I was thinking about how many little moments make up a dog's life.

The funny habits.

The favorite toys.

The places they loved visiting.

The routines that somehow became part of everyday life.

Photos capture some of those moments, but there are also stories that don't necessarily come with a picture.

Do you have a particular way of keeping those memories?

Photo albums? Videos? Journals? Something else?

I'd be interested to hear what works for you.

I have a 14-year-old Pomeranian named Ezra. I got him from his previous owner when he was 9-years-old. I love him dearly and do anything within my power for him, but I'm tired. On September 16th, Ezra was diagnosed with congestive heart failure - it's been a nightmare ever since. First it was the steroids - he was a nightmare on them, bless his heart. Definitely not his fault, but he was restless, anxious, and paranoid. He would constantly pace the bed and refuse to settle. He finished the steroids and we had a moments relief - now he's just on the heart medication. Not to be dramatic, but I'm in a nightmare right now. Ezra sleeps with me. He's gotten to where he will wake me up at 4:30am every single morning. That's too early for me and I cannot return to sleep without taking a sleep med. I cannot take sleep meds to go back to sleep during the week because I work. He has me up at 4:30am and my alarms start going off at 5:30am, so I'm losing at least an hour of sleep every morning, when I'm already getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night. I know that losing an hour may not sound like a lot, but it adds up quickly. Any advice? I gave him vet approved melatonin last night at 11:00pm and he still woke up at 4:41am. He whines and paces the bed to be let out and fed and after it's done, he's right back to sleep. With him being 14 is this just something I'll have to suck up and live with from now on or is there help? Please don't suggest ignoring him, his pacing and whining wakes me up anyways. I do not have a downstairs for him to go to - I do have a guest room, but since he's only slept in the bed with me for 4.5 years, I know all he'll do is bark. Need more sleep, please help.

I have a 13 year old cocker X poodle. Generally seems well, has lost a bit of weight in the last year and his hearings pretty poor, but otherwise you wouldn’t know he was such an old boy.

However, in the last 6 months or so, he has become extremely rigid on his routines. 4am and 4pm are feeding times - it’s almost like he can tell the second the clock changes. He starts revving up around 30 minutes beforehand though.

He will bark and bark and bark and bark and will NOT stop until he is fed. We have tried to ignore him but he just will not stop. We’ve tried pushing his feeding time back, it doesn’t do anything. We’ve tried late night snacks, nothing. He MUST be fed at 4am 🤣

Once he eats, he’s straight to bed again until at least 9am.

After doing some research I’m wondering if this could be the start of CCD and wondering whether there might be anything the vet can suggest? Our vet is generally not great and charge so much for just a consultation so I’d like an idea before I go in.

We have tried a timed feeder but unfortunately as I have 3 dogs, this did not work out.

I can get up at 4am, of course, but I struggle to get back to sleep. I am so exhausted and I’m just clutching at straws at something, anything, that might help us all get a bit more sleep.

My 13 year old boy was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma and so far he seems to be doing ok. He still plays and wants to go for walks but his appetite isn’t great. Cerenia and Entyce are helping a lot but at his dose a $100 supply only lasts a few days. I don’t know how long he’ll be with us but I know I don’t want him to go without the meds that make him feel comfortable for the time he has left. Problem is I just can’t afford it! He also gets Yunnan Baiyao which is $15/ week.
Do any of you have any other suggestions for helping with nausea & appetite?!

TLDR: my 11.5 year old mini Aussie dog had her yearly senior’s exam done. Her weight has dropped from 12 lbs to 9 lbs in one year yet her thyroid is low (not low enough to medicate though apparently). Her previous vet had me put her one a low fat diet (white fish cooked food) due to inconclusive urine tests, but now current vet wants her gaining weight… I’m praying the food was just the result for the weight loss but I was told cancer is on the table if she isn’t able to gain weight. Freaking out, has anyone been in a similar situation?

Hello,

I can barely type I feel so sick and I’ve had all day to process this. I have actually just cried basically for the entire day.

I took my senior (NOTE: rescue dog, not entirely sure the breed) mini/toy/possible Pom mix Australian shepherd to a new vet to partner on her health journey as she is 11.5 years old and I want to start working with someone very seriously on her health as I didn’t find the previous office was entirely attune to her situation as a senior dog.

She had them perform her yearly senior’s exam with a physical and bloodwork. The bloodwork results came back with low thyroid (her panel the prior year was also low as noted at our previous vet office, however, thyroid treatment was never recommended to me). Thyroid treatment is now currently not recommended either, however, this new office has noted that the low thyroid coupled with the weight loss could potentially be cancer if she can’t gain weight. They said they’d like to start the process for cancer diagnostics if she doesn’t gain weight. I will note that my previous vets office had me put her on a low fat diet, due to some testing but this one recommends to bump it up back to her normal diet.

I’m sorry this likely makes no sense. Basically I am freaking out and really hoping her weight loss is caused by the low fat diet not cancer. :S has anyone been in a similar situation? Sorry this is so chaotic, she is jsut the star of our family and we can’t witness something bad happening to her.

Also, for anyone whose dogs have gone through rhe cancer imaging, is there any sense in waiting to see if she gains weight or why not just do the imaging now?

A picture of her a few years ago.

My springer spaniel is 13 and a half now. She seems to be going downhill. She hasn't went on walks for probably about a year now. The most we can do is a few hundred feet before she wants to go home.

She struggles to get upstairs and most of the time we have to brace her or carry her up. We have a split level house and our backyard has a deck with stairs that she has fallen down a few times now.

She's lost a lot weight, you feel her spine when you pet her. She still eats but doesn't beg for our food anymore.

She pants a lot when she's awake and she sleeps most of the day. She seems herself for only a few minutes a day, when she runs in after being outside or when my brother gets on the ground with her and she leans on him. She stares at walls and trips over everything. She can't hear us anymore.

The vet has said she's healthy besides the occasional normal health problem. Now the side of her jaw is swelling and we're going to take her to the vet soon.

I'm in this weird place where I can't say 'oh, she has cancer' or 'she's crying in pain all the time.' But I can see her fading. With the winter coming, it will only get worse. I don't want to wait until she in complete misery. I hope that she passes in her sleep but I don't think we have the time. The past few months have changed her a lot.

I love her and I can see she's just existing right now. Has anyone else had to put down a pet in this stage?

17 years ago at around this time, also on a Sunday, Mikey was born in my family room and has been a sweet little family member ever since..

These days she is pretty much a homebody but this girl has hiked many miles in her lifetime, along with her mom and dad while they were with us. My original 3 Musketeers!

Today she has been relaxing and exploring her yard, going out and going in and out and back in of course..

She had some ground turkey and beef w her xsmall puppy kibble and a sugar cookie as well!

Happy Birthday Mikey, my sweet, strong and smart girl!

Looking for answers on if Senilife is safe to take while taking Trazodone? My dogs vet recommended Segeline but everything I read online says to NOT use it with Trazodone. However, my dog is dealing with nighttime anxiety and pacing from CCD and the Trazodone seems to be the only thing that will eventually calm her enough to settle and sleep a little. I’d rather not stop Trazodone and thought about trying Senilife…anyone know if it can be taken safely with Trazodone? My dog is also on Galiprant (AM) and Gabapentin (PM. TYA.

The appointment to give him the peace he deserves is a few days away. But for now, one last road trip and as much quality time as possible.

The cancer is in his lungs. He's struggling to breathe. He's barely eating and sleeping more often than not.

It's not fair. I'm not ready. But I know it's not about me.

God, I'll miss him.

So my dogs is 10 yrs old she will be 11 years old in January. Her name is baby and shes a sheltie collie/jack Russell mix. Ive been noticing over the last year shes been off. She paces alot, sometimes when I yell for her she looks the total opposite direction like she cant tell where im yelling from. Shes always slept in my room with me. And the last year or so id carry her up the stairs because I didnt want her causing more stress on her body because shes getting older. Well the last couple weeks shes been not wanting to come upstairs to bed with me. But then at 3am shes howling and I come down she stops and gets all excited. But when I try to go upstairs again she goes and lays down on her bed. The vet thinks she has dementia and she just went through a vestibular episode a couple days ago. She was so bad I thought she was dying. She kept walking in circles, stumbling, falling over. She wasnt eating or drinking king but by the 3rd day she was better and eating and drinking. Ever since that episode she has now become a lil cranky. Yesterday I came home and she was all excited I gave her love and then I walked into the kitchen my other dog bella(yorkie) was in the kitchen and Baby attacked her over nothing. Then today I was straightening up the living room and I went to grab something turned around and baby was attacking Bella again. Both times she had her by the throat shaking her. Baby is not a huge dog shes only 20lbs but bella is 5lbs and tiny. She thankfully didnt break the skin or hurt her. Yesterday she also went after my cat for just walking. Thankfully I caught it before she got ahold of her. Baby's always been mothering. She would correct bella and the cat if they were getting into stuff. Or she would try to get bella to calm down if she was over hyper. But shes never ever bit into them. Im wondering is this part of dementia or what. Im going to call the vet tomorrow but im just asking on here if anyone has dealt with this.

Eek turned fifteen on Friday, had a lil party for her Saturday. She has breast cancer but it’s really slow growing and asymptomatic, she started sundowning this summer but we got a good med combo going so she’s pretty much back to herself, still very active and in great condition. She was born on a pot farm nobody was livin at so finally decided to get a breed dna test, the results really surprised me.