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Ohio Yorkie · 12-12-2014, 03:32 PM

I was blessed to be able to adopt my parent's 4 year old yorkie into my family after they both passed away unexpectedly.

Although, he has been our dog the last 10 years, I always say he was my parent's dog and we joke that he lived his retirement first! He went from living with two elderly people to a family with 4 young kids. He was so wonderful for my kids to help in the grieving process of their beloved grandparents. He is very sweet, passive, and has been very low maintenance.

He will be 15 years old in April of next year. We are now experiencing a few issues. I am hoping all of you yorkie experts can offer me a little advice.

First, over the last 4 months or so, he has lost weight. He weighs 4lbs.....at his chubbiest, he weighed 6lbs. We have not changed his food ( I feed him Blue Buffalo for Senior Small Breed dogs for the last two years), however I know his teeth have really gotten bad, and this could be the issue.....although he is still eating the kibble. With his recent decline in weight, we have also noticed his eyesight is almost completely gone, as well as his hearing, and he is having a lot of difficulty going up and down our stairs. It seems like this all came on so fast!

About 10 days ago, one of his anal ducts become abscessed and ruptured. I took him to the vet, had it drained and they did blood work and put him on antibiotics and pain meds. I gave him pain meds for about 4 days, and he is still on the antibiotics. He has never had an issue like this? What would cause his anal glands to abscess?

The vet did blood work, and it came back fine. He recommended that we have his teeth pulled, as he is confident there is probably a lot of infection in this mouth. I am not comfortable with this, as I think with his trachea issues, it could be dangerous for him to go under anesthesia and have a tube down his throat. He seems so delicate right now, that I can't imagine him going through this kind of stressful trauma.

He has been blatantly peeing in the house right in front of us?! I don't know if he doesn't realize we are there, or what? Today, I took him outside and he ate his poop? He's never done this? Would the antibiotics cause him to do this?

We really have been SO blessed with his good health so far, and expect a decline in health as he ages. However, I am so surprised that a lot of these issues came on so fast.

I appreciate your thoughts.....It could be that this is just the reality of taking care of an elderly dog.

12-12-2014, 03:32 PM	#1
Ohio Yorkie YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Ohio Posts: 1	Aging Yorkie I was blessed to be able to adopt my parent's 4 year old yorkie into my family after they both passed away unexpectedly. Although, he has been our dog the last 10 years, I always say he was my parent's dog and we joke that he lived his retirement first! He went from living with two elderly people to a family with 4 young kids. He was so wonderful for my kids to help in the grieving process of their beloved grandparents. He is very sweet, passive, and has been very low maintenance. He will be 15 years old in April of next year. We are now experiencing a few issues. I am hoping all of you yorkie experts can offer me a little advice. First, over the last 4 months or so, he has lost weight. He weighs 4lbs.....at his chubbiest, he weighed 6lbs. We have not changed his food ( I feed him Blue Buffalo for Senior Small Breed dogs for the last two years), however I know his teeth have really gotten bad, and this could be the issue.....although he is still eating the kibble. With his recent decline in weight, we have also noticed his eyesight is almost completely gone, as well as his hearing, and he is having a lot of difficulty going up and down our stairs. It seems like this all came on so fast! About 10 days ago, one of his anal ducts become abscessed and ruptured. I took him to the vet, had it drained and they did blood work and put him on antibiotics and pain meds. I gave him pain meds for about 4 days, and he is still on the antibiotics. He has never had an issue like this? What would cause his anal glands to abscess? The vet did blood work, and it came back fine. He recommended that we have his teeth pulled, as he is confident there is probably a lot of infection in this mouth. I am not comfortable with this, as I think with his trachea issues, it could be dangerous for him to go under anesthesia and have a tube down his throat. He seems so delicate right now, that I can't imagine him going through this kind of stressful trauma. He has been blatantly peeing in the house right in front of us?! I don't know if he doesn't realize we are there, or what? Today, I took him outside and he ate his poop? He's never done this? Would the antibiotics cause him to do this? We really have been SO blessed with his good health so far, and expect a decline in health as he ages. However, I am so surprised that a lot of these issues came on so fast. I appreciate your thoughts.....It could be that this is just the reality of taking care of an elderly dog.