Daisy is our old lady dog. She is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever /Australian Shepherd mix.
This:
Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Plus this:
Australian Shepherd
Gives us Daisy:
Daisy, in her youth, circa 2001
- July 2008
By any sane measure, Daisy shouldn’t be with us today. On the Sunday before President’s Day 2002, Sweetie took his girlfriend (that would be Daisy) for a ride to the store. When they came home, instead of following him into the backyard as she usually did, Daisy took off across the street and ran into the neighbor’s yard. Sweetie came in, dropped off the groceries, and about ten minutes later we went outside to call Daisy home and that was the end of it. Or so we thought.
We went to bed about 9pm, and Daisy, as usual, lay down on her comforter on my side of the bed. She’s always slept there, from the day she came home from the Nevada Humane Society in October 1988. At about 2:00 in the morning, Daisy started to whine and it woke me up. Thinking she had to go to the bathroom, I got up and let her out. On the way out the door, she stopped at the water bowl and drank and drank and drank. It was like she’d been in a desert. I went back to bed.
When we got up later, we let her back in and, again, she emptied the water bowl. She then promptly threw it all up. I didn’t think anything of it, except to chalk it up to drinking too much too fast. I got dressed and headed to work. Sweetie had the day off. (I found out later that not only had Daisy thrown up in the house, but had also done so all over the backyard.)
Shortly after I got to work, Sweetie called and asked me if I knew where Daisy’s leash was? Oh, you’re going to take her for a ride? I asked. No, he said, There’s something really wrong with Daisy, she can hardly walk. She can’t go down the stairs, it’s like she’s drunk. I need to get her to the vet.
Our regular vet worked 60 miles away in northwest Reno, and since Sweetie wanted to get her to the closest vet he could find, he called the local animal shelter who directed him to Dr. Mary Minor in Dayton. She kept Daisy overnight for observation, and in the morning Daisy appeared to be better. Good news, yes? But Dr. Mary is not the kind to leave a mystery unsolved, so she ran a urinalysis on Daisy (not standard procedure for a vomiting dog). When she took a look under the microscope she saw crystals in Daisy’s urine. To be exact: picket fence-shaped crystals indicative of
ethylene glycol (antifreeze) poisoning. Since we use the safe stuff (Sierra – if you aren’t using this brand, you should be), we knew she didn’t get it from us. We suspect, but have never been able to prove, that she drank some during her brief off-the-leash moments in our neighbor’s yard.
At the point of Dr. Mary’s discovery on Tuesday morning, it had been well over 36 hours since ingestion. Still, Dr. Mary sent her assistant across the street to the liquor store for some vodka and immediately began an IV drip of lactated ringers mixed with vodka. You see, the alcohol binds to the glycol crystals forming in the liver and prevents them from “sticking” in the kidneys. And we held our breath for three days. Dr. Minor’s inability to leave a question unanswered saved Daisy’s life. Needless to say, Dr. Minor is now our regular vet. Daisy’s run-in with the antifreeze wasn’t without a cost though. Daisy has lived every day since that time with about 1/3 of her kidney function. Regular blood tests show a slow deterioration, and lately a teetering on the edge of renal failure.
June 2011
Still, every visit to Dr. Mary is a celebration of Daisy’s life. When Daisy got old enough to need arthritis medication, we all cheered. She’d made it! She was officially a geriatric dog.
At nearly 13 1/2, she’s made it past the
life expectancy of her breeds. Chessie life expectancy runs about 9.2 years, and Australian Shepherds live an average of 12 years.
Yes, Daisy is very old. She is failing, both physically and mentally.
On the physical side, aside from her kidney issues, Daisy can no longer trust her legs. Most of the time they work fine. In recent months, however, her hind legs sometimes just go out from under her. This mostly happens when she’s trying to maneuver the four concrete stairs from the back door to the yard. I’ve lost count of how many times she’s fallen trying to come up or go down the stairs. The last time it happened, she was coming up the stairs, and her rear legs just collapsed and she didn’t have the strength in her rear end to stand up again. She had to let herself fall backward off the stairs before she could get herself in a position that would allow her to stand on all fours again. This morning she nearly fell again. Sometimes if she turns just the wrong way, she falls. She doesn’t get up quickly.
Sweetie and I are agreed that at this point, we do whatever we can to make her comfortable. If that means an extra dose of arthritis meds, even if they do strain her kidneys, so be it.
But there is more. Daisy is also failing mentally. And this is the hardest thing to watch. Furthermore, it sometime presents in a most terrifying manner. After discussing with Dr. Mary, we think it very likely that Daisy is suffering from
Canine Cognitive Disorder (doggie Alzheimer’s).
What are the symptoms of CCD?
Confusion and disorientation in a variety of circumstances including:
- Altered relationships with household humans and pets, as well as visitors to the home. The formerly friendly dog may become aggressive, tense, anxious, or vice versa.
- Getting “lost” in a corner or behind a door; after asking to go outside, seeming lost upon getting there.
- Losing housetraining skills.
- Vocalizing (barking, whining) inappropriately or excessively.
- Panting and restlessness, especially at night.
- General confusion between day and night.
Daisy gets a yes on at least four of the above symptoms. She pants and wanders. She barks for no reason and absent provocation. She often seems confused and has lost her spark. If this were all we had do deal with - the occasional “accident,” the confusion, the barking, the panting and wandering - we’d carry on.
It is the “altered relationships with household humans and pets” that is our biggest worry. You see, Daisy has taken to attacking the cats and Nina. No, not just chasing them. Cornering them, holding them down, biting. In Nina’s case, Daisy literally gets Nina by the throat and won’t let go, even with the two of us trying to pull her off. I’ve felt scabs under Nina’s fur, and when it last happened a week and a half ago, it was clear Daisy had broken Nina’s skin. This is not play. This is terrifying. I’ve learned to recognize the look in Daisy’s eye when she’s in this mode, but I can’t be there all the time to head it off. I honestly don’t know from one day to the next whether or not Daisy is going to kill Nina.
This is breaking our hearts. We know what we need to do. As Dr. Mary put it:
Too often we only see the physical pain of our pets, and we forget that they can suffer just as much with emotional pain.
Look at the situation as though it is another dog. Not your dog. Someone else’s dog.
Yesterday I gave Daisy a bath, brushed her fur and got out all the tangles. She was calm. Today she nearly fell coming into the house. Today she growled at Nina as she walked by.
Fuck.
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Toughest thing I ever had to do was have my Lhasa Apso, Tony, put to sleep last August. He was at least 14, but he had a major seizure on top of a likely malignant tumor and was mostly blind.
It almost killed me to lose him. He was my first dog as an adult.
I did get another dog this past April, another Lhasa Apso, but it took me a long, long, long time to be able to consider having a second dog.
My daughter is going through something similar. Her Dalmatian Boxer mix (Patches) is around 12. Even though she never displayed any previous aggression toward the family’s smaller dogs and cats, and loved playing with ours, last month she tore to bits, in front of my daughter’s eyes, a Chihuahua that my daughter had adopted six months previously.
My daughter was horrified. The next day Patches searched the house looking for the little dog and whining. Current medical conditions discovered include Diabetes and an eye inflammation. Check you dog’s eyes for red reflections like those normally found in cats. Vision loss can add to her confusion.
Don’t wait and chance your other animals. Put her in a Gentle Leader, if not a muzzle and crate her when you are not around. She is probably scared too, and would feel more secure in her own quiet spot.
We do think that there may be some age-related vision issues, but regular visits to the vet rule out diabetes or any other thing. Crating her when we are away isn’t an option. If I crated her when we are not around, she’d be in the crate from 6:30 in the morning until 5pm at night during the work week. Not acceptable. The same applies to putting her in a kennel. She’s used to her freedom in the yard. To cage her for hours at a time would be cruel. On the same note, a muzzle would not allow her to drink water for that length of time as well. She’s outside any time we’re not home, and right now that means 80-90 degree temps during the day.
Oh, and take some old boards and build her a ramp over those steps. Pain makes anyone act out.
Crate her in the kitchen where it’s easier to clean up and she can watch the cooking.
Perhaps put a gate in the house in a separate area away from the other dog when you are out. My sisters do that with their dogs during feeding time so there is no fighting issue.
They aren’t in the house when we are gone. They all occupy the backyard. She’s long been isolated from the other two at feeding time.
The Gentle Leader allows her to drink and eat, I believe. She just can’t open her mouth enough to bite anyone. She may be viewing your other dogs as pain producers in normal play and that’s why she is acting out. If Daisy can’t see properly she may be misinterpreting another dog’s actions. Plus, if Daisy is getting forgetful she may need a reminder that you are pack leader:
http://www.buygentleleader.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/behavior/gentleleader/description
Or you could try something like this:
http://www.petco.com/product/109945/PETCO-Nylon-And-Mesh-Dog-Muzzle.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch
Can you separate her in the yard?
Patches didn’t act like she was in pain but we think she may have some. There were no unusual red flags with Patches. My daughter, granddaughter, step daughter and son in law were all sitting around talking and the little dog was on the step daughters lap. Patches seemed fine and then she lunged right into the group and grabbed the dog. Everyone was trying to pull her off while the little dog was screaming. Patches wouldn’t stop and afterward the the blood and body parts were all over the room she just seemed shaken and confused. Looking back there were some small testing changes in her behavior- like getting on the couch when she didn’t used to.
Your dog is giving you warning. Maybe if you can do some retraining with the lead it will help her keep focus on the house order, remind her of her role in he home, and take her mind of her other worries.
Yeah it’s hard, and a decision will have to come sometime, but maybe not this month or the next, or the next; if you can keep her comfortable she still wants to go, and you can protect everyone.
I don’t have any suggestions to add – I just wanted to offer my sympathy. My last dog was also a Chesapeake/Aussie mix, and the 2008 photo of Daisy looks just
like her (right down to the grin). I hope you can keep her comfortable and everyone safe.
Yes, I’ve always called her my “smilin’ dawg.’
Not much in the way of smiles from her these days, sadly.
It’s the hardest thing to know when. If your other animals are in danger and you can’t be there to police her behavior, it’s time. You won’t forgive yourself if one of your other babies gets hurt, or worse yet killed by Daisy. She’s lived a great life, with a great mommy and daddy and it will be hard, but you’ll know it’s the right thing to do.
She looks a lot like my nephew’s old dog. Unfortunately she lived to be only about ten years old. She was found underneath a travel trailer one day. It was very, very hard on my nephew and his family.
One of the toughest decisions on this Planet. Sympathy from empathy.