Does anyone have experience caring for an aging dog? Our dog is approximately 15 now (he's a rescue) and he's become increasingly challenging to take care of. He had a cancerous tumor last year but that's mostly been treated, now he's just very weak in his back legs and not much bowel control. This means that when he squats to poop we have to hold him up to support him or he falls in it (which does sound comical but cleaning the poop off him every time sucks a lot.) He can't get up by himself when he lays down or falls down so we have to hoist him (he is 60 lbs so it's not a minimal effort.) He has a lot of accidents inside and can't be left alone for more than 5 hours. My fiance has been sleeping poorly for the past few weeks because he wakes up in the middle of the night and has to go to the bathroom OR has an accident right in our bedroom that needs to be cleaned up. He tries to get the dog to poop before bed every night but sometimes he just won't and then we know he's gonna have an accident overnight. I feel guilty but I'm starting to resent how challenging taking care of him is and I feel lost in this because it's our first dog. Does anyone have tips, strategies, anything we can do to make this easier?

I’ve had multiple dogs which I had to care for as they got older. Last year my baby was 2 months off being 16 years old when I had to make the hard decision to put her to rest. She was struggling with everyday things, becoming very unstable. She was still able to hold her pee/poop fine and she wat eating and drinking but her body just rapidly decayed. My current dog is 13 years old and he is showing that he’s aging now. He was struggling with some imbalances in his back right leg which would sometimes fail him. He’d drop for a bit and then get right back up, and I did notice he wasn’t able to hold his needs as long but never related it until later. He kept waking me up throughout the night because he had to go out around 4-5 in the morning. We recently started a Nandrolone injection treatment (essentially steroids) to “reawaken” his muscles. There’s been quite a lot of improvement and I also noticed he stopped waking me up throughout the night since we started the treatment. Might be something to talk to a vet about, and/or ask about other options. Something I’ve learned is that I need to look at the dog and its struggles without my own attachment. It’s incredibly hard but are you doing this for the dog, or are you doing it for yourself because you’re not ready to say goodbye? When an animal is really struggling with basic needs sometimes it maybe best to put them to rest. Especially considering that at an old age such as 15 it takes them longer to recover. Obviously easier said than done, and not something to take lightly but it’s important to stay realistic when it comes to treating an aging animal. I can imagine it’s really taxing on you, as it is taking a lot of you. Have you brought this up to the vet that did his treatment? What did they say?

@Yi_eune this was so helpful, thank you soooo much and I'm sorry about losing your baby last year :( I will definitely ask our vet about the steroid injection because we have the same issues and it sounds like that could help a lot. He is on prednisone but I think that's a mild steroid. We haven't talked to the vet about these particular issues because we were so focused on treating the cancer, but we should. I need to convince my fiance to because at the moment I think he feels we should just struggle alone but we should see what the vet suggests. Honestly it relieves me to hear you say that at some point we have to consider when it's time to let them go. I didn't think we were getting to that point yet because he can still walk and eat but to be honest its unclear how much he is enjoying life anymore. But it felt horrible to think about putting him to sleep unless he was really critically unwell or in constant pain. I don't think I am holding on to him for selfish reasons but because I thought it was cruel to deny him even a bit more of life if he could still manage it. However my fiance is more bonded to our dog (he originally adopted him) and I think this will be harder for him. Again, because it's our first dog, I just don't know when is the right time to make that call. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your advice.

It’s better a week early than a day too late ❤️‍🩹 Definitely speak to your vet and be honest about your feelings and seek any and all advice/treatment that they have. It is not easy caring for a senior animal. You definitely work on their schedule not your own anymore. In my experience, my family rescued a senior poodle. We had Joy for about 3 years and gave her the best life possible while she was alive. But once she was in our care, she slowly started to decline over those three years—went blind, deaf, vestibular issues, and developed cushings disease towards the end of her life. She had benign tumors due to negligence of never getting spayed, (we spayed her when she came into our care) but tumors eventually came back and were cancerous this time eventually spreading to her lungs. She had difficulty breathing, walking, and the cushings was really where she started to decline (they usually have 2-4 years once diagnosed.) Looking back—I wish we had euthanized her a little sooner. She was suffering due to our inability to let go, and once the sadness passes, I still feel guilt about waiting too long. It’s extremely hard when you love a pet, especially because they become your family, but it is a mercy at a point. Not an easy decision but one that many pet owners will unfortunately have to make. I wish you luck in your endeavors. It’s no easy thing

@aurielle you definitely don’t have to go through this by yourself! I am the type of person that will see my vet over anything that seems off about my dogs usual behaviour. I do have to say my vet is not super expensive and I know in some other countries it can be very pricy. And you are right, it is no easy thing. I had the same reality check when I lost my first dog, so what you’ve said is really relatable.

@Mortie21 thank you so much for sharing your experience. It's validating just to hear that I'm not the only one struggling. We also rescued our dog as a senior and have had him for 5 years so that's very relatable. I'm sorry to hear about your pup's suffering but I'm glad she is at peace now. It's such a great thing to adopt senior animals and give them a loving home in their golden years.