Ro.ask.for advice re beloved old dog.

[Superdoopas]

Vets have said our 14 year old dog
. Has bad teeth . Needs ga to clean them . Old teeth may lead to infection .. heart issues .
. She has advanced cataracts. She needs both done
. Test for cusions disease.

. On painkillers already. Suggested 3 monthly injections for max relief. On med s with occasional break thro pain arm .
. She is 14.
. Mostly sleeps. Goes on 4 little sniff walks a day. Goes out in dog buggy. Enjoys the pub ( sleeping in it )
My instinct is not to put her through the surgeries. Too much trauma for an old one. Id want the same for myself.
Out of love.
Any advice on caring for an old ,much loved dog. And how to decide what is in her best intrests.iabu to question vets recomendation s re surgeries .?

My dog has had serious infection in her mouth due to neglect before I got her, her remaining teeth were covered in tartar and resulted in bone loss etc.
She was 7 and had a GA.Personally Im afraid at14 I wouldnt have put her through it and with other issues such as you mention I would have to hav e a serious talk with myself about dogs future. Your vet must not have concerns about her getting through the anaesthetic if they are willing to do the ops though. Would they be able to do teeth and eyes at same time ? What breed is the dog, would she have a few years ahead of her i.e. small dog.
I would need to trust the vet to put dogs health ahead of money.
sorry perhaps not what you wanted to hear, but have gone through similar scenarios with various dogs over the years and its very hard to make a judgement

She isn14 . A small dog with average life span of 12 to 14 years.
We love her dearly. We are concerned about the stress of surgeries on her.
She is very gentle and gets v anxious at vets.
I must admit i am a bit wary of vets pushing for treatments.. but that is probably illogical of me and based on anxiety about situation .

I love my dog very much. At 14 with all those issues, I’d make the opposite choice to surgery and intervention. I’d let her be put to sleep with no pain and all my love.

I had exactly the same situation with my old dog last year. We had him operated, as the vets told us he would be fine and the operations might give him another year or two with us. He was fine other than having some very visible tumours.

We were told the operation went very very well, and that he would be fine.

He died less than two months after the operation. I bitterly regret doing it.

Quality of life is key. If she’s going in a buggy, I’d say she hasn’t got a fantastic quality of life.

I risked a GA with my 14 year old, he went flat several times during the surgery, but he had multiple abscesses from a dog bite which the antibiotics weren’t touching. He went on for another 18months, but the second I looked at him realising he had suddenly deteriorated, I phoned the vet.

I’m sorry, OP, I’d say it’s time.

Why does the vet keep sugg all this stuff .

I was advised to have my 10 year old dog teeth done now, the breed life expectancy is about 14-15, he is exceedingly fit, healthy and sprightly, he walks 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours a day, he has no heart and lung problems and is a very good weight etc. She said that would probably last him the rest of his life. My vet said she really wouldn't be keen to anaesthetise a 14 -15 year old dog its too risky.

She loves hee buggy . She sniffs the air. . She asks ro go in the pub . I will monitor closley. I cannot keep her with us if she suffers for us.. however , she gets bursts of joy. Like today onnthe beach.

My DD has a very old cat, it had a couple teeth removed last year and a dental all under GA. The vet has just suggested she needs another this year which is ridiculous. DD asked my thoughts and I said I wouldn't do it the cat is elderly, eating fine and in otherwise good health for her age but why put her through something like a teeth clean when she can't possibly need another one yet. My DDog is getting on and he's very anxious and diabetic so would make the same decision for him as I think sometimes though we'll meaning the vets don't know your pet like you do and when they are older the risks are too high

She is on daily painkillers as she has a fluxating patella too. The vet says she can have inc pain releif via a 3 month injecection too. Sorry am v upset and forgot that bit.

I wouldn't. A friend's dog had very bad teeth when she was old and at the vet's suggestion she had a procedure under general anaesthetic to deal with them and she never ate again afterwards. She had a feeding tube put in because she wouldn't eat, but she clearly felt very unwell and weak despite being fed via the tube, and had to be PTS after a couple of weeks. It was pretty traumatic all around.

I’d personally say it’s time, and have her PTS rather than putting her through all that, sorry op must be hard x

We had our 16 year old dog put to sleep at the start of the year. She was very active and healthy and got 'old' almost overnight. Our vet told us gently that it was best to let her go as it would be traumatic for her and us to let it all get worse and I'm sure he was right although it broke our hearts. The fact is they can't really get better at that age.

Horrible decision isn’t it. My old boy is getting on for 12 with a breed life expectancy of around 13 years. He’s on meds for arthritis and eye drops for dry eye. He’s got several lumps and bumps the vet is keen to remove but they are purely cosmetic so I’m wavering a bit. He still enjoys his walks but he potters rather than charges around now. And sleeps much more than he used to. It’s so difficult to know what to do.

The vet runs a business that needs to make money. If my vet had suggested any kind of treatment thar required GA for my ancient terrier I would have looked for another vet. I think at your lovely doggies age it should be palliative care only. If she is enjoying her food and little outings then it's not her time yet. They always tell us if we only listen. X

She sounds like she’s living her best doddery old life. And at the beach! So lovely that she gets to sleep in the pub as well. Definitely no teeth or eye ops. We had a very elderly terrier and kept him away from the vets as much as possible. You will know when their feeding/drinking/bathroom stuff is going wrong at which point they do need the vet. I hope she has a comfortable summer.

No I wouldn’t put my dog through a surgery at that age personally. It’s so hard, they mean so much to us, and it’s so hard to know when you should be letting them go. Is she in bad pain, does she have no quality of life?

I'm a vet and operated on my large breed dog at 13 years old because he had a bleeding ulcerating mass that was causing him pain and discomfort - the alternative of leaving him to constantly catch this mass and make it bleed and sore every day wasn't an option for me for his Quality of Life. There are certain other things I would not have put him through at that age and would have put him to sleep instead had they arisen such as major abdominal surgery etc

You need to weigh up whether leaving a dog with dental pain (and there will be dental pain if there are tooth root abscesses etc same as when we get dental pain - eating does not = no pain) and pain from other conditions like arthritis is a good enough QoL and if unable to properly manage that pain and not fix some of the pain with a dental then potentially considering putting to sleep as the kindest option.

I have / do do anaesthetics on older patients when the benefit to their QoL outweighs the potential risks. Age is not a disease, but other illnesses and age related conditions may potentially make an anaesthetic more risky. I can only imagine your vet recommended the dental because they feel that your dogs quality of life is suffering and / or could be markedly improved. The vast majority of vets are not owners of the business they work in and do not gain at all personally financially for recommending procedures.

If you're struggling to assess your dogs quality of life this questionnaire can be very helpful when it comes time to make difficult decisions

vet.osu.edu/vmc/sites/default/files/import/assets/pdf/hospital/companionAnimals/HonoringtheBond/HowDoIKnowWhen.pdf

Thank you all. She has no teeth mouth abscess just very brown teeth .

The tool to.weigh.up.things is exellent. Thank you very much.
She is with me at the moment in a very deep sleep.