Doggie advice

[wicked]

The roommate has a dog, a 13-year-old beagle mix. Recently the dog has started getting into EVERYTHING -- nothing works. He chews cookbooks, he gets into the trash, he knocks down the doggie gate (we live in a split-level apartment in a decent-sized complex). He's starting to have massive bladder control issues, and he'll pee all over the place, even if he's been out three times a day (his normal).

He's had seizures recently; one vet said it's probably a brain tumor, although my roommate said the vet told her it'd be $2,500 for a test to see if he has a tumor. And with a 13-year-old dog, what are you going to do to increase his quality of life, even if he has a tumor?

So Roommate has started putting him into a cage, because she feels that's the only option. She's sat in there with him on a couple of occasions, to make him feel comfortable with it. He'll even go in there on his own. Only problem with that is the MFer now barks and whines constantly when he's put in there -- including late at night when one of us isn't there, which wakes up our neighbors.

We've lived together for about four months, and I've never heard the dog bark, ever, until caged.

Neither one of us liked the cage option, but we don't what else to do. And I'm at my rope's end with his constant barking.

 

[bydesign77]

He's a beagle. He's gonna bark. And it's too late now to change that.

There is a device on the market designed to curtail excessive barking by emitting a high pitched sound activated when the dog barks but I don't know its effectiveness.

 

[Moderator1]

Find another vet. 2500 to see if there's a tumor? Horsefreaking****.
I paid less than that to have multiple tumors removed (albeit not from the brain) but you're just checking to see if it is there.

If the dog is that age and has a brain tumor, a very tough decision probably needs to be made. A dog that age doesn't suddenly change its habits, so the tearing stuff up, etc., is not a good sign. Nor is the bladder control issue, particularly if that hasn't been an issue before.

Watching your dogs age sucks. My Zoe is 11 1/2 now and still doing fine but she's slowing down some. The youngster has been good for her. But you can't stop the daggone clock. No timeouts.

 

[terrier]

Tumors...time bombs.
My 12-year-old golden retriever had a tumor on his adrenal gland erupt last Saturday, and we had to make the painful decision. He probably had it for years, given his inability to lose weight even though we kept him on a pretty strict diet and he rarely got leftovers. Between the high cost of surgery and the low chance of full recovery, making sure his pain didn't last more than a few hours was the right place to do.
Let doggie's quality of life be your guide.

 

[beanpole]

Dammit.

I have a beagle, too. Time to give him a hug.

 

[wicked]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone, especially Moddy.

 

[spikechiquet]

I have a 16-year old male Maltese. We took him in when he was 10. He is nearly blind now, no hearing and his back is started to hunch up and he hobbles more than walks now. He pees where he wants (even if we take him outside, he just goes when and where he wants now...sometimes the house, sometimes outside) and he whines a lot now.
We have him on anti-inflametory pills right now, which seem to help a bit, but he cries himself to sleep a lot now, but I think some of that is because we won't let him sleep on the bed anymore since he fell off too many times for our liking.
It's been a tough 6-9 months for us. We have a 5-year old female and they loved to play about a year ago, but now he just nips at her if she tries to start to play.
He's just a crotchty old man now and it breaks my wife and my heart, but he has a clean bill of health as of last week and we are going to let him decide when it's his time to go.

 

[MileHigh]

Have a beagle here too. 10 1/2 and has slowed a bit (I've had him since he was 8 weeks). Good luck. Agree that watching your dog go down sucks big time.

 

[apeman33]

I just gave my rat terrier a hug. She's four, so the end is not near, but this also reminded my of some of dogs in the past.

 

[wicked]

Update: After consulting with the vet, Roommate is putting down the dog tomorrow morning. Give your pups a hug tonight; I'll be giving him one.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

There are a lot of vets who will quote you a price they think you can afford or what you're willing to pay. I have a friend who went to three vets for a surgery for his pooch and was quoted three prices, ranging from $600 to $4K.

The third place he went he told the doc, "If it's more than a grand, I'm putting him down." He NEVER would have done that, but his bluff worked.

It's sad that you have to play those kind of games with pets, who are essentially family members.

 

[Moderator1]

****. I hate to hear this. Was hoping for better news. But if it is what's best for the dog, it has to be done.

It's been two years, two months and 12 days since we had to make that call on Zinger. Even though it was unquestionably the right call, it still torments me. I miss that dog tons and tons.

So give your roommate a hug, too.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Three years and seven months since Blackjack died. Never miss a day of missing him. That decision was about the worst ever, but the vets at the hospital, who were wonderful, made it clear there were no options, and that he had maybe four-five hours in pain left if he wasn't put down.

 

[bydesign77]

It got real dusty in here reading this ... Just took a nap with my buddy boy before I headed out for my game.

I have had too many dogs I have had to put down.

 

[Rosie]

Lots of hugs to you and your roommate.