Advice on living life with an elderly dog

Yes! They were Auntieflo! I was struggling to remember. It seems they still make them as well.
Our labradoor/collie cross just loved them and would wolf anything down if he got some fruity thing with it.
I don't think it even needed to be a whole one to be honest. Just enough to mask whatever he was supposed to be taking.

My little terrier is 14 and I’m using Youmove lintbells very good. We are on the first dose of librela and I’m not yet convinced. It seems I still have to give her loxicom intermittently. She’s arthritic, deaf, you can see the cataracts forming. She certainly says no when she doesn’t want to walk in the morning but usually enjoys a trip out in the evening.
However she is still boss lady with the younger dog though he pushes his luck but no chance he still knows his place.

NotSpaghetti, were the sweets 'Opal Fruits'?
Probably renamed now and I do not know the new name.

We've gone through this with our last two border terriers but because both were happy to be left on their own, we just did short walks with them but went off for longer walks without them. Fortunately neither became incontinent and we were able to take them away away with us and if we went abroad I had someone live in. My third BT is 5 and I'm mid 70's so hopefully we'll lose our enthusiasm for long walks around the same time. With regard to Librela, my neighbour has her collie on it and he is transformed. I really can hardly believe how much he has improved it's quite miraculous!

I have a 14yr old tripawd who is riddled with arthritis. She is on Librela monthly injections. We have an InnoPet Sport buggy for her if we go out on country walks. She potters in the garden but no longer goes on walks. I drive her every morning with our other dogs to a local field. She stands and sniffs and takes the air. She sometimes gets interdigital cysts which I bathe in salt water and occasionally needs antibiotics for. Every day is a bonus and she still eats well, squeaks her toys, lies on the sofa waiting for someone to walk past so she can get a bark. Quality of life is definitely still there. My neighbour is my vet so she is on standby for anything/everything which is comforting.

Jazz has got another interdigital cyst, anyone else's elderly dog suffer with them? He started limping on Sunday morning and the cyst has come up overnight.

The vet said in a younger dog that could have anaesthetic, they'd normally investigate with surgery. I think he's had four this year, poor dog, it seems to be a deep rooted tissue infection that comes out as an open sore. Managed to get into the vet at 10.40 and luckily the normal anti b's heal it within a few days. Not lucky for my bank account though!

Finn has tumeric but it comes in tiny tablets. No taste, no smell, he is on 2 a day as he is a big border collie.
The brand is CurcuPet-K9.

TopsyIrene06

My 16 year old Border Terrier used a buggy in the last year of her life and it was a success for her. She was always so active I thought she would never accept this mode of travel but I was wrong. She stuck her nose up in the air and gracefully acknowledged her adoring fans. She is greatly missed.

We have a 15 year old border terrier, TopsyIrene, and she took to her buggy like a duck to water! She still walks some of the time, but let’s us know when she can’t walk any further or needs a rest. Last year I carried her in a home made sling if she ran out of steam, but now it is a much more regular thing.

Razzamatazz, my father gave medicine to our dog by wrapping it up in a half-chewed fruity sweet. He wolfed them down like that!

They were the ones individually wrapped but in long "square tubes" and were sort-of pastel colours. I can't remember what they were called.
I'm sure fruity sweets aren't great for dogs but it did work!

I bought the Dorwest turmeric and Jazz wouldn't touch it Honeysuckleberries. Apparently it is very effective for arthritis, I tried everything to make him take it but he could smell it a mile off.

My 16 year old Border Terrier used a buggy in the last year of her life and it was a success for her. She was always so active I thought she would never accept this mode of travel but I was wrong. She stuck her nose up in the air and gracefully acknowledged her adoring fans. She is greatly missed.

If you go Facebook there is a turmeric users group. They have a recipe for turmeric bites that have proven to be useful for arthritis, joint pain etc in both humans and animals. There are many wonderful stories on how it helped people with their dogs. There is no charge for the information and the only costs are the ingredients you can get from any supermarket. Might be worth a look.

Oh dear this has brought it all back to when our border collie was getting old. I think it started with her becoming deaf. (sounds like me).
She got to 15-16 and then started wanting to be out all night barking. We let her sleep with us but no, she was so restless and wanted to be out.
At the time we were moving back to England, so the vet advised we have her PTS. Such a sad decision for our dear little friend. but we needed to take the responsibility.

I mean JRT

Maybe have several options for dog transport. I wonder if your dog would be small enough to fit one of these baby carriers that strap on to the parent's chest or back.

My GRT is small enough for one of those however I understand yours is mixed breed so may be bigger than my dog.

I met someone last night, she had her 15 year old dog in a buggy.

Her dog hadn't been out of her garden for two years because of her difficulty walking, the owner admitted to being embarrassed to use a buggy until she saw me passing regularly with mine. I'm glad her dog has some stimulation again.

Well all these lovely pooches are so lucky to have loving families. I do hope you get something sorted for little Tilly!

Thank you all so much for your understanding and helpful advice. I loved hearing about your dogs and seeing the beautiful photos of Jazz and Nell. Don't we all love our pups!

I will speak to the vet about Librela and am going to look into the togfit/bike basket idea. We would do anything for her really to ensure that her life is as happy as it can be for as long as possible. Here's my girl Tilly.

That is awful. Razzamatazz. How uncomfortable for poor Jazz.
He looks an absolutely stunning boy in his photo.

Glad he is doing well on the Librela.

@Maya1 yes, kennel days are over for Jazz too.

I was very upset to collect him from kennels recently after my first trip away since lockdown, and find he had poo stuck in his fur, they hadn't checked his bottom. No idea how long he'd been like that, I thought they would be giving him special attention as they know his age, I won't ever take him again. He'll be 14 on 12 October.

To be frank, we stopped going away unless we could take her with us - e.g. to stay with friends. She was intensely attached to me, and although we’d often put her in kennels in previous years, once she was old with a few health problems, I couldn’t do that to her. Like you, we had nobody I’d have felt happy to leave her with.

Leaving her at home for half a day was fine, but no more. Very short walks ‘to do the needful’ were all she could manage.

She was half cocker spaniel - the owner of her mother never knew who her father was - she suspected some ruffian on a farm!
She was eventually PTS at 14 1/2, and TBH we should have done it a bit sooner.
We’ve never had another dog - I’d love one, but when you have nobody to leave them with - and kennels around here often need to booked well in advance, so no spur of the moment trips or whole days out - it’d be just too much of a tie.

I forget to say there is also a bike attachment, if you go cycling. Make sure you buy one big enough, I saw a dog in a very small one recently on one of the very very hot days, I did feel for it.

I have also bought him a 'raised' food dish.

Could you foster another dog? Our Nephew’s mixed up terrier type little dog who must be at least 20 has looked on her last legs several times over the last few years. Yet each time he has adopted/rescued another dog, she has had a new lease of life.
He recently adopted a large Sierra da Estrela dog who’d had a broken hip from being run over and all three of them are getting fitter and doing longer walks each day.

If you are able to foster even temporarily, it might help your own dog without being a commitment that is too long for your own health.

We are in almost the same situation as you RichmondPark1.
Our border collie is almost 11 and riddled with arthritis and since last September won't sleep alone downstairs. I now sleep downstairs with him. He is afraid of stairs, so won't go upstairs.

Our lives revolve around him, everything is planned around him and his needs.

The one thing that has helped him in the last eighteen months is a drug called Librela. It really is a wonder drug, enabling to go out for gentle walks again. That might be worth looking into.

Ours cannot be left with anyone else and cannot be in enclosed spaces so has never been in kennels. We love him and he has brought us such joy. Nothing will ever be too much trouble for him.

If you want more information about the Librela, please pm me.

I hope you have more happy years with your girl.

Jazz is 13 and has arthritis in both front wrists, and until recently, was on Loxicom and YuMove. If his pain was severe I also have vet paracetamol.

He started crying in his sleep in April and the vet said there is a new drug called Librella - it is an antibody that helps with pain relief. It is £60 per month, and it has helped with his pain. No side effects at all.

He will walk, but not far. I have his nails trimmed regularly. He can still run on the beach every day, but I take the stroller and push him back if the tide is out a long way.

I have two strollers, one for the pavements, and one for the car. He is still a busy, curious sheltie.

If you can get a stroller I do recommend the Togfit, I saw one for sale on Facebook market place recently.