, make a fuss of him from all of us and maybe let him up on the sofa for tonight. As a treat.

Good to hear the largely positive news!

Thanks lads, I certainly will. He’s in for roast chicken, sausages and gravy tonight on vets orders to try and make him eat enough!

Late to the thread but thats good news..
in for a special treat tonight.

Mans best friend….wouldn’t be with out my boy.

Sounds like there really is plenty of life in the old dog yet:-)

you realise he’ll get accustomed to roast chicken and sausage pretty quickly though?….they’ll be no going back to chum chunks from there:-)

Hounds are awesome. I miss mine when he died a year ago. Glad yours is ok (ish).

Aww bless him, definitely don’t loose hope yet, I have seen many a wonder worked in cases such as this.

Has the vet taken a blood sample? Were liver and kidney function both ok? Did they have a good poke and prod in his belly to check for any lumps and bumps? Any abdominal X-rays taken?

If all those checks were ok, it does sound like it could be a case of the old creaky joints. Is he on carprofen at the moment for pain relief? That can lead to a massive improvement within a week, it’s great stuff! Arthritis is a horrifically painful condition to live with so pain relief in any suspected case is top notch.

Other things I would suggest is to switch to a glucosamine, chondroitin and manganese combination, it works tonnes better than simple chondroitin alone. Also if you can grab an additional omega 3 supplement to use alongside (3 over 6, but combo fine) then that also has some good positive results in recent research papers. Both can be used alongside each other and the carprofen. If you want the lazy route, Hill’s do a special diet called j/d that has all the supplements rolled into a tasty diet.

If your pooch still is a little tired even though mobility is good, the other drug I recommend alongside is one called propentofylline. It improves blood flow and oxygen supply to the brain and muscles making them more alert and have more stamina and get up and go. Can work really well in older dogs to improve lethargy and exercise tolerance. Just keep it away from the Armstrongs of the biking world cos this stuff is good!!!

Glad to hear of the good news.

My childhood springer spaniel was put down by my rents whilst I was away on advice from the vet, based on vertigo/nystagmus that was diagnosed as a hemorrhage. Vet didn’t wait for 24 hours like you should (spoke to Cambridge veterinary hospital). Vet’s never got back in contact with me and the dog was cremated before I had a chance to have the body sent to another vet.

14 year old dog though, so she had a good running.

glucosamine

This, at 10 my Springer suddenly seemed geriatric. Bigger fluffier bed and glucosamine and within a 3-4 months she was like a puppy again – she carried on being active and mental till she died.

Me and my girlfriend are now waiting till we’re stable enough to get a puppy. The wait’s quite hard, keep seeing lovely Springer Spaniel and cockapoo pups (which my missus adores) for sale.