Elderly dog suddenly gone strange this evening

[Sprookjesbos]

Hi all.
Our terrier is 16 next month. He has his ups and downs but generally does remarkably well for his age. This evening, all of a sudden, he started walking on the hearth in front of the fire which he usually avoids (it is tiles and he skitters on them so just walks round it). Thought it was a bit odd. Not long after, he started circling the coffee table. He did it about 6 times before I interrupted him and since then has been pacing the house, mostly making right turns. I ended up pushing the coffee table against the wall because he kept going back to circle it. He usually sleeps in the evening and it is seriously unusual for him to be awake at this time but he's now been pacing for 2 hours. Doesn't seem in pain or particularly distressed. Think it might be a long night.

Anyone know what this might mean, or experienced it before? Not sure if it warrants a vet trip!

remember your thread ...so sorry OP 🌹 poor you and the family at the moment.. thoughts 🙏

I remember reading this - that pain we are carrying now means they are no longer suffering- that gives me and hopefully you a little comfort

I am so sorry. Please comfort yourself with the knowledge that he knew you loved him, dogs are like that. You have relieved his suffering and he would be grateful that you did that too. My old boy had to be helped over the rainbow bridge last year, I know exactly how you feel but his time had come.
Again, I do feel for you. 💔💔💔

@Sprookjesbos one of the hardest parts of being a pet owner is letting them go when we love them so much. Sorry for your loss.

🥺💔

Oh I am sorry, I commented on your previous thread.
You have given him the kindest gift, and is the cost of the love he has given you.
He had a wonderful life and passed with his favourite people around him
I have tears in my eyes. I have a terrier too
In time your grief will be replaced with smiles as you look back on your memories.
My thoughts are with you

So sorry to hear this. It is the hardest thing to do. But done entirely out of love. Your boy was clearly loved.

Thank you all so much, I was overwhelmed by the response to my update! All your messages were a real comfort though I haven't been able to bring myself to reply until now.

Thankfully the in-laws have taken the kids for a few days as it's half term so DH and I can sort ourselves out, clean the carpets etc and get ourselves together.

I can't believe how awful we both feel! I think I thought we would feel sad but ok with the decision afterwards but we feel dreadful, both of us keep randomly bursting into tears and haven't been able to sleep properly.

We buried him in the garden and on the first night it was awful weather here and I couldn't sleep for the guilt of leaving him out in the garden - so silly I know!

He hadn't been out of the house in about 6 months so his trip to the vet was a big deal to him and he was very unsettled in the consultation room. It took 2 rounds of sedative to get him to sleep so I feel awful about that and just can't let go of the fact that right at the end he might have worried we were harming him. I can't say this to anyone in real life because they just tell me it had to be done etc - just venting on here really.

Thanks to all you doggy people that get it.

Also, we were adamant for weeks we wouldn't have another dog but we were looking up puppies at 4am! We won't make that decision until we've settled down again but what an emotional rollercoaster!!

Thank you all again! Xx

Sending you more hugs. Try to remember that your dear dog loved you and knew you loved him. Nothing has changed that. He was a member of your family, you are allowed to be sad. Take care of yourself. ❤️❤️❤️

Totally get the bit about you worrying about him feeling worried - I still nearly 1.5 years on think 'omg she trusted us and she would've been expecting to wake up' but again couldn't really speak about that to anyone because like you, yes it was the right decision but the feelings you've got are COMPLETELY valid and not spoken about. Also get the guilty feeling about the bad weather - we had her cremated and I remember being really worried about if they were nice to her and looked after her when she was going from the vets to the crem.

At this point it's literally taking each hour by hour. At some point, it'll be day by day and the stretches get a bit longer (but I'm currently sobbing typing this hahaha). The only comfort you can take out of it all was how much of a lovely life he had with you ♥️🐾

Sending lots of love xx

Ahh thank you both so much xx❤

I am so sorry. It is the last kindness you can do for a much loved pet, but it hurts so much. Take care of yourself💐

Just to reiterate what @daisyelle said, the stretches do get longer…but I’m another who is currently sobbing.
I’ve just gone for a walk through the woods, the first time since we said goodbye to our boy on August 17th. He loved the woods.
It was a huge mistake, I’d only been walking for a few minutes when the tears started.

I totally understand what you say about what happens to them afterwards too. We made the mistake of driving past the vets on the next day, it was a Sunday and it was obviously closed and I don’t know if he’d have been taken to the crematorium on the Saturday or if they had facilities and he’d have been in there until the Monday and the thought that he might be in there all alone was heartbreaking.

We want to get a puppy but we hadn’t been able to have a proper holiday due to our boy needing twice daily injections plus other meds so we’ve booked a week in LA for the beginning of March. The plan is that we’ll start looking at rescues once we’re back, but I’m wishing I’d booked a holiday sooner. Our youngest son is 24 and still living at home and is desperate for another dog too, he came home from a walk with his girlfriend yesterday and said he’d thought of a name (which coincidentally was one I’d thought of, but maybe not such a coincidence as it’s the name of one of our favourite football players).

@Sprookjesbos I’m sorry for how you’re feeling and I totally understand where you’re coming from. You are grieving the loss of a friend and family member, and the emotions that go with this, allow yourself the time to come to terms with this and don’t feel guilty.

If he’s anything like most of the dogs (and cats!) at my vets I rarely see one that isn’t unsettled… it’s the place we take them for those pointy nippy things that go in their back (injections) or those cold glass tubes up their rear end (thermometer!)… this is how they view the vets and what they associate with it, I genuinely don’t think he would of worried you were harming him although I completely get where you’re coming from xx

i agree with the PP who said that the stretches between crying do get longer and longer, until one day you will suddenly realise that you didn’t cry that day 🥲 if you’re considering getting another dog, please look at rescues - places like Many Tears often have puppies and very young dogs as well as ex breeding bitches who have been handed in 😔

Sorry to hear this, OP. One of my cats had similar symptoms (also elderly) - we went back and forth to the vets, convinced it was a stroke or something neurological but the vet disagreed so we didn't push for invasive testing. It was neurological though, because the cat passed around 4 weeks later after having some kind of seizure in his sleep. Just sort of slumped and slept and was gone.

We swore we wouldn’t have another dog, couldn’t go through it again, but 4 weeks later we’d rehomed a sad face off Facebook. Honestly it really helped us to process our grief, it gave us a buffer, a cushion, to take the edge off and really work through it. It doesn’t mean we loved our old boy any less. Us being dogless isn’t proof of how important he was. Don’t overthink it, a dog out there needs a home x