Thirteen seems to have taken a turn for the worse in the past few days. Her appetite dropped way off, in fact she refused to eat for a couple of days. Then we switched her back to dried food, which she seems to like again for some reason known only to her. At least, she likes it better than the canned. We can't get her to eat anything in the morning, but with extended coaxing we got her to eat almost a cup and a half this evening. Which is within the recommended amount on the package, though not as much as I'd like her to eat, especially after eating so little in the days prior.
Besides the appetite loss, she's thrown up a couple of times. And lots and lots of accidents, some of them quite messy (and that's really all you want or need to know). It seems that something is very wrong with Thirteen's digestive system, which is making her not hungry. But when we offer her different kinds of food, the change is appealing enough to make her want to eat again, at least until the novelty wears off.
It's happened several times now: she stops eating, I panic, we change her food and she starts eating again, for a little while. At her last weigh-in she was 38.3 pounds. Not low enough to be worrisome in itself, except that it's down from the time before. I've talked to the vet about this several times in recent weeks, and the conversation always goes the same way:
vet: "The next step would be an abdominal ultrasound, to see if [insert euphemism for cancer]."
me: "I'm hesitant to do that, because at Thirteen's age what are we going to do with this information?"
vet: "That's true, [insert euphemism for there's nothing we can do]."
I think at the next appointment I'm going to ask the vet realistically, what are the chances that it could be something besides cancer. That will help decide whether it would be worthwhile to do some big test like an ultrasound, or if we should assume the worst and look into palliative care.
Oh, poor Thirteen. Even if it's not [euphemism], there still may not be much you can do. She's 16 now, right? Sometimes things just start failing in old dogs just because they're old, and it doesn't always follow a predictable pattern.
That's true, Thirteen's systems seem to be failing. Perhaps it's just her time.
Besides the lack of appetite she's also drinking an extraordinary amount of water. Which they said was caused by a UTI, but she's had a round of antibiotics and the extreme thirst continues. Which makes me wonder if her kidneys are are in trouble, and we didn't realize it because the UTI was an easier explanation.
She is 16, actually almost 16 1/2. Which is a good old age for a good old dog.
have they done a full panel blood test that would reveal kidney problems? that could also explain the lack of appetite as well as the thirst. also, any vomiting, and signs of dehydration like being able to feel her spine more prominently. that's how it is in cats, anyway.
extreme thirst can also indicate diabetes, in case that hasn't been checked. but that's usually accompanied by a voracious appetite, so that seems less likely.
have they done a full panel blood test that would reveal kidney problems? that could also explain the lack of appetite as well as the thirst. also, any vomiting, and signs of dehydration like being able to feel her spine more prominently. that's how it is in cats, anyway.
extreme thirst can also indicate diabetes, in case that hasn't been checked. but that's usually accompanied by a voracious appetite, so that seems less likely.
(sorry if this posts twice)
We did a blood test to look for kidney problems recently, but I can't remember exactly how recently. Next appointment I'll ask them to check on when it was, and whether we should do it again. We can definitely feel Thirteen's spine and hips more than before, but that might not mean anything beyond the fact that she's no longer plump for the first time in her life.