r/SeniorDogsHealth

Skinny medium-ish sized dog, beagle/chihuahua mix (I think), male, in tact, 12 years old (about to turn 13), roughly between 15-20lbs

About 2 and a half weeks ago I noticed he was drinking a lot more water than normal, and subsequently ended up peeing for a longer period of time when I’d take him on walks. Sometimes he’d just stand there and pee for like a minute straight and create a whole puddle.

He also had a couple of accidents in the home. 2 of them were on my bed, the other was when I had guests over, but I assumed the guest one was because he was really excited/anxious because he’s done that before, but now I’m not sure that was the case.

He’s still eating regularly, has high energy, still gets excited to go on walks, etc. It seems like he’s lost a bit of weight, but I don’t know if that’s just the fact that he’s been shedding his coat. Even when he pees, it doesn’t seem like he’s straining or in pain. He’s pooping regularly as well. Nothing has really changed except for the increased water intake and more peeing.

Is this incontinence due to old age? Should I be worried about a kidney infection/kidney failure? Do I take him in to get tests done? The only reason I haven’t is because I’m not in a place financially to pay any additional costs on top of a basic urgent care exam fee, and I already know the vet will tell me that he needs additional testing done since they won’t be able to tell if he has an infection from just looking at him.

I did call 2 clinics, told them my dog’s symptoms, and both places didn’t give me any advice on whether I should bring him in. They just told me how much an urgent care exam visit would cost. When I asked about payment plans for any additional costs, both of them told me they don’t do payment plans and that I’d have to look into some other form of credit payment or just look for a different clinic.

Just looking for some logical advice about next steps. Thanks. :/

I have a 15yr old husky mix. 90lbs. The BEST dog ever. The absolute best. His only real health issue is arthritis in the hind legs. He's on Adequan injections every two weeks, and Galliprant once a day. His doctor has reworked his meds multiple times to find something that seems to help the most. But obviously with his size and age, he still struggles sometimes. He is very happy though. Still gets zoomies, loves playing ball, follows the kids around.
He's starting to have incontinence issues. Poops himself while laying down. Not sure if he can't feel it or just can't always get up by himself if no one is home or awake to help him. ​Will poop partly outside then come in and poop more. Or vise versa. Will wake up to a small amount of poop on the floor by the door, and then he'll go outside and poop more. He never urinates in the house (yet!) LOL. His bloodwork looks good and his doctor doesn't want to do anything invasive at his age. Last appointment she mentioned it might be time to consider euthanasia. 😫 As she assumes the incontinence will only get worse. This is inconceivable to me. I obviously wouldn't want him to suffer. But he seems to be happy and not in pain. I'd be thankful for any advice. Would diapers be ridiculous on a dog this large? I just want to keep him comfortable and happy for as long as possible.

My JRT weighs 25 lbs. He needs to weigh 22 lbs.

Calculated RER is 400 kcal/day
Calculated MER is 640 kcal/day

I feed him Purina One Healthy Weight (325 kcal/cup) half cup twice daily. Breakfast is around 0700. By noon/early afternoon he is whining for food. I give him 1-1.5 cups of green beans at that time.

By 4:00 he’s whining for food. I feed him dinner at that time.

I walk him 4 miles/day.

When I say he whines for food between meals, I mean he GROANS for food. He searches the house for food. He mouths his food bowl.

I do ignore him. But I promise, I can ignore him until the cows come home and his whining/searching does not relent.

He, like many dogs, does not like my lawn sprinkler. He woke me up at 0400 this morning. Annoyed but proud he alerted me he needed to go potty, I took him out. The sprinklers were on. He didn’t care. He stood midst the sprinklers EATING THE LEAVES OFF A PLANT at 0400 today.

He is hypothyroid, but his T4 is normal on meds.

I’m about to leave now to go read at a coffee shop just to get away from him until dinner time. Either that or let him get obese and be happy.

I cannot feed him less. I worry he’s going to become deficient in something because I’m having to underfeed him.

Please help.

So our dog is an approx. 11 y/o hound mix (she's a rescue so unsure of specific breeds), and for the last year or so has had chronic anal gland issues. She licks her butt constantly. I've taken her to the vet so many times over the past year, where they've expressed her anal glands and flushed them out, but our dog only seems to get relief for maybe a week and then she's constantly in her butt again. It's to the point where I have to stop her from doing it 10+ times a day. Not only is it gross but I know she's just making it worse constantly licking at it. Our vet doesn't seem to have any real answers other than they keep flushing her anal glands out and putting her on steroids and antibiotics. It's just becoming not feasible for us to take her in once a month to have this done plus the cost at like $400+ per visit because she has to be sedated. We've already spent thousands with no real resolution.

Anyone else dealt with something like this before? I feel bad for her because I'm sure she's in pain, but I also don't know what else to feasibly do for her.

My dog has a lick granuloma on her front leg & it’s gotten infected and it just keeps getting ripped open bcuz she won’t stop moving around no matter what I do to stop her. It’s so bad & I cannot afford to go to the vet & I don’t have a car. I feel helpless bcuz I know she’s miserable & I can’t help her . This has been going on for months & months. I took her to an emergency animal hospital & they were just going to let her die on their floor bcuz I didn’t have $1300 to pay them. I don’t want to lose her. I’ve had her for 12 years, her whole life. What do I do. I’m having a full on panic attack. To be clear I’m not asking for money, just advice

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Hello everyone,

I have a 6 yo yorkie who developed 2 bouts of diahrrea 2 weeks apart. Each time we went to the vets, he had no fever, was prescribed clavaseptin for 4 days each time and put on a turkey and rice diet for 5 days. Following this treatment, his poop returned to a formed consistency but softer than before the first incident. Vet said he probably got into something each time, i am not convinced as we watch him like a hawk because he does liike to eat anything under the sun (except of course, his food).

Now we are 2 weeks after his second diahrrea episode and 1 week where we went from turkey and rice to his regular kibble. His stools have shape, but are still softer, harder to pick up than before this all started. Is this at all common or is it a sign he is still not well? He eats great, is happy and energetic like his usual self.

Thank you for any advice and opinion.

My 35 lb 15 year old mutt’s back legs are starting to loose muscle. She doesn’t sit on command. Anything I can do for her to build the muscle back? Otherwise than that she is pretty healthy.

Just wanted to ask if anyone had experience with incontinence in their senior dogs—my baby is almost 13, and over the last few weeks to a month, I’ve noticed little pee spots where he’s sitting and we have noticed he’s dribbling involuntarily
The urine does not smell abnormal so I didn’t think a UTI
He doesn’t seem to be straining either
I’m trying to avoid a huge vet bill just to be told he’s old
He recently was diagnosed with IVDD earlier this year
Had horrible back pain and was on a fentanyl patch, muscle relaxer, and gabapentin
I’m assuming this contributed to the issue
We have started diapering at night bc when he’s asleep is when he seems to leak

I’m just worried it could be an infection but the urine is not an odd color and does not have odor

He is thirstier than usual some days but it is over 100 degrees here outside
He goes outside at least 4-5 times a day

He is a rat terrier/min pin mix

Please please please help me I am beyond desperate. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Hi all, my 9 yr Labrador has been experiencing some changes in his health and activity recently but his bloodwork and X-rays have come back showing nothing abnormal. I am really desperate for answers as he is extreme active for a 9 yo (typically walks a minimum of 10k steps a day or a few miles) and he is a lab so extremely food motivated. Like insanely food motivated. Anyways he has stopped eating his food and treats and is lethargic and just not acting right at all. His vet prescribed antibiotics for a likely GI issue but he has since finished them and shown no improvement. He is off an on when he does eat, sometimes he will eat the pumpkin we put on his food but leave the kibble, other times he will turn his nose from it. I even tried peanut butter and he won’t touch it. Anyways, I have posted on Reddit threads before but had no replies and am really worried about it, he has lost 5 lb in a week from not eating.

Has anybody been able to help their old guys with hind leg weakness? Stretching? PT?

I know he’s not going to go back to normal but trying to see what I can do about his hind leg fatigue. If he stands in one place too long he’ll eventually slowly just law down. (He also has arthritis). The vet was very unhelpful.

my 13 year old golden retriever just had a sezuire she had a mass on her side and she’s been sick for the last week. we can’t move her, she is throwing up and pooping everywhere she’s breathing heavily. what to do she cannot be moved

Hello guys.

My dog is going to turn 6yo in October. Male, not spayed, 20kg.

About two weeks ago I started to notice him drinking more than usual. He always drank a lot but it seemed more than usual. And this last week he couldn't really stay all night without needing to go outside. I woke up 3 times in the middle of night (about 3 to 4 hours before he went outside) and he was leaking from his penis. He doesn't really pee voluntarily on bed but he was leaking and I went with him outside and he pees for almost a minute.

Usually his pees are 20 seconds during the day.

He seems completely normal otherwise.

I notice he drinks much more water from late evening and night, not really during the day.

Wednesday I talked to the vet and they told me they needed a urine sample, I took the sample around 12pm and gave them.

Yesterday I went there with him because they asked me to and the vet told me they found his urine was very diluted for what he has been drinking (1.5L/day). Since then they made uroculture and bloodwork. The vet told me his bloodwork was perfectly fine and it didn't seem to be adrenal either but she wants ultrasound/ecography so she can see kidneys and adrenals and liver and everything.

These last 24 hours he drank more likely 2L than 1.5L. He still seems completely fine other than that.

But the ultrasound will be only Tuesday morning.

She told me she needs to really discard kidney disease and adrenals or tumors. She also said it could be diabetes insipidus. But I saw online that if it was that it would need to be much more water. Or can it start like this?

Also, could it be something infectious like leptospirosis or this behavior and time doesn't align with it?

I'm just really stressed. What do you guys think it could be since his lab work seems to be fine except for diluted urine?

Thank you.

My senior doggie has had a traumatic response to getting her rabies and bordatello vaccinations. Long story short, the next day she started shaking. Took her to the vet and they didn’t know what was wrong so they did bloodwork. The next day she started drooling and wandering around completely confused. She got antibiotics and she’s been having to go to the vet every day. She has a severe tooth infection and if she doesn’t get better in the next few days they won’t be able to do dental surgery. I just don’t understand. This is literally out of nowhere. She’s a rescue so we aren’t sure about her age but she’s likely around 13 and 1/2 chihuahua and 1/2 Boston terrier. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? This dog means everything to my husband and I and I desperately want to save her.

Hi everyone, I’m worried about my dog. Recently, he has been having pain or weakness in the back legs, and while walking, sometimes falls down or struggles to stay upright.
Has anyone experienced something similar with their dog? What could cause this, and what should I do right now?
I’m planning to get my dog checked by a vet as soon as possible, especially because the falling is concerning.
Any advice or experiences would be appreciated. Thank you!