What do I do when my dog is old , and has heart and instestonal worms and i cant get him to eat??

Question

He has really bad teeth. And he is 14 years old. He has bad hips also. Rheumatism (althrightol) in his hips. And he has not been eating for 7 days now, it is 9/15/06. If Anyone can PLEASE give me any advice on how to get him to eat, and make him more comfortable. i know that i might have to put him down soon, but i want to keep him with me as long as posasble.
If you have any advice on any of the following please dont hessitate to awnser:
-how to get him to eat some food (any food)
-bad hips
-bad teeth
-heart worms
-intestional worms
-(althrightous) rheumatism

thank you very much!!<3

Answer 1

First let me say that I'm so sorry that your dog is so sick

Second, only you can answer this question. Ask yourself these questions:

Is your dog enjoying life? Does he still like to play? Is he losing control of his bodily functions? Is he in pain or uncomfortable?

Are you keeping him alive for yourself or for him?

If your dog is suffering with no hope for recovery, the most humane attitude is to end his pain by letting him go.

Again I know it's not an easy decision , and it's something that only you can answer. Sometimes the best thing that we do is to let go.

Answer 2

Sounds like its time for you to sit down and really think about the quality of life your pup is having.

Quality of life is usually determinted by a few questions:

1.What is the level of pain? Can Meds mangage the pain? Will the side effects from the meds complicate his other pre-existing conditions?

2.Is he still active and in good dispostion? How is his mobilety?

3.Does he still have the drive to eat, drink and play?

Usually pain meds can get expensive and the majority of the time the side effects are not worth the pain reliefe ( Liver and Kidney failure, seizers etc.)

If your dog is hidding in a corner and wants nothing to do with any body but be left alone, and can't move around on his own, its probably his spirit giving in to his bodies dying demands

Lastley, he has no appeitite, not intrested in water, and is no longer interested in doing things he loves, his body has already began to die, and it will be a matter of days before before the rest of him sircums to his bodys course of action.

Living in pain from ailing hips, having heartworms, and intestinal worms and I'm sure his teeth are pain full as well is probably not the ideal living conditions.

However if your dog still has the drive to live, you can do still give him a fighting chance. It will probably be costly however if you and your dog don't want to give up, and you have the money.... consider these options.

For the hips, you can try a pain reliever, through prescription or herbal. He'll have to have a blood test first to make sure his kidneys and liver are not damaged before they start him on these drugs. For Prescription check with your vet on Rimadyl or Cetal M. For Herbal check out:
http://www.herbal-treatments.com/dog_arthritis_rheumatism.html

For the intestinal parasites, a deworming pending on what kind of intestional parasites will fix him up. Bring in a fecal sample to your vet so they can proper diagnose what type he is infested with and they can treat it with a simple few dewormers. Some over the counter dewormers kill 2 out of 6 kinds of intestional parasites, so make sure you go to your vet.

Bad teeth, your vet could best check that, but some times a simple dental phrofalixis will do the trick, or even pulling the infected ones. He can eat canned food or mushed food if all his teeth go. This will also alivate the pain associated with his mouth.

Heart worms, unfortunately he will have to keep those and those will take his life before old age, and all the other pre-existing conditions will. The treatment for heart worms is very expensive and extreemly tramautic on the dogs body, so age is a factor when determining a good candidate for Heart worm treatment. Talk to your vet to see how you can best keep him comfortable till the worms stop his heart.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but you are responsible for 3 of the 4 medical problems with your dog. Bad hip/arthritis rheumatism is out of your control to a certain extent, but Bad teeth could have been prevented with regular dental care for you or your vet, Intestinal worms is 100% preventable with anual or monthly dewormings from a prescribed wormer, over the counter wormer, and regular check ups from the vet, and Heart worms, which will ultimately be what kills him, is preventable, and any responsilble dog owner knows to keep a dog on heartworm preventive. I don't mean to be harsh about it, but the reality is you are now faced with a costly and emotional descion of euthanising your pet or trying to make his last couple of months (or next year) the most comfortable, when esp. the condition that will kill him is 100% preventable.

I'm very sorry and I wish you the best in which ever you choose to do.

Answer 3

Try small meals, throw the food away if he hasn't eaten after 15 mins. Try warm shrimps, cooked lambs liver, oatmeal with a teaspoon of honey.

If he had been regularly wormed against intestinal and heartworm, and if he had his teeth regularly cleaned that would have been most of these problems prevented. Unfortunatley although heartworm is preventable it is extremely difficult to treat.
There is very little that can be done. Arthritis can be treated with painkillers. But because of his bad heart he cannot have his teeth treated.
Take him back to the vet for some painkillers and see what they say.

Answer 4

Has he even been seen by the vet. It only takes a couple of pills to cure him of the intestinal worms, and maybe some more meds for his hips, but the other problems will have to be addressed by the vet. If he is not eating for 7 days, you may have even bigger problems going on...he needs to go to the vet. WHY have you let your dog not eat in 7 days???

Answer 5

Im sorry about your dog.Thats awful.We have had a wonderful little dog for not quite that long,but it will be a sad day when he has to go.You should give him Ensure or that baby ensure, I doubt at this point he will eat dog food again, and you shouldnt keep him alive too much longer, just long enough for you to reconcile yourself with the fact he is going to have to be put down. Take him places he likes, the park, car rides, treat him like a little princess, you'l feel alot better knowingyou made his last days happy ones.

Answer 6

With all of his health problems wouldn't it be better for him to have the vet put him to sleep?
If he's refusing food, the poor thing is on his last leg and just waiting for it to be over.
Heart worms are killers even in healthy dogs, plus the intestinal worms, poor boy is being eaten alive.
Have a heart, take him to the vet and have him put to sleep.
It won't hurt him, I promise. He'll just go to sleep and forget to wake up. They'll even let you hold him until it's over if you want.

Answer 7

Time to let him go. It is cruel to let him suffer like that. Just take him to the vet and they will handle it.

Answer 8

A sad time for sure. Only a vet can help you now.

Answer 9

Take him to the vet immediately. To do anything else would just be cruel.

Answer 10

It's time to let him go to that big doghouse in the sky...