Elderly dog advice needed

Shint0

I have 15 year old terrier/JRT who in recent months the signs of aging have become much more noticeable. While she still seems physically very robust, well able to race around with no signs yet of arthritis, her senses seem to be deteriorating quite rapidly very recently. In the last year or two she seemed to go into a deep sleep in evenings or just before bed time and not even the sound of my other dog barking would wake her. Now this is happening frequently during the day, she is in such a deep sleep and almost cannot be roused to the point I have to check if she is still breathing. Just recently, all her senses seemed to decline. Her eyesight has definitely declined but now it appears her hearing is almost completely gone. She cannot hear me calling her and when outside in an off-lead area she will wander off and won't come back on re-call as she just doesn't seem to hear me and she has never been like this. She is now almost getting to be a danger to herself and I have to keep a very close eye on her although she is still very supple and loves to race around.

Recently, she also seems to have lost complete interest in her food. She was never a foodie as such but now eats very little and my other dog who has always been greedy tries to gobble hers down now as well. I have tried hand feeding her but still not much interest. I have had her on Royal Canin Veterinary Mature Small Dog dry food since she was about 8 or 9. She seemed to do well on this so I never had any complaints or reason to change. I'm wondering if i should change her to the wet version of the same food. She probably has lost a lot of her sense of smell too so I'm thinking the wet version might smell stronger, more appetising. The mature / senior versions of these food are targeted at 8 years plus but I thinka dog at 15 years old has different nutritional requirements than a dog of 8 years old. I'm bringing her to the vet this week for a check up and to discuss all these recent changes but I find sometimes vets don't have a great knowledge of food products they sell but a lot of people on here seem to have great knowledge on nutrition so if anyone could recommend a food brand / type that might work for an elderly dog and just any advice in general on how to deal with the ageing process.

Eyespy

Hi Shinto,

I'm not sure how helpful this post will be but I'll throw it up anyway. I have 2 "old men" at this stage, both springers and both in the autumn years (9 and 10). One has diabetes, is blinded by cataracts and I believe may be going deaf as well. Not completely mind, but not able to pick up lower sounds like he used to. The other is in the early stages of congestive heart failure, no really obvious symptoms but has gone from a fully active, lean mean wildlife killing :eek: machine to a more sedintary beast with a paunch.

Luke (CHF dog), who I've posted about on a different thread had gone from 100% ready to go to possibly being at 70%(at the time of writing the last thread)but has deteriorated further to maybe 45 to 50%. He still loves his food and inhales it with gusto, his walks/runs but drops in a heap after 200 - 300 metres, and life in general (caught a blackbird on Sunday but was shattered for the evening afterwards) but the decline from even this time last year is startling. His heart and water meds are keeping the progressive nature of his illness at bay for the time being. With Luke I think I always suspected that when he was diagnosed at 4 with a heart murmur, we would eventually lose him because of his heart and for years managed to block the thoughts of this eventuality because of his duracell nature. It's only lately that those thoughts have returned with a bang.

I realise the above paragraph isn't entirely relevant but I do understand what you're saying about the deep sleep. Luke sleeps on his back mostly, with his eyes open and for the last 6 months or so I could have written what you did, word for word about a deep sleep. Several times I'd try to call him just to make sure, and there is nothing as diconcerting as having a motionless dog with unmoving open eyes confront you. This only happens at night btw with me, because it's happening to your girl during the day as well it might be worth ringing the vet.

I can empathise with the blindness, it was a major shock for me to find B with cataracts one evening. Into the vet first thing the next morning where he was diagnosed straight away with diabetes. The failing eyesight was a challenge for the whole family, B remapping the house and grounds for himself and us helping him by learning new commands like "easy" -big steps, "mind" smaller ones and most importantly "STOP" As you've mentioned though, the lack of hearing wouldn't allow safe words to help so all I can suggest here is if leaving your doggie off lead in your back garden for example, make it as contained and obstacle free as you can make it. The biggest problem for a dog the size of your gal is protruding plants. If there's an accident, no matter what direction they collide with the obstacle, you can be sure the eye will be involved. For my lad, it was garden furniture like the corner of benches and the rose bushes until they were staked off. It does worry me slightly that your dog's sense of smell seems to be gone as B depends so much on his. He trots off around our acre by himself everyday and spends at least an hour inhaling absolutely everything, a fresh fall of rain sends him into heaven. Maybe if you tried something really strong, like tuna perhaps and placed it just so far away from her nose and see if she might respond to that.

Despite the long post I can't really offer anything more helpful, except that you're not on your own out there. There's a lot of us with geriatric pets and it is hugely rewarding to care for them, but can be very stressful as well. Here are some threads from A&P that I've found useful.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=84751742
This one is dementia in elderly dogs but mostly concerns feeding so it might be helpful

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=64016292
This one relates to deaf dogs

The very best of luck with your girl anyway

Shint0

Eyespy, thanks for your response on your own experiences. I think the deep sleeping is the most frightening and unsettling. Your own heart just stops for a second when you see them in this position.

I did talk to the vet today and he said it is not unusual at this stage of her life.I have to go back tomorrow for the results of blood tests and then we will discuss putting her on medication to try to reduce or slow down the effects of senility. I wasn't aware this might be possible or such medication is available. It sounds promising and if it could enhance her quality of life it would be great but hope there are no unpleasant side effects. I will discuss it further with him tomorrow but perhaps other people have also used similar type meds and could maybe relate their experience if they are actually effective.

DBB

I'm glad to hear your vet has even heard of the drugs that are available to help with dementia in ageing dogs! There can be side effects, which you'll need to chat with your vet about, but these can be transitory.
As well as drug intervention, concurrent dietary intervention can be great. Nothing's going to get your dog's sensory loss back, but adding oily fish to the diet of an old dog can seriously help their brains. Also any fresh meat and a small amount of cooked veg.

aonb

OP sorry to hear that your old dog has started to deteriorate suddenly. Its so very hard to watch an old friend showing signs of age. My 15 yr old JRT is like yours, suddenly showing signs of deafness - like in a few days - he too sleeps very deeply, but I think its the deafness that makes the sleep seem so deep - in that they cant hear whats going on close by? My boy also sleeps with his eyes nearly open - wierd. Hes also starting cataracts. Ive started giving him glucosamine/chrondritin and fish oil to help the old body, but without giving him too much in the way of chemicals. Ive also taken him off commercial dog food, and he's fed home cooked chicken/rice or beef/potato now, which he loves.

I would be very interested to hear what your vet has to say about the drugs for senility in dogs - my boy has what we call "Alzheimer Days" - yesterday he acted like he thought he was a pup and hadnt been fed all day (begging and shouting for treats!!) and ran around like a nutter - but back to normal today.

DBB

I really like the stew idea which you feed the old fella aonb, it's real comfort food, just what an ageing dog needs! I know some don't agree with cooking the food, but to my mind, cooked fresh food is infinitely better than any dry stuff, and hey, many dogs prefer it cooked to raw!
One thing I will say though, and it is something I've been blathering about for some time but lo! A new research paper is out which confirms what I've been saying, in humans at any rate! I don't like supplementing with fish oils. I just don't see why one would add this oil and that, when they're all there, in all the right amounts, in their natural packaging, i.e. the fish itself!
I much rather throw in a can of sardines, or mackerel, or salmon, or whatever.