13 yo distancing himself; not acting himself
 

I'm scared to write this. But, I think Armaneo could be nearing the end. I don't know.

Over the last year, he has shown all kinds of new ailments. Advanced kidney failure, arthritis, loss of hearing, getting skinny, arching his back, yelping for no reason, etc.

In the last week, he's been distancing himself from us. He lays on a bathroom mat, which he hasn't done before. He crawls into the closet, under my hanging shirts, which he hasn't done before. And now, he doesn't want to come inside when we let him out. He just stands in the grass, staring off into the distance. The other day, he went behind the bushes. Yesterday, he ran away for the first time and we found him down the street.

He's not eating anymore either. But, on this point, we think he may have injured his mouth on a rawhide. The vet couldn't find anything.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of distancing behavior? I've found a million things online suggesting it's a sign of the end. And that breaks my heart.

I have no advice for you , other than take care of him as every moment is precious with him.

I just wanted to let you know that I am thinking of you & my heart hurts for you & your Armaneo. I know the pain of watching aged dogs declining & it hurts so much to feel so powerless over helping them & making things better. I lost my last of 3 Shih in just the last couple of months. They all reached over 14 years old. (Now I have just Yorkies.)

It sounds like he's in pain. The arching of his back is not normal & is a sign of pain. This could be kidney pain or spinal pain. I have 1 in kidney failure that sees a Chiropractor & has for a few yrs now & it has Always fixed her rite up but here recently that didn't do the trick so off to the vet we went & he put her on Azodyle & Epakitin & by the next A.M. her back was no longer hunched so she was in a great deal of kidney pain. Prayers for your sweet baby.

Oh gosh, so sorry your baby is struggling :(.

It could be many things: confusion, dementia, pain, fear...all of these things. I would be taking him in right away to see if this is neck/back/joint pain though...you don't want this precious one in pain.

Please keep us posted and best of luck with Armaneo.

Keeping you and your little one in my prayers. Please keep us posted.

Still trucking. He was sedated today so the doctors could examine his mouth and throat. Unfortunately, they located a significant unidentified mass on his left tonsil. He is going in tomorrow to a ENT/dental specialist that will fully sedate him, examine more thoroughly, and perform surgery if needed. Our general vet believes it may be a tumor, which is causing him pain and preventing him from eating.

He's incredibly weak right now and I hope his body can handle going under. He's not really eating, other than slivers of apple. And he has a catheter in his leg from this morning, which they intend to use tomorrow, but which is really bothering him.

All I can do is put my trust in the vets that are handling him. I hope they know what they're doing.

Prayers for you & your little one

Sending prayers and hugs.

Sending out prayers for Armaneo.

Hurting for you & baby. Puppy prayers coming. Please update us as soon as you can.

Armaneo is back at home and resting now. He's doing well. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. It really helps.

He had an inflamed tonsil removed yesterday. The tonsil is out for pathology to determine if it is cancerous. The doctor remains skeptical that the tonsil was the cause of his mouth pain because, though enlarged, it wasn't large enough to cause severe pain and didn't appear to be infected.

The doctor performed a CT scan to rule out other issues. There were none. No abscesses in his teeth, no TM-joint issues, no muscular issues, and no other visible issues with his tongue or teeth. They are still not sure what caused his pain.

He came home disoriented, but with an appetite and he ate a decent serving of soft food, but he still clearly has mouth pain. While I'm sure it can be partially attributed to his tonsil removal, it seems something else is still causing him pain. Neuralgic pain perhaps? No one seems to know.

For now, the primary objective will be to get him recovered from his surgery. He'll be on pain meds for a while.

Here are some recent pictures of him:

I would be finding a Doggie Chiropractor. His jaw could be out or one of the higher discs in his neck & that can mimic jaw/mouth pain. Don't know for sure but that 1st pic looks to me like his neck IS out. Another thing, does he always lay with his head hanging off the bed ? as that can also be a sign of neck pain.

Glad he's home and eating. He's beautiful.

Hope you get to the bottom of his issues soon, will look out for your posts and will add him to my prayers.

I am so glad he is feeling better! He is absolutely beautiful!! I love his big eyes. I am hoping that his pain was just attributed to the tonsil but, if not, I hope the cause can be found right away. It is so difficult sometimes finding out what is wrong when these poor babies cannot tell us anything.

Im so sorry, sending good thoughts

Armaneo has been so much. He was put under anesthesia for an examination, at which time doctors removed loose teeth that may have been causing his mouth pain. They noticed a hard lump on his tonsil. He was put under anesthesia again two days later, at which time a surgery specialist performed a tonsillectomy. His recovery has been pure hell for him. He's on pain-killers and anti-epilepsy meds, but, the root cause of his pain never went away, and the doctors don't think it was his teeth or his tonsil.

Pathology was conducted on the tonsil, which revealed that he has terminal throat cancer (tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma), an extremely aggressive cancer with a median survival time of 2 to 6 months.

But, that's not what's causing his excruciating pain. I've had the difficult discussion about our options. One is obvious. The other is to send him to a dental surgery specialist to undergo yet another surgery (three in 2 weeks) to remove his major back upper right tooth (aka carnassial tooth) to see if that will help him. CT scans suggested there *might* be a problem there, but doctors discounted it because they didn't think in a million years it could cause that level of pain.

I'm already $5k in the hole and there is no guarantee this will help him reduce his pain. Worse yet, he's in such a weakened condition from the surgeries, lack of food and hydration, and meds (and appears to have an infection) that there is a high risk he doesn't make it through the surgery.

If he makes it and the surgery doesn't help his pain, we'll have to put him down. This is so tough. I love that little guy more than anything in the world.

...has been through so much.

I'm so sorry your little one is going through such an ordeal, we are thinking of you..

So very sorry to hear this... you and your little guy in our prayers

Armaneo wasn't able to make it. Today--one day after his 14th birthday--we eased his pain and let him go in peace. We loved him more than words can describe and will miss him so much.

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I have been following your thread, you did the best for Armaneo. He is now pain free. A hard decision but the right and loving decision. (((hugs)))

His pain is no longer , and you did all that you could , your pain will lessen as time goes by but your love for him shines through in all you did for him . He had such a great life with you and you can be proud and thankful for it but you will miss him dreadfully, stay strong and find comfort in that fact he will always be in your heart.

So very 😭 sad for you. It will be very hard for a long time. You did the best you could. You didn't want to see him in pain and he didn't want to be in pain. Another loved baby crossing rainbow bridge with my Titan.

I am so very sorry for your loss.
Healing thoughts for you and your family!

Sorry for your loss
 

It looks like he had a great 14 years with a loving family. Wishes of strength in this difficult time for you!