WoofGate

Senior Dogs

Older dogs, health management, quality of life

the quality of life conversation with our vet about our almost 13 year old golden retriever wally that i spent nine months avoiding and that turned out to be nothing like the conversation i had been dreading, the specific one page tool she handed us that broke my brain because it was so simple, what i actually meant when i said "i want to know when it is time" and what she heard i was asking, and the honest report from six weeks of tracking that has somehow made the last six months of him better instead of shorter

Wally turns 13 next month, red golden retriever, 71 pounds now down from a lifetime 78 that we managed on purpose starting at age 9 because our vet said the best senior intervention is a lean adult,...

Posted by wally_golden_13yrs•
5 comments

eight month writeup on at-home hospice for our 14 year old golden mix from the congestive heart failure diagnosis through the end last week, because the practical day to day picture of what at-home hospice actually looks like is almost impossible to find when you are trying to decide between hospice and earlier euthanasia and we needed it badly last october

Riley was a 62lb golden retriever / golden mix we adopted from our county shelter at age 4 in 2016. she made it almost ten years with us and she died at home in her bed on june 9 at age 14 and three...

Posted by apartment_lab_dad_neil•
5 comments

six months in with our ten year old senior rescue beagle from a rural county shelter and writing down what the first ninety day diagnostic workup actually turned up because the published guidance on adopting senior dogs underweights how load bearing that early workup is and how much it determines whether the next two years go well or whether you spend them reacting to findings you could have caught at intake

Biscuit is a ten year old neutered male beagle we adopted in early december from a rural county shelter in the eastern part of the state where he had been surrendered by a family who could not keep...

Posted by nervous_aussie_mom•
5 comments

twelve year old lab whose back end has been declining since fall and we are in what looks like an eighteen month mobility window before end of life, the published advice is aimed at the final weeks and is not helping us think about the runway, looking for input from families who lived through the slow decline phase and figured out how to extend functional mobility without losing the dog in the process

Otis is a 12 year old lab mix (lab and something hound, about 70 pounds when he was fit, currently 76 and we are working on getting that down) who has been a functional active dog his entire life. We...

Posted by senior_lab_mobility_decline•
7 comments

Learning to slow down for my old girl

My 12 year old cant do the hikes we used to do anymore. Had to accept that our walks are short and slow now and thats okay. We sit in the yard together instead and she seems just as happy. Getting...

Posted by patientBob2025•
3 comments

Supplements for joint health?

My lab is 9 and starting to slow down on walks. Vet says mild arthritis. What supplements actually help? So many options out there - glucosamine, fish oil, turmeric, CBD... what worked for your senior...

Posted by curiouspawrent11•
8 comments