Signs your older dog is struggling that are easy to miss

You see your dog every day, which is exactly why this is hard. A dog a second slower to stand than it was in spring looks the same to you as yesterday. I see dogs at intervals, so the gaps show. These are the changes I notice most, and the action is the same every time, because I am not a vet: speak to yours.

Getting up and lying down

Stiffness rarely announces itself. Watch the first few steps after a sleep, and cold mornings in particular. A dog that is slow to rise, walks oddly for a minute and then looks fine once warmed up is telling you something. So is one that circles for ages before lying down, drops the back end rather than lowering it, or has quietly stopped jumping into the car.

Most owners put this down to age. Age is not a symptom. Speak to your vet. Whether anything can be done is their call, not mine, but you cannot have that conversation if you never mention it.

Drinking more

Easy to miss because you fill the bowl without thinking. Look for the bowl emptying faster than it used to, drinking from puddles or the toilet, more trips to the garden, accidents in a dog that has been clean for years, or being woken at two in the morning to go out.

Do not restrict the water. Note roughly how much they get through over a few days and speak to your vet. A change in thirst can have a lot of causes, and none of them are for me to guess at.

Food

Appetite goes both ways. A dog that leaves half the bowl, eats slower, drops bits, chews on one side or suddenly prefers soft food is worth mentioning to your vet. Eating the same and losing weight is a different sign again, and so is gaining weight because it moves less.

Off their food for more than a day or two is a call to your vet, not a wait and see.

Stairs and slippery floors

Hesitation at the top or bottom. Taking them one at a time. Going up fine and not wanting to come down, or the other way round. Paws sliding on laminate.

The awkward part is that you adapt without noticing: you start carrying them, you move the bed downstairs, and six months on nobody remembers when it started. The day you first lift the dog is a sign in itself. A rug on slippery floors is sensible straight away. Then speak to your vet.

Confusion

Standing on the hinge side of the door. Staring at a wall. Getting stuck behind the sofa and not working out how to reverse. Not coming when called, which might be hearing, or might not. Not getting up to greet you when they always did.

Each one is small and usually gets laughed off as the dog being daft. Together they are a pattern. Write them down and speak to your vet. It may be sight or hearing going, or something else, and I am not the person to tell you which.

Sleep

Old dogs sleep a lot, and on its own that is fine. What matters is the pattern changing: restless at night, pacing, panting, unable to settle, then flat out all day. Panting at rest in a cool room is worth a mention by itself.

A dog panting hard that cannot settle is a call to your vet that day, not next week.

Coat, skin and nails

A coat losing its shine, going greasy or flaky, thinning in patches, or matting where they used to keep tidy themselves. Often it is behind the back legs, because turning round to reach has become uncomfortable, which takes you back to the first section. A new smell. Any lump you find while stroking: do not wait to see whether it grows, get it looked at.

Nails are the one people forget. A dog that walks less wears them down less, and long nails make a stiff dog walk worse. Your vet or groomer can trim them.

Take it to the vet properly

Go with specifics. “Since about Easter” is more useful than “a while”. Film thirty seconds of them getting up and crossing the kitchen, because dogs in a consulting room tend to stand up straight and look fine.

Where I come into it

I do elderly dog care visits across Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton and St Helens, and because I see the same dog week after week I tend to spot this sort of thing before the person living with them does. If your dog ends up on tablets, I give them as part of a medication visit. What I offer is a second pair of eyes and someone in the house while you are at work.

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