The Blog Pound

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 , early evening

Eli turns 12

(I feel silly… I wrote this on the 12th but forgot to upload it… duh).

My German shepherd Eli turned 12 today, on the 12th. In previous years I’ve been a bit melancholy on her big day because I could see her aging, but she’s had a great past year and she’s really in good shape. I think the switch from Cosequin to Dasuquin has helped… if you have a dog who takes Cosequin, you might want to ask your vet about switching to the new Dasuquin supplement. They’re both manufactured by the same company, but Dasuquin has a few new ingredients, and they’ve helped Eli so much that I’ve taken her off Rimadyl. She’s not limping and doesn’t seem especially stiff when she gets out of bed, or rises from the floor.

Eli’s eyes are also doing well, and her pannus hasn’t progressed, and is completely under control with just Optimmune. She’s supposedly getting some cataract development, but it’s nothing which I can see, and her vision seems perfect. Of all her senses, the only one to be affected by old age is her hearing, and she’s been close to deaf for the last couple of years. Except for the annoyance of not being able to easily get her attention, the deafness has eliminated her fear of fireworks and thunder. She responds well to hand commands, and generally knows what is expected of her, so we don’t have trouble communicating.

There’s been one negative change in the past three or four months—she has leaky bladder. It started with just some leaking while she slept, but it’s getting worse, and now she’ll leak when she’s awake and lying down. If I take her outside and get her to pee, then she doesn’t leak, so I wonder if she has some hip pain which makes her want to avoid peeing? It has seemed rather damp and cold in the time since this problem started, and perhaps the Rimadyl will be back in her future. I know the bladder leakage can be common in older, spayed dogs, so we’ll get her into the vet and hopefully get it taken care of. It’s been tough to find the money for such things with Bunny’s problems, illness with our two foster cats, and Dobby’s spay, but I’m working on it.

There’s one positive side to Eli being a senior citizen. She’s no longer a high-strung, dominant, snappy dog. She was sometimes possessive around food, and I worried that she’d try to bite a bold cat who tried to eat from her food dish. However, Eli has become a bit senile, and she’s a bit doddering and batty in a really lovable way. She loves the cats! She’s never moody! She likes to act silly and still wants to play outside! She was always affectionate and sweet to me, but wasn’t always truthworthy around other animals. She’s been in a few dog brawls in her life. Now, she’s becoming a sweetheart who lies down with cats and touches noses with kittens. The mellowing-with-age is a really good thing for our household.

I know my time with Eli is limited, and she’s been my constant companion since she was six weeks old. Still, I’m glad that her senior years are being spent in relative comfort and happiness, and that she’s surrounded by people and pets who love her. I just want her to be happy, and I think she is.

Sorry about the weird yellow eyes… this photo was taken with the cheap cell phone camera: