Is this the end? I don't know what to do
 

Hi everyone. I hope I will find support, because I think I am losing my healthy mental state right now. Shortly: last week on Thursday I was going out in the morning with my 14 years Gino. On Wednesday he was fine, still greeting me after work, jumping around etc. Thursday morning, he had diahrrea combined with throwing up. I stopped feeding him aiming for the usual diet, but after 24 hours I gave him rice and he did not touch it. On the top of it he stopped drinking and became very weak. His back legs are giving up, he walks like drank and he is seems to have no life in him. I took him to the vet, (I am in Russia at the moment, so it is a PITA) and the vet stuck like 5 needles into him-fluids, appetite boosters, vitamins etc. Blood was too thick to make analysis that day, so needed to go in the evening again. In the evening they put infusion to hydrate him, again those five needles and they told me this my be just his life expectancy. His gums are not white, they seems to be healthy, he ate cooked chicken yesterday, drinks a bit now, but he is so dead-no energy at all. When I pet him he doesn't react, sleeps all the time and seems to be not enjoying his time outside at all-just standing there. Now, maybe I will have to let go, but here is why I hesitate: Can the end come so suddenly? I would expect the health to get worst gradually, not like this. It is a shock for me, it went down so quick-I just cannot believe this happens so quick. Do you think he may be just simply exhausted from being sick? I am not very friendly when I am sick myself...
I don't want to let go unless I am absolutely sure this is not just temporary. Any similar experiences? Thank you.

It is hard to say. Just want to say how sorry I am....the pain of watching them grow old and the thought of losing them is just so awful.
I will keep you and Gino in my thoughts and prayers.

I am sorry you are going thru this. My parents had a 14 yr old dog who was failing this summer and we all struggled with the decision to let him go. You will know when the time is right - he will tell you when he's ready. God bless you and comfort you during this time.

I am so sorry that your little one is sick

I don't have any advice but I would like to offer you my hugs and prayers. It's always hard to let someone you love go and even harder when they were absolutely loyal, loving and faithful no matter what. I hope if he is just sick and this awful time passes(soon) that he and you will have most out of what time he has left.
Hugs, Roni and Ahi~

is this end
 

I've been thru it..bear with it...remember how many happy moments you have had...no one ever thinks of the end...yes it comes on all of a sudden..Lucky999:(

He may perk back up. You just never know. It really depends on what is wrong. I'm keeping you both in my thoughts and prayers. I know how difficult and heartbreaking a time you are going through right now. It's kind of a slow torture.

So sorry you are going thru this so far from home. The end can come suddenly, or can just develop and last a while. Could it possibly be a small stroke or Blood Clot? We had an episode with our 14 year old female last month and thought she would not make it to the Vet. She did, and recovered in a few days. Still do not know what happened but a few possibilities. Is there a Specialty Vet in the area of Russia?

I hope your baby is just fighting off the bug. Sending warm thoughts and hugs your way.

Thank you for all your responses. My best friend is definitely shutting down. We are now at our last days, maybe hours as he is not responding anymore. We will wait for the death together and I hope when he crosses the rainbow bridge he will be happy and have many friends there who are going to play with him everyday. We had many good moments together and I tried my best to never leave him behind. I wish I had more time and I had paid more attention to him as I know I missed a lot of opportunities when I had them. To all of you:cherish them and dedicate the time, find time, make time for them. They are worth it. I wish to all of your little friends only the best and a long, happy, healthy life full of fun.

Well I know of many on the other side that will welcome him. That being said I really understand how you feel. I lost my Lexi this June and I am always thinking what if.. But it is taken out of our hands sometimes why we will never understand. I know the day and weeks ahead will be tough. Just keep all the great memories of your times to help you thru this time. It helps a lot to remember all the times they made us laugh and smile. And in most cases that was daily. Sending prayers and many many hugs. Take care...

Prayers for peace and comfort beyond all understanding.

sounds like liver enzymes are off...I just posted in another thread about this. My husband's jack russell has done this alot over the last 8 years and we thought he was going to die. I would have to carry him outside to potty he was so bad. But each time his enzymes were off and we fed him a plain scrambled egg and boiled potatoes, we pushed fluids to keep him from getting dehydrated. It's a scary thing the first few times we went through this we just knew he was going to die.

My heart goes out to you...:(

I am so sorry you are dealing with this. I have been dealing with the same thing with my 19 year old cat. After many discussions with the vet and many tears, we let her go this afternoon. She was no longer eating, she seemed to be pleading to be let go- she hadn't laid down and slept in days- she just wandered about, crying, and unable to get comfortable. I think when you look in their eyes, you just know. Letting them go is the hardest thing but the last true act of love and devotion we can show them.

Good news. After countless hours in hospital, all the needles and tests we were told Gino's liver was in trouble. I was about to put him asleep, but somehow I could not believe it and since he was not showing any pain I decided he will take his last breath at home and was not going to put him asleep unless he was in pain. So we went home and I was trying to make him as comfortable as I could. I did not care what he ate at this moment and I am one of the owner who ever gave him anything except good dry food and pet treats. All his life he was on Wellness and Eukanuba and he was as healthy as it gets. Now the weird thing what happened: I read all of your posts(thank you all) and I tried the scrambled eggs and also the chicken breast boiled in the water-no success. He thru up all of these dietary food. Rice he did not even touch. Then I was eating my pork shoulder and I decided to give him a piece. He almost bite my finger of taking it. I was happy that he swallowed at least something so I chopped small pieces of the shoulder and gave it to him. He ate all of it and did not throw up this time. It stayed in his body. He was looking for more, but I was afraid to give him more, because of his problems. So what I did was I cut small pieces (for anybody who is reading this right now in desperate help I will be very specific), pieces about the size of a bread crumb and I was giving him very small portions (about 4-6 pieces) every two hours. My doggy began to eat slowly, never thru up and started to drink water as well, slowly, in small shots. NOw, here is how I prepared the pork. It was a lean pork shoulder, almost no fat at all. I did not used any oil. I only put some cumin on the top (remember I was baking it for myself), bit of salt and as it was I put it in owen-NO oil, nothing else. Baked it for about an hour and a half. It released a bit gravy which I gave the dog as well, but not much, just a very little bit, so the meat was not very dry. He eats this the second day, his eyes came back to life and today he looks much better. He walks now, drinks and eats. I keep feeding him every two hours and I added to his food chicken hearts boiled in water, he seems to like that as well. I am sharing this long message hoping that it may help someone else who is in a similar situation, so sorry for the flood. Wish us luck and we will keep you updated. Thank you all again for all your posts. If anyone has any questions about this, I will gladly answer them :)

I am so happy to hear this news! I hope he keeps getting better and you two can at least have a few more happy loving years together. :)

this is good news that your baby is responding to your wonderful care. I hope that he gets back to his normal self soon. Sending good thoughts and prayers.

That is great news..being home probably helped a lot to

I am happy to hear your baby is doing better with your loving care. Hugs and prayers for you.

hugs and prayers heading your way. I have had to put 2 dogs to sleep in the last year. it is hard, no doubt about it

Wonderful news. We take our good moments when we are given them. Prayers of thanksgiving and moments in time to savor.
God bless you all!

Great news. So happy for you and him.

I'm so happy to hear your good news!

What very good news. I'm happy for you.:)

Prayers headed your way and hope it continues..... This is good news........:hands:

So happy for the good news. God worked you a miracle! Hes always looking down on us and obviously our doggies too! :))

Update: we are getting stronger and stronger. Hopefully it stays this way. He was born on June 21, 1997, so he has some decent mileage already. Well, he started to ignore all the home cooked meals so I decided to go and buy him can food. Bought a bunch of Cesars and he seems to be enjoying them although he has runny stool. But that I guess may be also because his body is not used to cans. I am afraid to put him on one day starvation at this point so I guess I will patiently wait a week or two so his body gets a chance to adapt and get stronger and meanwhile wipe his little ass :)
I am so happy he did not leave me and even happier I did not put him asleep. Thanks God for the right decision folks. His appetite is back to normal (maybe even stronger thanks to the gourmet can food) and he also drinks normally. Any suggestion about the diarrhea solution will be welcomed. Have a good day everyone.

You can try adding about a teaspoon of pure canned pumpkin, not the pie filling, to his meal to help with diarrhea. Very happy he is doing so well.:)

I am very happy to let everyone know that Gino is back to full energy again. He is running around, plays again and enjoys his food. Now when we switched to can food he is eating like crazy and seems to be always around his dish. I think I will have to watch the amount of food given to him, because it seems like he has a tendency to become fat lol. Seriously though, he would eat 200 grams of wet food like there was nothing in the bowl and looks for more. On dry Eukanuba the bowl lasted for about three days, now he empties one full bowl on daily basis. I guess I will keep him on one 400g pedigree a day, two serving of half can each. That should be enough for a senior who is not that active anymore ;)
I would like to thank you all once more for your thoughts and support. We wish you all well.