# Senior rescue dog



## wazoo (May 5, 2004)

Hi all
I have been registered here for a long time but rarely get a chance to post. 
We have recently added a very senior gent to the family. 
The oldie - Ted - has very advanced DM and really is with us in a Hospice situation, we know he has limited time left and we just want to do our best by him. The rescue are very helpful and supportive but I just wondered if perhaps anyone here had more advice for us.

Our main issue is that as well as the Dm, he also seems to exhibit signs of Panic attacks/stress/dementita? 
He walks/wobbles around, turns in circles to sit, changes his mind, sits down, lies down, gets up, pants, does low grade whins. This goes on for maybe 30 - 45 mins then he settles and seems fine for hours, then it starts again. He is only with us 2 weeks so it could be assumed that it is just settling in nerves except fot the fact that he was in foster care for 4 months before being returned to the rescue and he was like this the entire time and never settled. The rescue say that in the kennels he seems fine and quite chilled but it's no place for such a senior guy with very limited mobility.As they also say, they can't give him such hands on attention and observation as a home environment and perhaps the panic attacks happened there more frequently than they witnessed.
He was on Metacam but the rescue vet said he was not in pain so the metacam was discontinued, I however thought he was in pain last night and gave him some infant calpol - liquid paracetamol - which may have worked or maybe just coincided with him settling anyway.

So I really don't know what I'm asking, maybe just if anyone had any insight or advice to offer. My only concern is to try to make life as comfortable and happy for him as possible. Thanks.


----------



## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

wazoo said:


> ...
> He walks/wobbles around, turns in circles to sit, changes his mind, sits down, lies down, gets up, pants, does low grade whins. This goes on for maybe 30 - 45 mins then he settles and seems fine for hours, then it starts again.
> ...
> He was on Metacam but the rescue vet said he was not in pain so the metacam was discontinued, I however thought he was in pain last night and gave him some infant calpol - liquid paracetamol - which may have worked or maybe just coincided with him settling anyway.


When reading your description of Ted's behavior, pain was the first thing that popped into my mind. Then when I got to the part about the vet discontinuing his Metacam it made me feel it may definitely be pain related. While DM is supposed to be pain free, it is very difficult to get an accurate diagnosis of DM and it is often misdiagnosed for any number of similar problems which are painful. If Ted were my charge, I'd put him back on Medacam and see what happens.

Good luck!


----------



## wazoo (May 5, 2004)

Thanks for that Arycrest, yes I think I will do that. As I said above, Ted's condition is so bad as to make it appear that his time is limited so the drugs , even if he dosen't need them, wont get the chance to do any damage to him. I would really prefer to err on the side of caution with regard to pain and over medicate.


----------



## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

I'm afraid I don't really have an advice to offer - though giving pain medication certainly seems a good idea to me as well. What I do want to say is....Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking Ted in and giving him the love and care he deserves in the last days of his life. You are very special for taking on this challenge. Ted is a lucky boy.
Jan


----------



## abby (Mar 13, 2010)

I don't have much to add other than you are fantastic people for taking on Ted. My boy has dm too i give him pain meds i know that they say they don't feel any pain but it sometimes helps whether this is in my mind i don't know.
I also give him joint supplements and salmon oil again not sure if this helps him or not.


----------



## wazoo (May 5, 2004)

Thanks for the messages, good to have "someone" to bounce ideas off 
We're not good really, maybe just trying to stack up brownie points for when our time comes to need care 
I would love to know his story and how he ended up in resuce, he is such a gentle giant and must have been very impressive looking in his day. 
He stands about 26 -27 inches at the shoulder even now. Makes our two look like kids beside him.


----------



## RebelGSD (Mar 20, 2008)

Thank you for taking in the old guy. I did have a similar "hospice" foster with very advanced DM in the past. She decided to beat all predictions by staying with me for 2.5 years. Apparently DM progresses slowly in old dogs. She too had some anxiety issues, especially with storms, which settled down with time. 
She had severe arthritis on top of the DM and even though DM is not painful, arthritis is and the vet prescribed pain meds. Her mobility and activity level improved with the pain meds. I would suggest that you watch him: if he acts better with pain meds, you can keep him on them.


----------

