Currently im living with three dogs, one is the old family dog who is 13 and is in incredible physical shape for his age as he has had exercise everyday outside in the fresh air. Well the last month or so he has been coming upstrairs which he never did his entire life(he was not a fan of stairs), and sleeping right next to my computer. Once he comes inside for the night he seems lost..i guess he is physically tired from the day because at night man he is lost....his vision is his biggest problem too... Last night i caught him drinking toilet water for the first time ever....man you know your getting old when you start drinking toilet water. =( i dont want to lose him...i have had a great 13 years with him.... I bet he will make it to age 15 unless he has a heart attack. He has had seizures before which has scared the shit out of me, scary stuff seeing your dog walk like he is completly shit faced off alcohol..gotta hold him to try and calm him down... anyways yea...im a huge dog lover and it sucks seeing family members age faster than you right in front of your eyes...
I know what you mean. My cat is going on 15, she still looks good, but she can't take the stairs anymore or jump up on the couch. I have to clean up pee and poop more often than I'd like. I can't have her put to sleep until I know I am doing it for her, not me.
My guinea pig Nuzzle is a little over 5 years now. He's still alpha but the younger guinea is starting to contest the power and as an old man Nuz is now loosing some authority. It's kinda sad. Like watching grandpa getting pushed around by some punk in his prime.
yeah, it does suck. i've lost a few dogs to old age (and one cat, but i hated her so it wasn't as bad). the dog i got in 7th grade just died at 15-years-old a couple months ago... the last couple years he was obviously in pain all the time; he could barely walk a lot of the time and if you touched him in the wrong spot he would attack you because it hurt him. the younger dog my parents got after i moved out was starting to push him around too, after it being the other way around for several years before. ironically, he died by getting hit by a car rather than old age or getting put to sleep. somehow i think it was better that way. he died doing something he enjoyed, chasing a stray cat, instead of scared shitless being taken to a vet's office or laying there in pain dying of organ failure or something.
My dog, Thor is 13 or so... He's a found dog so not really sure. He's been going down hill lately. 13 is old for a big dog. Hearing went first, then weight loss. His hip locked up the other night when it was 20 degrees out, he looked at me like "Not sure how I'm gonna get home, Dad...." but we made it. He and Koa, my brindle, have been together since 2001 and are inseparable. They have never fought and could eat out of the same dish..... Going to be hard when Thor leaves. Plus, Koa isn't that much smaller nor much younger although he acts young still. Gonna be rough without "The Boys" I've got a European Starling that's 16 now.... they are only supposed to live to something like 7 years. Poor guy can't even grab onto a perch anymore. Still sings every morning. I've had a lot of animals cross over though the years, it's always sad.
Yeah it is sad to see your furry friend get old, I've always become more attached to animals than I do people. They give you unconditional love, never bitch about anything and they are always game to give you kisses or cuddle...what person will do that for a lifetime?
Man im sorry...15 is a damn good age for any dog though. I hear ya on going to the vet vs getting hit by the car. Honestly if it was my dog i would feel the same way. Some dogs have this 'sense' even if they have had no bad experiences with vets, its going into that building that is very uncomfurtable..its strage. Must be the smells leaking out of the windows and doors...who knows.
You got that right friend! Everytime i came home from school or a shitty day of work there is nothing better than having a bunch of furry four legged friends run up to you excited about seeing you regardless of what happend any day of the year. I will have dogs my whole life.
My Oldest Cat Liam Turned 22 Last October, Every So Often He Totally Changes His Habits And I Think To Myself This Could Be The Final Chapter, Then Away He Goes Again Leaving GLEN With A Few More Wrinkles And Grey Hairz From The Worry.... Cheers Glen.
The Oldest Cat In The World That Was Accurately Recorded Died In Austin Texas At 39, And The Oldest Dog 29. When Liam Turned 20 I Told Him He Was Only Halfway Towards Setting A New World Record And I Want His Name In The Guinness Book Of Records...:2thumbsup: Cheers Glen.
the unconditional love part is right on point. i recently moved out of my parents house, and 800 miles away from home, leaving my best friend (my dog behind), because my boyfriend is very allergic to dogs. She is 11 now and after being gone 7 months and returning home for x-mas it was great seeing her, but she had aged so much. she has gained weight because my dad lets her eat things he shouldn't, not too bad of things, but it is still unnecessary. She seemed older and had physically aged as well. I used to walk her 2-4 miles a day, not all at once as she was already showing signs of tiring after a mile walk, but I kept her moving. Now, due to my parents busy schedules, she is only walked once a week, though when she is let out she gets free run of a large yard, but it's not the same. It pains me deeply to think about her death, I have had so many great experiences with her, and she was a great dog who communicated with me more than any dog I've ever known. I cry about her frequently. After 7months without a dog, I had to adopt a dog...a hypoallergenic dog of course, to suit my boyfriend who was not a dog obsessed human like myself (though he is just as obsessed with our pup as I am). We adopted a mini schnauzer a month ago, and she is, 1 rescued from a high kill shelter. She is AWESOME, still needs obedience training, but is great. I'm sure if she was in the same house as my other dog this new dog would terrorize the hell out of my old gal. I love them both so much. I haven't gone more than a year without a dog in my life. and speaking of one dog terrorizing another dog. The older dog I first mentioned we found at a grocery store (just like the Winn Dixie movie if you've heard about it, and she is a "so ugly she's cute" kind of dog just like in the movie...anyway. We found her and got in contact with her owners who strongly disliked her and allowed us to keep her. She was one at the time, while at home we a had a miniature poodle (also an adopted dog) who was suffering from terrible diabetes. The young dog is a playful girl, and would always try and get her going. The poor poodle would snarl in defense and the young dog just assumed that was how she played and it egged her on. I came home one day, after spending the night and day at a friends house. Something wasn't right, I knew it immediately and began screaming, "Where the hell is she?" Mind you I was in 8th grade at the time. Tears came to my face faster than I thought possible. My parents had put her down without telling me, and without give me a chance to say my goodbyes. In their hearts I think they thought they were doing the right thing, but they have apologized on several occasions since. That was one of the hardest things for me, and I was not near as close to that dog as I am to the one I left behind with my parents and my current little girl who is just 1. Ah I am in tears thinking about all this, and I apologize for the ramble- some of which related, some which did not...but I too am a dog fanatic. Just give the elder dogs the best life you can until the end. They love you, they know what you've done for them, and who knows they just may reincarnate into a similar animal that you can cherish and love just as much in the future.
I had Raith, a Turkish Angora cat for 22 years before he died..... I found him cowering under a shrub in a bank parking lot. I have no idea how old he was when I found him, the vet said "at least 2-3 years, maybe older, by the condition of his teeth" so yeah, cats can get very old.
We lost our dog Ping this fall. He went into renal shutdown and even treatments could not help him. Took weeks to stop even just putting out a food bowl and his bedding for him. Calling out the door for him to come in with the Dachshunds. He was a great dog and we were blessed to have had him. I still have my Dachshunds (8) but he left his own special place in all of us that is going to be hard to fill.
Pretty cool dog heat. The little furball looks like an ideal cuddling buddy. But 8 Dachshunds omg... does your house explode with barking with somone knocks? Every dach ive been around will bark at anything when the dog is inside...or outside come to think of it. BARK BARK BARK......im going to run and hide under the masters bed now. you take care of the threat i just let you know its there.
He was a Chinese Shar Pei and a fur ball. My sister breeds both types. The doxies can be loud and if one starts they all do sometimes to the point of a howl. This is why I live in the country. Seriously they usually do not bark for long and when I only had my own three in the city they were trained to only bark if someone was at the door. I have inherited some of these others as they appeared when whelping and have somehow stayed. Can't say I really mind though as they are great company. They would actually nip far faster than Ping would have. He would have barked and then walked away. Of course he had 8 backups.
^ lol i have a 10 year old daschund cant imagine losing her she's gone blind because of cataract, at the beginning it was pretty sad you know, she went around and always stumbled across shit ... but now shes ok, as long as you dont change the place of the sofa you know...
Ooooh, so hard to lose our fur babies. It cracks my heart right down the middle every time. After one goes I always vow to stop getting more new ones because I don't know how much more my heart can take...Then some furry angel finds its way to my door - into my heart - and I can never say "No".
They do adapt really well. I had one male who ended up being a cart dog as his back became an issue. He could boot around like a mad thing on it. He lived to be 17. Two of my previous ones lived to be 19 and almost 21. So if they are pampered they tend to do well. My oldest right now is Lace and she is 9, Merlot is 5 and Nougat is 2. The others all fall in the 5 to 2 range in age and they are Pinot, Shiraz, Chianti, Pistachio and Bella. Busy but fun.
