14.5 year old golden retriever isn't doing well. Has become significantly less active and mobile in the past few weeks along with gradually refusing to eat more and more kinds of food. Has reached the point where he'll only eat a tiny amount of 2-3 things out of someone's hand.
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There's no obvious health issue. Has been to vet a few times. He's just very old, his hips have gotten really bad and he decided he doesn't like eating food anymore so he's losing a ton of weight and strength which accelerated losing mobility. Months ago he was doing very well.
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He's clearly in pain from his hips / rear legs and can barely stand or lie down now. Weeks ago he could still run around a bit, etc.
Reduced diet and refusal to eat seems largely a choice maybe due to pain. Got much worse after vets checked all those bones, etc. few weeks ago.
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Seems after they checked that very thoroughly he was in a lot of pain. Could barely stand up. Reduced diet from there. Probably was going to happen soon anyway but frustrating when medical care makes things worse.
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I've been through 2 other dogs dying but one was a sudden medical emergency (stomach torsion) and the other was a brain tumour where the surgery went bad and they quickly died after that. Way worse not knowing what is wrong and feeling like we're just missing something.
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His hips / rear legs have gotten really bad and he's likely in severe pain and that may be the only real issue. Not eating means he lost tons of weight including muscle mass so combined with joint issues and pain he can barely move around, etc. Still seems fairly happy/content...
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What makes it really frustrating is needing to try to find something he will eat, trying to cook stuff for him that he'll eat, etc. and it has gradually stopped working. Just about the only thing he'll still eat is some salmon or broth with barely any calories.
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Yeah it would be nice if he at least got to live another year or so not going this way because he was still a relatively active and very happy dog.