My old dog keeps collapsing
My poor old dog Jess is around 14 and a little patterdale and some other terrier in there mix.
She is fine in herself apart from her stiff joints which is normal for a dog of her age. A couple of days ago she got up to trot across the room to see me and stopped. She was rocking backwards and forwards and 'huffing'. She seemed to recover pretty quick and was fine for the rest of the day.
Today the same thing happened except her legs seemed to buckle one by one and she keeled over
She was doing the 'huffing' again, she must have been in a lot of pain. I put her in her bed and again she seemed fine but then she got up and it happened again! After ten minutes or so of cuddles and stroking her she seemed fine again and even managed to get upstairs unaided. She's now laid in her bed looking pretty fed up with herself!
She doesn't seem to be having a seizure and seems fine, just her legs seem to be giving up
She's off to the vets later on today, I just hope she doesn't end up having to be put to sleep as she is still 'all there' despide being an elderly girl.
Anyone else here had this experience with an elderly dog?
I've had dogs all my life so I'm prepared for when she does eventually have to go to the kennel in the sky, but it never gets any easier does it
She is fine in herself apart from her stiff joints which is normal for a dog of her age. A couple of days ago she got up to trot across the room to see me and stopped. She was rocking backwards and forwards and 'huffing'. She seemed to recover pretty quick and was fine for the rest of the day.
Today the same thing happened except her legs seemed to buckle one by one and she keeled over
She was doing the 'huffing' again, she must have been in a lot of pain. I put her in her bed and again she seemed fine but then she got up and it happened again! After ten minutes or so of cuddles and stroking her she seemed fine again and even managed to get upstairs unaided. She's now laid in her bed looking pretty fed up with herself!She doesn't seem to be having a seizure and seems fine, just her legs seem to be giving up
She's off to the vets later on today, I just hope she doesn't end up having to be put to sleep as she is still 'all there' despide being an elderly girl.
Anyone else here had this experience with an elderly dog?
I've had dogs all my life so I'm prepared for when she does eventually have to go to the kennel in the sky, but it never gets any easier does it
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Fingers crossed all will be well with Jess & she's just getting a little creaky with old age. Let us know how you get on.
I hope it works out positively for you
Is she on any regular pain medication at the moment? If not then that may be all she needs if it is joint related, rather than any kind of seizure. When my previous dog Taz first started having serious problems with his back legs he got a one-off steroid injection and then painkillers when needed and the improvement was amazing. I started him on Glucosamine and cod liver oil too at the recommendation of my vet.
Unfortunately the end for him did come when his back legs failed completely, but he'd been on pain medication for a couple of years at that point (and coping well up until then) so I had to make the decision based on his quality of life and the fact his pain wasn't being managed any more.
She is off to the vets at 5.30 pm tonight.
In reply to michelle666, Jess has been taking metacam in her food for her pain with variable effects, I don't think it does that much to help her old bones tbh. I'm thinking that the vet will give ger a painkiller/anti-inflamitory injection tonight and then get me to come back after the weekend and possibly a course of painkillers.
I'm almost certain she's not having seizures as she is completely aware when she has fallen, she seems in pain but not distress, but her expression looks more like she's disconcerted! She's sat happily in her bed next to me right now and just got up to say hello wagging her tail but with that shamefaced expression dogs do when they feel guilty
I gave her a tickle behind the ears and she 'smiled'. Dog lovers will know what I mean I'm sure!
Fingers crossed the vet can give her something to make her feel better, otherwise...
Seems she's not too well though, she had a few teeth out about 4 months ago and her heart was good and strong, but now she has a bad heart murmur now, the vet thinks that this could be why she collapsed, her heart is gradually giving in
She has a lump under her right jaw but it's not the gland and the vet will take a biopsy of it if it doesn't improve, she is a little anaemic looking too so blood tests are in order.
She's been put on heart medication, not entirely sure what it does (will have to Google it!) so hopefully it will help her.
So it seems a dicky ticker is what's wrong, she's also lost a kilo in weight and that's a lot when you weighed just under 10kg to start with!
She is off to the vets in a week or so to assess how she's getting on, fingers crossed she is feeling better, I know it's not fixable and it's possible she could just keel over and drop dead one day but I'm prepared for the inevitable and just hope it's not too soon.
Let's hope the meds help.
Don't feel too sorry for her as she will sense your distress and it'll make her worse.
The best thing you can do for her is behave as if nothing is wrong.
I have been treating her exactly as normal
She had a bit of a wobbly turn last night but seems fine today, just a little quiet. The vet has given her vetmedin, just googled it and it seems like it should help her, found this quote on their website:
Vetmedin opens up the blood vessels taking blood away from the heart, so reducing the work the heart has to do to pump blood around your dog's body.
So it sounds good and should prolong her life a bit more