Older border terrier

[Old owner old dog]

We’ve adopted a 12 year old border terrier with little history.
We’ve been through the gobbling food so he made himself sick saga, now we’ve got the runny poo and seems to be straining when trying to go saga. We’ve checked all the initial things, food, strange objects, dehydration, illness, stress etc. Nothing is answering our questions. Do older dogs do this???
Learning from scratch really. Any opinions will be gratefully received. Thank you.

 

[JudyN]

What food are you giving him? (Exact variety as well as brand, and any treats, leftovers, etc.) Also, how long have you had him for? Does he have any joint issues?

 

[Ralph Shane]

t will be suffering from diarrhoea.

Firstly, put it on a diet for at least a single day on nothing but a lot of water.
Next, serve it with “diet” meals 3 or 4 times a day (small portions). It may include him white rice with his cooking water, cooked carrots, pumpkin, or steamed potatoes. But the food is required to be fat-free.

With a gap of two days, if some improvement is seen, you can gradually give it an alternating diet and usual food.

But in case even after 48 hours of diet, you see no improvemnet then you will have to take it to veterinarian.

 

[Old owner old dog]

What food are you giving him? (Exact variety as well as brand, and any treats, leftovers, etc.) Also, how long have you had him for? Does he have any joint issues?

Hello, he is having just plain chicken at the moment but as he’s had a bit of a problem with being sick, we’ve kept his diet to James Well Beloved senior, small dog kibble or Caesar pouches. He has his food from one of those bowls that reduce the speed of feeding, which has really helped. He’s not given any of our food and the few treats he has are gravy bones.
We got him in July from a specialist small dog rescue.

 

[Old owner old dog]

t will be suffering from diarrhoea.

Firstly, put it on a diet for at least a single day on nothing but a lot of water.
Next, serve it with “diet” meals 3 or 4 times a day (small portions). It may include him white rice with his cooking water, cooked carrots, pumpkin, or steamed potatoes. But the food is required to be fat-free.

With a gap of two days, if some improvement is seen, you can gradually give it an alternating diet and usual food.

But in case even after 48 hours of diet, you see no improvemnet then you will have to take it to veterinarian.

Thank you for your reply. He is on plain chicken at the moment in small amounts, 6 times a day.
He has been to the vet and had blood tests but they were clear.
Just keep wondering if it’s a lot to do with his age....

 

[JudyN]

What were his poos like when he first arrived with you? If they were iffy then, did the rescue say they had noticed a problem when he was with them? Or has he suddenly gone from having normal poos to runny ones and if so, how long ago did this start and has the chicken diet made any difference at all?

Sorry for all the questions - I'm not an expert by any means, but the more info, the more likely someone can help.

 

[Old owner old dog]

What were his poos like when he first arrived with you? If they were iffy then, did the rescue say they had noticed a problem when he was with them? Or has he suddenly gone from having normal poos to runny ones and if so, how long ago did this start and has the chicken diet made any difference at all?

Sorry for all the questions - I'm not an expert by any means, but the more info, the more likely someone can help.

What were his poos like when he first arrived with you? If they were iffy then, did the rescue say they had noticed a problem when he was with them? Or has he suddenly gone from having normal poos to runny ones and if so, how long ago did this start and has the chicken diet made any difference at all?

Sorry for all the questions - I'm not an expert by any means, but the more info, the more likely someone can help.

Hiya, no problems about the questions, I understand the need for as good a history as possible. I’m grateful for the interest.
His poos have always been a bit hit and miss, runny then normal, then runny, not even coinciding with any food changes.
He was only with the rescue place for two weeks with no information before that.
He is a bit of a mystery as in the house, he acts like an old man (12) but then sometimes in the doggy Park when off the lead, he can run like a young pup.
Confused........

 

[Hemlock]

If your vet hasn't already tested for giardia, this should be done. It's easily fixed but can cause internal damage if untreated.

You are doing all the right things with the feeding.

12 isn't old for a terrier, but if he's feeling lousy he will behave like an old dog. Good for you for taking him on. Mind you, dog rescues are often not aware of a dog's true age and they do tend to make things up to make a dog more rehome-able.

 

[JudyN]

Once the vet has ruled out any possible health problems, and if you find he's OK on chicken but not his usual diet, it would be worth trying a change of diet in case he's sensitive to a particular ingredient. I'd be looking at grain free, with a high meat content and no fillers - or a raw diet. We can give more guidance on that if/when you'd like it.

 

[Rinkydinkydo]

We’ve adopted a 12 year old border terrier with little history.
We’ve been through the gobbling food so he made himself sick saga, now we’ve got the runny poo and seems to be straining when trying to go saga. We’ve checked all the initial things, food, strange objects, dehydration, illness, stress etc. Nothing is answering our questions. Do older dogs do this???
Learning from scratch really. Any opinions will be gratefully received. Thank you.

12 years old is middle aged for border terriers. All my border terriers were running (well jogging around) and still actively hunting around at 15 years old. They are terriers and don't know when to give up. I've got one looking at me now who's 18 years old, granted she's slowed down now but she's still a rat bag at times.

 

[Old owner old dog]

Aww, that’s good to hear. We’d hoped to get at least a year out of him so you’ve given us hope.

 

[Old owner old dog]

Once the vet has ruled out any possible health problems, and if you find he's OK on chicken but not his usual diet, it would be worth trying a change of diet in case he's sensitive to a particular ingredient. I'd be looking at grain free, with a high meat content and no fillers - or a raw diet. We can give more guidance on that if/when you'd like it.

I tried cooking minced turkey with carrots and a little rice, he ate it but just wasn’t confident that it was good for him.

 

[Old owner old dog]

If your vet hasn't already tested for giardia, this should be done. It's easily fixed but can cause internal damage if untreated.

You are doing all the right things with the feeding.

12 isn't old for a terrier, but if he's feeling lousy he will behave like an old dog. Good for you for taking him on. Mind you, dog rescues are often not aware of a dog's true age and they do tend to make things up to make a dog more rehome-able.

I think we had the feeling of “well, if we don’t have him for very long, we’ll do our very best for him” so we may be being overly cautious with him.

 

[merlina]

Hi- we've adopted older dogs in the past- they can be a puzzle as well as a joy. I REALLY wouldn't starve him even for twenty four hours. That's an old-fashioned belief and should only be done in special circumstances on a vet's advice. You need peristalsis to be moving slowly and properly- not stopped!

Some dogs can be allergic to both chicken and rice. Two things I've never found a problem are white fish and mashed potato or mashed sweet potato. Our pup came to us intolerant to virtually everything. That was the diet that got things settled down. (Oh and my OH's grandfather had a terrier that lived to be 21 so you may have longer than you think.) Of course do rule out infections or other medical causes. Good luck.

 

[Old owner old dog]

Hi- we've adopted older dogs in the past- they can be a puzzle as well as a joy. I REALLY wouldn't starve him even for twenty four hours. That's an old-fashioned belief and should only be done in special circumstances on a vet's advice. You need peristalsis to be moving slowly and properly- not stopped!

Some dogs can be allergic to both chicken and rice. Two things I've never found a problem are white fish and mashed potato or mashed sweet potato. Our pup came to us intolerant to virtually everything. That was the diet that got things settled down. (Oh and my OH's grandfather had a terrier that lived to be 21 so you may have longer than you think.) Of course do rule out infections or other medical causes. Good luck.

Hiya, thanks for your reply. My daughter was thrilled at the thought of us having our dog for longer.
Yep will get some plain fish to try him with. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[JudyN]

You could also ask your vet about YuDigest and/or YuDigest Plus. They really helped my dog after a course of NSAIDs gave him colitis.

 

[Old owner old dog]

You could also ask your vet about YuDigest and/or YuDigest Plus. They really helped my dog after a course of NSAIDs gave him colitis.

Hello, we’ve taken him to vets twice and had blood tests done. They weren’t very helpful. Nothing was found. We’ve since found out that they specialise in birds so we’ll be trying another vets when we can.
Thanks