An aging question for a rescue sheltie

[Sheri]

Hey all, I've been a member of this board for 5 years, over 250 posts, I had a lot of questions about my new rescue/my new sheltie puppy in a very short amount of time. I thank you all so much for helping me and hope I've helped you guys along the way. I'm back to report this much:

1. My fiona, the one in my avatar - is doing great, she's needing to pee more often but the girl is 10 and doing great.

2. Maggie - my little puppy buttercup sable sheltie. I love her so much. I got her at 7 weeks and she is my world. She's doing great too!

3. Lucy. Where do I begin with Lucy. When I adopted her they said "no one wants Lucy"...that broke my heart and I took her immediately. Her fur was gone, face was scarred, she still to this day has no fur on her tail. I spoiled her rotten and she is a happy and very, very, loyal baby. Big for a sheltie too, almost 50 pounds.

My question - Lucy is deteriorating. She now won't stop scratching at herself, to the point where the poor girl is wincing it hurts her so much. Doc tried allergy meds, but it's not helping. It's breaking my heart. Doc has no idea how old she is but the pound back in 2010 said she was 6. Doc says she has eye and hearing problems...so is she about 11-12? She was my guard dog, girl woke up at every little thing to protect me, and I loved her for it. But now I have to wake up my girl just to get her to go out.

Any experience with having a dog ya don't know how old she is? I guess all I can do is keep her comfy. She is healthy, but her senses are going. They are all I have and I want to make sure she's as good as can be. Thanks in advance y'all.

 

[lasheltie]

I know how you feel about Lucy. I got my 1st shelties in 2006 from a shelter in OK. I saw Anabel's face on Petfinder.com & that was it. She looked so lost & sad. Then I saw there were 2 others with her. I really only wanted 1 dog but couldn't stand not knowing if the other 2 would be adopted. The shelter said their time was limited & Lassie (formerly Clarissa) was HW + so that wasn't good. So, I got all 3. The shelter said the girls were2 years old & Hershey (formerly Melvin) was 4.

When I got them back to Louisiana & went to the vet I found out the girls were at least 4 & Hershey was closer to 8-10. It was disappointing but they had stolen my heart so I just loved them all til the left me.

Lassie passed away 1st from misdiagnosed congestive heart failure. Hershey was the next one to follow Lassie. He had gotten senile & lost his hearing & a good bit of his sight but he was happy til the end. Anabel's leaving broke my heart. She passed away suddenly in my arms at age 10 or so. They were all senior dogs but dearly loved.

Bless you for taking Lucy & letting her know that someone did want her. It's never easy but oh so rewarding.

As for the itching, my slightly senior sheltie, Jack, is starting to itch & it's making me nuts. He's on grain free food with fish. The vet doesn't think it's food related. He's ok on steroids but that isn't good either. Hope you find the source of Lucy's itch. Give her a hug from us.

 

[Chris]

I'm sure you've had a thyroid panel run, but if not...

We had a wonderful Collie, Lassie, several years back. We thought she might be a young as 10, but perhaps as old as 12. We made her life heaven on earth until the day we knew she would no longer be able to walk after a couple more days.

 

[lasheltie]

I had Jack's thyroid checked & kinda hoped it was that so we could at least know how to treat it. Levels were ok but I still wonder. His skin is almost yeasty like. I hate the unknown issues that pop up as they get older.

Sure hope Lucy gets over her itching & enjoys the senior moments.

 

[Greenepony]

Before we got Olive's allergies in check, her scratching got that bad. Just allergy meds alone might not be enough (if your vet hasn't tried Apoquel, I highly recommend it, Temaril-P was either too much of a transquilizer for Olive or too little to make a difference, there wasn't a middle ground.)

Look at any similarities in weather when her scratching is the worst (Olive has issues with pollen in the air), certain foods, even when the last time you vacuumed (I have a hunch Olive has a dust mite allergy too.)