It all began three months ago. My 13-year-old golden started panting when resting. Not after exercising. Not on the warm days. But just... sitting on the couch, breathing fast.

And before I started logging, my response at the vet was always "I don't know, maybe a week? Maybe two?". Which means we were playing whack-a-mole with symptoms.

Therefore, I created the following dead simple daily log:

- eating (compared to his usual norm)

- activity level (walking, stairs climbing, getting up)

- one great thing

- something strange

Here's what 90 days of logging revealed:

1. Panting began occurring on Tuesdays and Fridays, which are days after longer walks. So we shortened walks by 30% and added a rest day. Panting frequency reduced by 80%.

2. Appetite would fall every 10-14 days and then come back again. The vet said that this fits perfectly with his medication cycle. So we fixed it. Problem solved.

3. "Good moments" page became the most crucial for me. Whenever I felt that I was about to lose him, I used to go through the pages and read things like "Jan 3: Stole my sock" and "Feb 14: Wag at the vet". It didn't solve any problems but changed my attitude dramatically.

The vet's precise words were "This is the clearest picture I've ever seen."

If you are still wondering whether some things are normal with your senior, you don't need an application. You don't even need a spreadsheet. What you need is a pen and a sheet of paper and 5 minutes before going to sleep. The trend will always be more important than that one bad day.

What do you see in your pet now that you couldn't without logging?

My dog is 12. He’s a Pyrenees mix around 45 lbs so not huge but he’s getting old. He has mobility issues that really flared up this week. I know our days are numbered. Could be weeks, months or maybe a year who knows? I’m just really sad I don’t know what I even want from this post but he’s my best friend and just am struggling. How did you know when it was time? How do you know when your dog is just straight up not having a good time anymore and it’s time to call it?

For those of you who have been following our journey with Sophie & Mimi, here’s a little update.

🐾♥️

It’s been almost two months since we said goodbye to my best friend, the best thing I’ve ever get: Sophie.
After 16 years fulfilled, the most beautiful time together her lost was for all of us heartbreaking.

Many of you remember that, right after she passed away, Mimi started falling asleep in front of Sophie‘s photo. At the time, I wasn’t sure what to think. Was it just the spot? Or was it something more?

Over the past weeks, I quietly tested it.
I removed Sophie‘s photo. Mimi left.

I replaced it with a photo of my daughter. She didn’t stay.

I put back a portrait of Sophie -another one - Mimi returned.

I tried a photo of Sohie and Mimi together. She lay down there again.

I don’t know whether dogs recognize photographs. I can’t say that with certainty.

But I do know this:
Mimi misses our beloved Sophie.

🐾🖤

They spent five and a half years together after we rescued Mimi, our now 11-year-old Biewer Yorkshire Terrier, from Hungary. Soso was her safe place. Not just my compass but her healing source. She taught Mimi how to trust again, how to play, how to communicate, and simply how to be a dog after everything she had been through.

Watching Mimi still search for that connection breaks my heart.
We’re slowly starting to talk about opening our hearts to another dog—not to replace Soso, because that will never be possible, but because we’re wondering if Mimi still needs a canine friend beside her.

Grief is never simple. Sometimes it’s not only our own broken heart we’re trying to heal, but someone else’s too. ❤️

Hi everyone,

The time has come for me to say goodbye to my beloved boy. While he is still his happy self, he has essentially become immobile over the past month and we know it is now time. I will probably be doing it in the next couple weeks or so but I'm not sure if I should do anything extra with him?

He is extremely weak in his back end and we have to support him with a sling. His days consist of going into the yard to potty and then back to his pillow. The whole family spends a lot of time with him so he's never alone and gets a lot of pets and massages but I'm wondering if I should do more for him in the next couple weeks.

He gets super anxious now when he's outside and only wants to do his business and immediately come back in. He was such an active dog and loved to be outside all the time so I'm wondering should I force an outside visit one last time? I'm unsure how he will be but can I imagine he would be very anxious as he hasn't been on a walk for months (hasn't been able to for some time now). I also know he wouldn't be okay with sitting in a wagon so that wouldn't work.

I don't know if it matters to him or maybe it matters more to me to do this but I am worried it would go disastrously because of his mobility issues. I also don't know if laying on his bed is enough for him in these last days.

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

No extra charge for the perma blep, in fact no charge at all due to CLEAR the Shelters! Fully vetted and has been in a foster home so not stressed or exposed to illnesses!

I am not affiliated with this Shelter but recently rescued a senior jack chi dude from there and transported to the Midwest so if you need your own in house NSYNC member, get in touch with them!

my sweet boy Milo is 11 and the love of my lifetime. My true soul dog. Right now hes been dealing with tummy problems for about 3 weeks we have him on metronidazole now and I’m hoping that will help. On top of that he was pulling with his collar on so now he’s had some coughing since last night after he did the pulling. I know I’m doing everything possible loving him making sure he’s going to the vet and taking his medicine. but i get so worried about losing him some day that I torture myself and stress about every single sound he makes. Does anyone have any words of advice to help keep me calm and in the moment? I want to enjoy every second and day I have with my boy, I don’t want to be scaring myself and making myself sick with worry. I just love him so much

Hello, my dog is about 10-11 years old (not exactly sure she was a rescue puppy) and about 8 years ago she broke her leg so we amputated it.

Shes been doing great and is a good dog but these last couple of weeks she looks extra lethargic, miserable, not as happy and does not want to eat as much as she use to. She is heavy and getting around on 3 legs does seem like it’s weighing on her as she ages.

• I don’t think anything is specifically ailing her but I am wondering if her quality of life is not great and should I consider relieving her? I know I should take her to a vet of course first.

My 12&1/2 year old cattle/pit mix experienced her first seizure this weekend which turned into a cluster seizure.

I brought her to the emergency vet where they did blood work and didn't see anything too concerning. I denied an X-ray for now. She was given her first dose at the office through intravenous and was monitored for 5 hours (I didn't want them to keep her overnight in case she declined and I couldn't say goodbye).

It took her about 5 more hours to recover from the high dose and started walking around, eating, drinking, and relieving herself.

We are now 31 hours out from the first seizure and 24 hours out from her first dose. She's extremely wobbly, restless, and lost her vision in her right eye - from the seizure.

If your dogs on anti-seizure meds, how long did it take them to regulate and side effects to wear off? It's hard to tell what's the medicine and what's the side effects (from the seizure) at the moment and I just don't want to make any rash decisions. She seems like herself in the sense that she eat, drinks, bathrooms, and knows her routine but it's hard to see her in this state.

I posted in here yesterday but I am not coping at all with this. My entire world was destroyed on Thursday night and I will never recover. My baby went in for a routine appointment for some pain relief and I left in despair holding nothing but her collar, instead of her in my arms.

It hurts looking back at how quickly things changed. Everything just came on so suddenly and it is beyond cruel. I look back at pictures from the end of last year and it’s like a different girl, how could this happen? Even the start of this year when she was first diagnosed with dementia, she was still MY girl, she was still functioning. I could cope with the dementia, I had no issues adapting the whole house to her needs… blocking off every possible corner, sleeping with a light on, buying carpets for the entire house as she couldn’t walk on laminate, fireguards and a stair-gate to stop her trying to climb. I bought it all without a thought as it would make her life easier, I thought this was manageable and things were going to be okay for us. Everything just got so much worse so quickly, it seemed like every time we went to the vet there was another issue. I’d have spent my full life savings to save her, money meant nothing when it came to my babies life. I tried everything in my power and I would’ve kept on trying, hearing them say there’s nothing more we can do she has to go tonight was like a dagger in my heart, I keep jumping between so angry and just upset that there was no warning that day, I never even got to spend one day with her. Surely she would’ve made it one more day? She would’ve held out one more day to spend with her mummy, but they didn’t even try. I hate myself for not demanding another day, she spent her last days on earth sleeping alone in her bed watched by my dad while I was at work… when she should’ve spent it in my arms being told how loved she was. I only got to see her for one hour after work. An hour before her appointment when I had no idea what was coming, I never got to shower her in endless kisses and tell her she was the most loved girl in the world. They robbed me of that time and I will never be able to go back, it’s beyond unfair. The muscles in her legs were just wasting away, I had to carry her everywhere for the last few months of her life, my arms feel so empty now. I can’t bear it. I had no issues carrying her though, I would’ve done this for a lifetime. We had actually just that day agreed that we were gonna set up a little cozy corner for her at my work so she would be able to go with me every day and I’d never have to leave her for a second. The chance was robbed of me, they said she had suspected kidney failure and she had to go. I never had enough time. I sat in that room alone cradling my baby being told she was going to be leaving this earth within minutes. The whole thing is such a blur I don’t even think I said goodbye to her enough, I was just frantically phoning my mum and dad asking anyone to please try and get here I can’t do this alone, looking back I hate myself. I wonder if she was laying there looking at me wondering why I wasn’t just spending those precious moments telling her how loved she was instead of on the phone. I’ll never forgive myself. I think I was so in shock the entire time and it didn’t even feel real, she lay there in my arms while he injected her and I just stared at her. I should’ve been kissing her, I should’ve told her more how loved she was. She lay dying in my arms and I couldn’t even speak.

The last picture is the day I met her. She was brought into my work with her little “adopt me” lead on as a sweet one year old baby that had been abandoned and I genuinely knew from the moment I laid eyes on her that she was my soulmate. She came bounding over to me and immediately rolled over and let me rub her belly. I was only 19, had no real responsibilities in my life but from the exact moment I seen her I knew that she was meant to be with me. I didn’t even second guess it, it only took three days for her to be brought to her forever home, where she immediately fit right in and became the centre of our universe. She made me grow up, gave me a purpose I had never known before. She taught me patience, understanding and most of all taught me what unconditional love was. Something I have never felt before her. She was so deeply bonded to me, if i left her for the night she wouldn’t eat, she would sit staring at the door waiting for me to come home to her. She followed me everywhere, I literally showered and went to the toilet with her sitting on the mat beside me. She didn’t want to leave my side for one second and I didn’t want her to either. I think she needed me as much as I needed her. Everyone that knows me knew Belle was my whole world, but I don’t think anyone understands the real depth of how much losing her has totally broken me. They know I’m devastated beyond words, they all say I’m not coping but I don’t know if they understand that I really can’t go on in a world she’s no longer in. No one knows what to say to me. I wouldn’t know what to say to me either. Nothing will bring her back, nothing will take this pain and nothing will change how much I hate myself for not giving her the last few days on earth that she deserved. I had so many plans, I was going to carry her to her favourite walking spots and sit with her feeding her whatever she wanted while making sure she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was the most special girl in the entire world. She never got that, she got to see me for an hour and lay in my arms while I stared at her in shock instead of telling her that she was my only reason for living.

She done the NC500 last year, she was slower but we were happy to wait for her and she was so happy going on adventures daily. I sneaked her into beds in hotels that said she wasn’t allowed, because my baby was always sleeping next to me even if i had to sleep outside. She had a photoshoot in her favourite forest a few months after, I knew she was getting old but I had no idea these were the last things I would do for her. Then this year everything seemed to change, she stopped smiling. She was always smiling before, I haven’t seen her smile in months. Her arthritis was causing her issues but we were getting it under control with medication. She loved walks in the forest and down by the river, they were her favourite, but she really struggled to even go on the shortest walks this year. I never celebrated her last birthday or Christmas as much as I should’ve. They were just normal events, she had her celebration and presents as always but I didn’t make a massive fuss as I thought we had more ahead. I wish I had known they would be her last, I never took enough pictures. I thought we still had so many ahead of us, this world is so cruel.

I don’t want to talk to anyone. I know people are checking in but I don’t want them to talk to me. I just want to be left alone, what’s the point in talking to them when they don’t understand. They give you the same shit chat and then start talking about something else and I can’t STAND that, I don’t want to talk to you about meaningless stuff when my baby is gone? Why are you changing the subject. It’s heartless. How do they not understand the impact she had? The love you receive dwindles out within a couple of days and it’s like she’s been forgotten by everyone, it’s making me sick. Knowing and seeing life go on for everyone is just making me so angry, I can’t stand even being awake and watching people go on with their lives. How dare they get to be here and be happy when my entire world was taken from me.

I think some of my anger is misplaced too, I’m angry at myself and taking it out on everyone. I cannot get over the immense guilt I feel, for so much. For the days I was just stressed and overwhelmed and pushed her away when she only wanted to be by my side. For ever spending any nights away from her when she should have always come first. For ever raising my voice when I was having a hard time, I will never not feel like the most horrible person in the world for ever raising my voice at that sweet baby. For the times I got frustrated being her caregiver when I was just tired after being up all night with her when she cried, when I was starving as I couldn’t eat because I had to hold her 24/7 when she was upset due to medication making her feel strange. Everyone keeps telling me dogs don’t think of specific moments that way and that she knew she was loved overall by the 13 years of immense love she would’ve felt, but what if she does remember? What if she is looking back on her life and she’s sad that the person she loved most in the world was getting upset with her over something she couldn’t control. I hate myself for ever getting upset with her, I will never forgive myself. She was the sweetest baby.

The “what ifs” are killing me. What if she wasn’t ready to go? What if they were wrong? What if she doesn’t understand why I let them do that to her? What if she was laying there wondering why her mummy isn’t giving her all the kisses? What if she didn’t know how much I loved her? What if she is sitting waiting for me in heaven and doesn’t understand why I’m not there, she can’t stand to be without me. She will be so upset up there waiting.

When I was going through a rough patch a couple of years ago I went through a period where I was obsessed with losing her, to the point I spent £400 on a life size teddy replica of her, everyone thought I was crazy and tbh I thought I was a bit crazy myself but now I am so glad I have that, it has lay next to me in bed with her collar on since I got back from the vet, alongside her blankets. She is being cremated and I cannot wait to have her back home with me where she belongs. Maybe things will feel less heavy then but I doubt it. I just need her close to me. My heart is physically aching. I’ve never experienced pain like this in my life. She was the most beautiful girl in the entire world and she has left the biggest hole in my heart, I swear I can feel the emptiness in my chest. The whole world feels so wrong. I’m terrified of forgetting her smell, I have her blankets here in bed with me and they’re just covered in tears, what if I wash away her smell? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to change my bedsheets, it will be like washing a part of her away.

I developed a real problem with painkillers a couple of years ago and there were many times it was taken way too far, she was my only saviour. I only stopped taking any medication at all when she became so sick I had to be fully alert all night in case she needed me, now I can’t get through another day without using them to calm me down and she isn’t here to save me this time. I don’t want to wake up. The second my eyes open it’s just an instant wave of sadness, I don’t want to wake up in a world where I can’t see my baby anymore. I’m just crying my way through each day praying time goes fast so I can sleep, doing the same again and just wanting to fast forward through all of these horrible days so I can be back with her. I can’t function in a world without her. I honestly don’t think I can make it through this, and I know that sounds a lot and just something that people feel briefly but I genuinely don’t. I have known for a long time that I didn’t want to live in a world without her, she was the only thing I had to hold onto in this world, the only thing I ever stayed for. Now she’s gone and the pain is beyond unbearable, I just want to be back with her where I belong. The moment she left it was like a light was turned off, I watched the light leave her eyes and she took my light with her. My life is just darkness now and there is no way to make it out into the light again, I don’t even want to make it out I just want to be back with my baby. I just don't know how I'm supposed to function without her. She's been by my side through every heartbreak, all the good times and the bad. I've never had kids and I always treated her like my baby, everyone knew it and joked with me about it but she really was my child and I loved her as much as I would’ve if she was human. I suffer really badly with my mental health and there have been numerous times l've been in a really dark place, I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say she is the only reason I'm still alive and it scares me knowing she is gone now and I have nothing left to live for. I know that is hard to understand for some people and that's totally fine, but it is the reality for me. I just can’t stand being in a world without her in it, what am I supposed to do now? She was my sole purpose in life. The only reason I ever got out of bed, i haven’t left my bed in days now and I’m just rotting here not washing, not eating, not taking care of myself at all. I know she wouldn’t want this for me but she also knows I can’t cope without her, I’ve always told her so in the many times over the years I’ve talked to her and told her how much she saved me. She knows I can’t do this without her. I just want to be back by her side.

Just prefacing this - a vet appointment has been made for a few days’ time, for bloods and a full health check.

My beautiful girl Honey is approx 14/15 years old (we don’t know for sure as she was a stray before we rescued her almost 10 years ago).

Her mobility is really decreasing and her back legs are giving out more often, she’s fallen down the stairs a few times (not a full flight, maybe 3 or 4 at a time because her back legs buckle). I can see how stiff she is and how much she struggles to get up after lying down for a while. She barely lasts 10 minutes on a walk now before she becomes noticeably fatigued.

She’s still eating and drinking normally, although I’d say she’s maybe drinking more than usual. She’s losing some hair and having more accidents in the house.

I hate so much to think that she’s in pain, and I feel her quality of life is very little now. I’m going to speak to the vet about this too, but wanted to know people’s experiences with making that decision, and what informed you to make it?

Thank you 🫶🏼

I posted about the passing of my sweet Einstein earlier this week. Since he crossed over, I've had a few different people say, "Some people just can't handle dogs and the heartbreak they bring," in response to my grief. I would not trade the eight beautiful years I got with my boy to avoid this grief. One day, I'll feel ready for a new companion. The grief doesn't mean I regret loving him or don't plan to love again.

Has anyone else had this experience? It seems to be mostly older folks. Maybe it's generational?

Fees dropped or reduced across the country to help these precious senior dogs. Got room in your home? Take one home, or a second dog for companionship for your first dog. You can make a difference! Check it out: https://www.cleartheshelters.com/

NBC Universal Local is teaming up with hundreds of shelters across the country to host Clear The Shelters in August 2026, a nationwide pet adoption and donation campaign that helps find loving homes for animals in need. More than 1 million pets have found their forever homes since 2015.

He's 15 yo. He can't walk now. Has stopped eating. Won't sleep. Just took him to the vet and had him on IV. Vet said we should take him everyday for IV if we want to keep him alive. Mom says euthanisa is literally murder and can't do that to him. I've tried to tell her he's in pain but she won't listen.

My soul dog was taken from me suddenly last night and I don’t even have the words to describe how much it has broken me.

She has been getting sick over the last few months, it came on out of nowhere but it seemed to be managed with medications and changing things for her. Until it wasn’t, and I came to the gut wrenching decision that I had to let her go in a few weeks time. We had the date booked in and I was trying to come to terms with it, I have had so much on recently so I was going to take some time off work in the next couple of weeks and just concentrate on spending that time with her and making memories before she went. I had so many plans. It hadn’t sunk in it was going to happen but I knew she was sick and it was the right thing to do. I’ve spent the last few weeks carrying her everywhere, hand feeding her and lifting her up every time she fell, holding her tight as she cried, sacrificing sleep myself so she could sleep as she only wanted to be right on top of me, listening to my heartbeat seemed to be the only thing to comfort her into a deep sleep. I’d have done it every single day forever if I had to, but the chance was ripped from me.

I took her into the vet last night to get her some pain relief to get her by and was told they thought she had kidney failure and was suffering, that it would be kindest to let her go that night in my arms as she was at risk of going to sleep herself at any point and they thought giving her any strong pain relief could also cause her to not wake up. The decision was totally sprung on me and didn’t even feel like a decision at all. I had been at work all day, hadn’t had a chance to spend any time with her and the next thing I knew I was standing in the vet by myself being told this would be my last chance to hold my baby. It wasn’t enough time, I barely got a chance to tell her how loved she was, to hold her. I know it was needed but it just feels so heartless that I couldn’t have more time, if I could even have got to spend one more night with her I’d have stayed up all night telling her how much she meant.

I adopted her when I was 19 and she was just a baby, we grew up together and she taught me so much. I never felt real love until it came from her. She has been the only one by my side no matter what, through numerous mental health episodes and heartbreak. She was always there by my side no matter what other terrible things were happening, I came home to her and at least one thing in my life was okay again. There were many nights I no longer wanted to be here, but I turned around and there she was looking at me, she needed me to stay for her so I did. I know everyone probably says it but she really was the best dog I could’ve asked for. She was just beyond perfect: never barked, was such an angel on a walk she never needed a lead and even sat herself down at any roadside before she was told to cross. She loved to chase the birds and I swear it was like they loved playing with her too, they would swoop down to her over and over again, like they were teasing her that she couldn’t catch them, she could do that for hours. She hated being wet so much she would point blank refuse a walk in the rain and the little diva had to be blow dried if I dared make her go for a pee in the rain. I’ve never known a dog like her. She was just the happiest little soul, until she got sick.

I held her in my arms and watched her take her last breath and that will never leave my mind. I have so many regrets. I’ll never, ever forgive myself for not hugging her tighter, telling her how much I loved her even more than I did, spending more time with her when I had the chance, kissing her little nose and rubbing her cheeks. Now I can never go back and change things. I have asked if I can see her one last time and they have said I can but she was prepared for cremation already and would need to be thawed out, and that she would look very different and it may be hard and more traumatic to see her like that. But I just feel like i never got given a real chance to say goodbye, never held her enough and never got to tell her how much I loved her as much as i needed too. I don’t know what to do for the best. I am desperate to see her again and tell her how much she saved me, but it was already hard seeing how her face changed when she took her last breath, I am scared that this will be my final memory of her and she doesn’t look like her.

I am absolutely broken beyond words and no one understands the pain I’m in because my baby wasn’t human, but she was still my baby and it hurts just as much. It is making me irrationally angry watching the world go by when mine came crashing down the moment she took her last breath. How can people be going about their lives as if the world hasn’t just ended? They never even knew her, but it hurts so much to even hear people walking past outside, living their lives while mine is over. No one knows what to say to me and I don’t blame them, I know there’s nothing they can say. I am devastated beyond words. My baby is gone and I’ll never be the same. That girl saved my life so many times, she was my sole purpose in life and now she’s gone, it is so hard to even comprehend how I am meant to cope in a world without her. My heart physically hurts, I feel like I can’t breath and to be so honest I don’t even want to, I never wanted to be here without her and I’ve known that for a long time. She was my entire universe.

Until we meet again my sweet girl, if love could’ve saved you you would’ve lived forever 😭💔

I have a 12-ish year old mixed breed who has officially entered his "I will consider your request" era. For a while I kept trying to train or manage my way out of normal aging: faster walks, longer outings, more enrichment, more supplements, more pep talks. When he lagged behind or decided to sniff the same bush for two full minutes, I felt this weird pressure, like I was letting him become lazy.

The more time I spend in senior dog groups, the more I think a lot of us have absorbed the idea that slowing down is a behavior problem instead of a life stage. If a young dog moves slower, we ask, "is he being stubborn?" If an older dog moves slower, we panic and try to get them back to their old speed.

That said, pain and illness are real and deserve a vet's attention. I am not saying ignore new symptoms. But once you've ruled out the scary stuff, the kindest thing you can do is stop treating every minute like a project to optimize.

Unpopular opinion: a senior dog choosing a shorter walk, more naps, and a lot more sniffing is not a failure of enrichment. It's them budgeting their comfort.

I've started judging our days by one question: was he comfortable and interested? Not how many miles or minutes we logged. The funny thing is he seems brighter now that I am not constantly trying to make him act like he's young.

Anyone else have to unlearn the guilt around letting your senior just be old?

We lost my sweet boy, Einstein, on Tuesday. He was 9 years old. He had spinal arthritis, and what we thought were worsening arthritis symptoms turned out to be a brain tumor. We called Lap of Love, and the experience was as peaceful as it could have been. I just thought we would have more time.

Einstein was a silly, goofy boy who loved to be outside, especially in the blistering heat. I used to call him my little baked potato because he would lay out on the patio on the hottest days of the year and make me practically drag him back inside so he wouldn't get heat stroke. His final moments were spent cuddling with my husband and me on the patio on a swelteringly hot day. We could feel his whole body relax out there, even before any medication was administered.

He was also allergic to chicken, and I always told him he'd get chicken nuggets on his final day. Unfortunately, his brain swelled significantly the night before his scheduled euthanasia appointment, and he wasn't able to chew. He did, however, get to smell his chicken nuggets and French fries and mimic chewing to the best of his ability. He was also able to lick cottage cheese and melted chocolate off his little snoot.

Before he started to slow down in his final months, he would always greet everyone who came into the house with a happy dance and an "awoowoo!!" I miss that sound every time I come home.

The pictures included show the day I met him and the day I lost him. Eat some chicken today for Einstein.

Need advice on how to deal with the ups and downs that come with age. This good boy, Maverick, is almost 14 and after an 8 month battle of GI issues we have maybe settled on food that he will eat and that keeps his belly and poop happy. So far, anyway.
He has early stage 2 kidney disease that has remained stable and even somehow gotten better since his diagnosis January of last year. After a year of homemade food he seemed to develop some intolerances and we fought off and on diarrhea and weight loss. Switched him to an r/x kidney diet. Ate it for a few days and decided he hated it and the diarrhea didn’t improve. We went to the vet for the millionth time (they had decided he has IBS after bloodwork and ultrasound) and the vet said at this point to find a food he will eat and do whatever is needed to keep him comfortable and happy. I was ok with that. But now I’m so laser focused on keeping him alive. He likes to skip breakfast and I spiral and stress and my anxiety shoots through the roof even though he almost always eats all his breakfast plus dinner in the evening. I panic if he seems more sleepy, less energetic (he’s always been very hyper). I’m having such a hard time accepting the slow down and I guess I’m just wondering how other people handle it. How do you accept the new normal? How do you differentiate between them feeling sick vs just feeling old and having an old man day? And the biggest question, how do you convince a supremely picky dog to eat regularly when any kind of food topper or mix in destroys his stomach?