# senior dog stopped eating and won't get up



## DJTEEL (Oct 21, 2007)

my 14 year old terrier early in the summer,suddenly began to show old age,with nothing leading up to it. one night ,while at my parents place,he began to act as though he was sore and was walking very feebley..the vet said he injured himself and issued pain pills,but his condition hasn't gotten better but much worse. could my dog's elderly actions have been brought on like this suddenly by an injury such as when jumping off the bed or something? before that night,he was jumping and playing and always running up and down the stairs a happy cheery dog. how in one night could he become feeble and old(acting)???
he's 14 so i understand that as an older dog,some of his actions might change,but every single bit of this came on in a total of 3 months,beginning with that night.up to then he was running,jumping, even running up and down the stairs//i began to have to walk him outside for up to 25 minutes or more at a time when he wanted to go potty..i got used to that..walking slow..and inside he began to sleep almost all the time..i hate it,but i know i can't do anything about it,that i know of..
two days ago he stopped eating and i can't even get him up to go potty outside..this was sudden..totally!!iin two days he totally has made a huge jump into further regression. i don't understand how this is happening in such sudden fast spurts.. the vet says he has a disc somethng or another..not a degeneration of the disc but something else and says it's something that might flare up now and then and he might need pills for it.but he said it's something that will heal,but will likely flare up now and then..but since the vet diagnosed him a couple months ago the dog got better for a very short while only..then got worse.. fastly .in the past two day he's jumped terribally into further regression..it's totally unbelieveable..i can't get him to eat or to go outside..i really need advice badly..


----------



## Dakota Spirit (Jul 31, 2007)

If the last time you were in to the vet was a couple months ago and the problem has gotten worse - it's time for another trip.


----------



## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

Only a vet can help you with this one.


----------



## DJTEEL (Oct 21, 2007)

it's only been a month,he gave us some pain pills for his back and as i said he semed better for a very short while but not long enough to celebrate. i ws able to hand feed him a while ago and he ate very well..and i stuck his water bowl right under his head as he layed there looking at me and he began to drink like water was something scarce..so i fel betetr a bit but have made plans to take him into the vet in he morning,it being monday and all tomorrow.

thanks for responding,and in fact,so quickly.

i don't understand what happened with my dog(his name is august)that in one night he began to fastly go downhill and it's frisutrating that not even vets can tell me..well,they can if i had the money to pay them for xrays and other kinds of tests,which i just don't have the money for...one xray was taken early in the summer when this all began to happen and his insides were in great shape,especially for his age. 
he's youngish in looks so most people think he's a still a puppy.

by appearance he looks to be a puppy. when he walks he appears to be grandpa walton.


----------



## Jen D (Apr 23, 2007)

DJTEEL, I don't advocate one way or another not knowing the whole situation but just going through similar situation that you are in. I would ask the vet to please help you make the right decision for you dogs sake. Have you had him since he was a pup?


----------



## rspeaker (Oct 23, 2007)

I just went through a similar issue with my 12 year old cocker. He was a spry old fart, to look at him you would not know he was 12. I left to go out of town on business last Sunday, and he didn't eat that day (not unusual when I go away). But he also didn't eat Monday or Tuesday. My wife called the vet for an appointment on Wednesday. When she got home from work, she found he could barely move and wouldn't even go outside to go potty. She had to carry him into the vet's and they admitted him for dehydration. Thursday morning he began seizing, and less than 18 hours after she took him in, he was gone. I didn't even get back to town before he passed. They have no idea what happened. Best of luck to you.


----------



## DJTEEL (Oct 21, 2007)

It's been years since I posted about my dog here.I just happened to stumble on to this site while googling my user name (which I've been using since 1997) and decided to add my late puppy's name in the search alongside my user name.i used to blog all the time about him and figured that possibally I'd run into some old memories if i used him as a keyword./What a strange feeling to happen over this particular memory though.It's now July 30th 2013 and my original posts about my dog August were posted in 2007.He went to Heaven on March 1,2008 so he lasted through the Christmas holidays following my comments here..It was his last Christmas with me and his most inactive./He wobbled about and followed my Mother everywhere around the apartment on Christmas day as he always did in previous Christmases(in fact he always followed her around the apartment ANYTIME we went over to visit) ,but the overall fun of the holidays didn't sparkle in his eyes as they did every year, the on previous 13 Christmases./He couldn't run and play with toys so I 'd bought him a blanket and other than that I don't remember now for some reason.As a disabled person and umeployed since 21 years old and finding my puppy in 1993 when he was 4 months old(according to the vet back then),and I was 38./ the dog ws literaly like a child to me as he was with me everywhere I went and slept,ate,and rode beside me in the car and watched tv with me for 0ver 14 years,almost 15..He would have been 15 April 1st,he went to heaven March 1st.I was 54. Who knows .if I had guessed his birthday off by a month when I created it ,he could very well have died on his 15th birthday.(I found him on August 5th and the vet said he was 4 months old).I finally took him to Heaven via the Vet's office on March 1st. of 2008/I got another puppy a few months later in June.He was 8 weeks old.A Jack Russell.He's 5 years old now and I love him as much as I did my other dog but I spent almost 15 years with my other one ,from 38 years old to 54 years of age and so I still feel an empty lonliness when i think of him and I still cry when I do think of him at all./He's my canine soulmate./Funny though,i because I also have that same strong attachment to my current dog,Patches.If anything happens to him anytime soon ,i'd no doubt wind up in the 'home' not to get over it./I'm curious however how you've been doing without your little puppy that got so ill while you were away form home.It's been a few years I admit,and I know that a whole lot has happened in your life since the original posts here./A lot has occurred in MY life I know/.And here it is mid summer 2013.Did you ever decide what it was that caused your pup to get so ill while you were away?was it just the norms of old age or did something happen while you were away that suddenly brought about his fast change in health? Was the dehydration caused by him not drinking because of your absence?you say the vet didn't know but did you have any suspicions or thoughts at the time as to what probably caused it?Did you ever decide to take the same chance I did and get another puppy?..i'd almost bet you did.And ten to one he or she is still with you now right?Isn't it marvelous the way in which they bless our lives?I'm glad I happened on to this forum.I hope you're still about the internet (and maybe here as a an active member of this forum still)??Let me know if you view this post(by replying to it) ..Ior any of the other original posters that were here at that time..how interesting it would be to hear from you./I might as well browse the site now and again even ,like I used to years ago./


rspeaker said:


> I just went through a similar issue with my 12 year old cocker. He was a spry old fart, to look at him you would not know he was 12. I left to go out of town on business last Sunday, and he didn't eat that day (not unusual when I go away). But he also didn't eat Monday or Tuesday. My wife called the vet for an appointment on Wednesday. When she got home from work, she found he could barely move and wouldn't even go outside to go potty. She had to carry him into the vet's and they admitted him for dehydration. Thursday morning he began seizing, and less than 18 hours after she took him in, he was gone. I didn't even get back to town before he passed. They have no idea what happened. Best of luck to you.


----------

