[juj]

Labman - Our Golden just turned 14 this week. His appetite has been steadily declining for a few weeks. At first he just wasn't eatting as much as usual, but then he began to refuse food all together. Occasionally we can tempt him with an egg or some cottage cheese or a bit of beef, but mostly he just turns his nose up. He won't even eat dog biscuits or peanut butter. We've tried rice, baby food, broth, drive through... He's maybe taking in 200 -300 calories in a day. He still drinks water. We've taken him to the vet, she did a complete exam and ran blood tests. She doesn't have any reason for why he is refusing to eat other than that he might have cancer but she doesn't know. His urine is a little dark but the vet said that means his kidneys are functioning. His weight loss is alarming. A year ago he was around 72 pounds, he is down to 55, most of that quite recently. He is a bag of bones, and his energy level is dropping. He still paces about the house a lot but he doesn't spend as much time walking around the yard as he used to - we have a large yard and he used to love to walk the whole thing several times, now it seems to exhaust him just to go out and do his business. He is on thyroid medicine (the vet said his thryroid was a little low when she checked him but not at the levels it was that made her put him on the medicine in the first place) and an anti-inflammatory for his arthritis. I hate to see him starve himself to death, but we have tried everything we can think of. It's breaking my husband's heart to see his dog like this - he's owned him since he was a pup - and it's breaking my heart to watch myhusband struggle with what to do. I don't want to give up hope but I want to do the right thing. Please help.

[labman]

I am sorry to say I have little to help. I am sure it is a medical problem, but if the vet isn't finding it, I can't help much. The only straw I can give you to grasp would be to try another vet. Whatever is wrong may or may not be something that can be found and fixed.

Your question hurts me a little. My lab, Aster, will be 14 this fall. Her mother went through much the same thing as your dog is the end of last year. Our friends decided to give up their old male Golden at the same time. They were afraid losing Maggie would be too hard for him and Isaac's time was coming soon too.

One of the reasons I have stuck with raising puppies for the service dog school is that it allows me to have a dog without it getting old. We put our last pet to sleep in 1986. I still miss him. Yes it is tough giving away a year old puppy. Everybody that raises puppies to be a service dog get to the point that they are ready to scream if asked one more time how they can do it. It is nothing compared to giving up an older dog. I wonder how Ruby does sending her rescues off to what she hopes is a forever home? It hasn't worked. In the last year I have lost 3 of the mothers of puppies I have raised which I knew well and loved. I also lost Barney several years ago. Barney was Aster's partner's first dog. He lived about 4 years after we got to know her. It has been a highly unusual situation for the breeder, puppy raiser, and dog guide's partner to live near together and be friends. Not only friends, but all the dogs have 3 homes. Last weekend, Aster and our friends current breeding stock stayed with Aster's old partner. We took their 2 month old Golden to a convention along with out 8 month old Lab.