Old Female Family Dog?

My dog is 14-15 years old. Shes a family dog, and she means a awful lot to me and my family, friends, and neighbours.





She has a skin problem on her back and shes biteing it and crying. she can barely walk, she doesnt remember things very well.





She crys when we go to bed, and i dont know exactly why, she isnt biteing. shes just crying. is my dog going to die? when she does bites she bleeds alot. my family dont wana put her down because they believe shes apart of us. and she wants to keep going [ she has her good days too]


so my questions are..





1.) is my dog going to die?


2.) is there a way to stop my dog from biteing?


3.) is there a way to stop her crying at night?





I love my dog to peices, we all do. we are terrified to lose her. yet mad to keep washing everything with blood on.

Old Female Family Dog?
Your dog needs to see her vet!! There's no need for her to be in pain. Her skin problem can be treated, she can be put on meds that will help her arthritis so she can walk and she doesn't remember things because she has a condition dogs get that's like Alzheimer's in people - cognitive dysfunction syndrome.





Her vet can help all of these things so you can keep your dog with you longer and she won't be in pain. Please get your parents to take her in as soon as possible. Older dogs deserve our help.
Reply:I think that the best thing would be for you to tell your family that it would be better to put her down and end her misery instead of letting her live like this anymore. I am very sorry.
Reply:To stop her from bleeding, put something over the area so she dosent bite, like a quilt
Reply:If your dog is biting it's back then something is badly irritating her skin and she needs to see a vet. Don't be mad at an aminal who is bleeding and in pain. She cries at night because she is older and lonely. Put her in the room with you and it should stop.


Get medication from the vet to alleviate the pain. Do not use anything over the counter as it can be fatal to dogs or cats.


As a responsible pet owner, vet visits are part of the package.
Reply:I had the same problem recently. You just have to come to terms with the fact that she is going to leave you for a better place. I had to put my 13yr. old Border Collie down in sept. you dont want her to suffer. there is a web site called rainbows bridge for people to deal with the loss of a pet.
Reply:You need the opinion of a vet.
Reply:talk to your vet about things to make her more comfortable. When an animal gets up there in years, you need to worry about comfort more than "cures". Have you tried sparying the place she's biting with "Bitter Apple Spray?" also, have you tried to help treat the place so it doesn't bother her so bad? My vet gave us a spray from my dog's paws when he was chewing them really bad. Also, you may want to get her on some pain medication if she's hurting. Talk to a vet. Get her on a maintance plan, and when she stops having good days, then it's time to let her go. As far as your question about whether or not she's going to die, the answer to that is of course she is... someday. Don't live in fear of her (or any other) death. Just appreciate the days that you have and make sure they are QUALITY days!
Reply:1. is my dog going to die?





Only a vet can give you the answer to this question - you may need to prepare yourself for a difficult decision and balance your dog's quality of life against her chances of recovery/likely time remaining.





2. is there a way to stop my dog from biteing?





Again, you need to get the dog to the vet to address this. Just putting a barrier like an elizabethan collar on to prevent the dog biting doesn't remove the irritation. You may want to get some bloodwork done to check for thyroid problems - these are fairly common in older dogs and can show up in coat/skin problems. If it is thyroid, medication can improve things.





3. is there a way to stop her crying at night?





You need to try and work out why she's crying. A few things that occur to me are:





failing vision - some older dogs lose their sight just like people. If she can't see as well as she used to she might be afraid or lonely when things go quiet for the night.





chronic pain - does she have arthritis or other issues (vet again)? If so she really needs help from the vet to deal with the problem, or courage from you to make a hard decision.





Ultimately the decision whether she has a reasonable quality of life or it's time to let her go is up to your family, but you need to get your vet's advice now if you want to save her any suffering.





Good luck and all the best for her.
Reply:Don't get mad with the dog first of all. Second I believe its time to let the dog go because this sounds very bad. Your dog might have cancer but talk to the vet first. Sorry to hear about your family dog but I think it cries because it sounds like it wants to be set free. My dog of 13 years we had to put down in February of 2007. She had cancer and she had a tumor that was growing out of her neck and it was getting bigger and she kept scratching it till it bleed all the time. We couldn't afford the vet to help her because she was already too far gone to help. We had her put to sleep and she was cremated. It took a me a couple of days to stop crying because I know now that she is not in pain anymore and that she is in heaven with my other dogs and my grandmother. So just be prepared and don't try to blame yourself if the decision comes.

baby jade