Caring for an Old Dog

[Bookend]

 took Dougal to the vets today for a check up as I had run out of his heart medication and he hasn't been to the vets since before Christmas when he had his stitches out after the incident with Saba.
 
I was a bit nervous about it, I realise you can be a bit too close to things and thought they might say it would be kinder to see him on his way. He is 17 now
 
However, my vet checked him over, said he wasn't in any pain, just old and a bit senile and a very pampered pet. Reckoned I could go on treating as I have been, even his teeth weren't that bad, I do still get him eating a few chicken wing tips to try and keep them clean . Just got some antibiotics for him as he does have some gum disease from a bad cracked tooth they can't take out so should help him. LOL, poor darling almost fell asleep on the examination table, he really is an old man, Only awake a few hours a day. We are hoping that he will pass away one day comfortably in his sleep.
 
My vet reckons he is the toughest dog he has ever met, such a strong will to live. We were talking about his blood tests when they told me about his liver and kidneys being stuffed and I got the impression that he wouldn't last 3 months. Well, we looked up the records and that will be 3 years ago in October. The vet was reading off some of the results to me, I don't know the measurements compared with USA ones, they are different, but his liver function came in at over 4,000 something and the normal reading was 8. He reckons its the highest reading he has ever seen in all his years as a vet. He read all the other ones off too and told me what the normal ones were, they were all totally off the scales. Any other dog he has seen with even half those readings, curled up their paws and died within a few weeks.
 
Well I immediately put Dougal on Milk Thistle, know about that from the Cushings days and the internet and my Vet now agrees that it must have saved his life as he could never have undergone that surgery for his injury the way things were. He is very interested in all these things and doesn't dismiss them like some do.
 
He was very impressed with his ears too, no gunk, told him about the Blue Lightning treatment Viv got made up for us over here and he is very interested and I am going to send him the web site links so he can read up on it. I don't think I have even cleaned Dougal's ears for about 8 weeks and they are clean as anything. He has had brown gunk in them as long as I have known him.

[Helen]

Dougal sounds like a dear old guy.  Obviously greatly loved.

Helen

[Michael]

Sounds like you're doing something right! It's great when people cherish their older dogs as much as you do! I love seeing that! Am looking forward to hearing more about your other dogs and adventures too!

[zefi]

Please give my love, hugs and kisses to little Dougal. Those old kids are just so special.

I mentioned this in a way on another topic, about loving my dogs more as they get older. See, I've never had an old dog. My first dog, Timmy, was about 7 when I left Greece and he got old with Mom and Dad. I wasnt there to see him get old and get sick and when he died it was Dad who held him.

I used to think I'd hate having an old dog. I saw old dogs around and was always put off by them, they way they moved and looked... I guess I was just scared of how I would handle having a dog who was sick and old.

One of my old friends loves old dogs. She used to tell me she loved the old age in her dogs best of all phases of their lives, cause at that stage she could love them more and look after them more. I used to think she was crazy. I loved the younger, fitter, stronger phases...

But now I feel I've changed. I love old dogs I meet on the street. Somehow, without even knowing them, I love them cause of their age and the many years of living and loving they've given their owners. And although I know I still hate the idea of any of my babies getting old and sick, I know that I will love them even more when they get to that phase of their lives.