Fair warning, this is a selfish post. :(

My 13yo lab mix has recently started whining/crying nonstop from approximately 6pm until bed. She will stare at me (her chosen human) and whine INCESSANTLY. The rest of the day she is totally fine. She settles into bed fine.

I am losing my mind. Obviously I feel bad for her. I don’t want her to be scared or anxious. I’ve tried everything I can think of. Multiple vet visits where we’ve discussed pain, anxiety, dementia, etc. She’s already on gabapentin twice daily for arthritis (plus Tylenol and monthly injections of Adequan and Librela). We’ve tried Prozac but it makes her too lethargic. We’ve changed food, we’ve kept to a strict schedule to make evening activities predictable. She is stimulated every day with varying age-appropriate activities - swimming, hiking, fetch, etc. More frequent potty breaks. She does not want to be snuggled or pet. If I reach for her she pulls away.

I’m sure she’s Sundowning. I’m really struggling. If is A LOT to have her sit two feet in front of me, staring and crying. I can’t help. I hate that the feeling I’m experiencing is annoyance but it is EXTREME annoyance. I don’t know how I’m going to do this every night for the next 100 years (I’ve decided she’s eternal).

She is my best friend. She is my whole world. I will never do anything like lock her away in a room so u don’t have to hear her or give her away. I want her near me, always. She is the best, most wonderful, goodest girl in the whole world.

But dear god. If anyone has any advice on coping mechanisms (for me or her) please let me know.

I had to let my 18 year old soul dog, Bubbles, go on 29 August 2026. I miss her so much it hurts. I keep instinctively reaching out to put a hand on her and shes no longer there. I was there when she was born and I held her when she left but my world has completely imploded. Show and tell me about your soul dogs so I know she isnt alone on the other side.

My 14yo beagle has been "fine" for months. At least that's what I told myself.

Last week my partner asked: "When did he start refusing the stairs?" And I just... stared. I knew it happened. I remembered the day. But the date? The week? Whether it was before or after the vet changed his meds? Gone. Completely gone.

I used to think I'd remember because I love him. Like love would somehow make my brain better at dates. It doesn't.

The vet asked the same thing yesterday. "When did this start?" And I said "a while ago?" like that was data. She didn't get mad. She just looked tired and wrote down "unknown onset." That phrase sat in my chest for hours.

For people with senior dogs do you actually trust your memory with the details? Or do you also have that moment where you realize "I should have written this down" and it's already too late?

What's the one detail you wish you'd recorded from day one?

Posting here too. I’m in need for some advice and/or anyone with experience. I have a 16y/o corgi mix who’s truly my best friend in the world. However in recent months her doggy dementia has gotten so bad and I’m having real caregiver fatigue. Two weeks ago she was diagnosed with stage two kidney disease after we took her to the vet from having some accidents and terrible smelling pee. We got some antibiotics for a uti and Trazadone 50mg for her doggy dementia. Let me just say the first few times we gave her the traz it was like having my dog back at night. No anxiety and wanted to cuddle and sleep. However after a few days she started acting super drunk and couldn’t stand up on her own. Even vomitted one night. I gave her half the prescribed dose and got the same result. I called the vet and they said to just discontinue the traz. We doubled her gabapentine to hopefully help with her sleeping and that had no effect. Now after all of this and the antibiotics for her uti it’s somehow all worse. She’s having accidents in the house. Can’t make it through the night without having to pee. All in the matter of a couple of weeks. I’m not sure what to do. She eats and drinks water no problem. She seems like a happy dog (as long as it’s before 5:30 when the dementia kicks in then she just paces and whines) I feel so selfish being tired over her dementia and peeing. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

My pit/lab mix is having some problems at night settling. She's restless and won't stay on one place too long. She starts whining and barking at me until I get up. It's hard to know what exactly the problem is, she has arthritis and possibly cushings, although that hasn't been confirmed yet. I tried to get her up during the day so that she isn't sleeping the entire time, but she's refusing to go on short walks. She goes outside to do her business and then she wants back inside. The most recent thing she's been doing is getting up in the middle of the night and just goes into the kitchen to stare at her food bowl. Last night, I found her laying down on the kitchen floor with her nose in the corner. I'm unsure if her legs just gave out when she started looking for food at the baseboard or if she really was stuck in the corner.

She's on galliprant & librela for arthritis (although we just started the librela) and we are also doing laser therapy. The vet also put her on trazadone which helped for a minute but doesn’t seem to have much, if any, effect now. She can't take carprofen because of liver elevations.

I'm at a loss on how to help her. I don't know if it's time to say goodbye? I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle on a daily basis.

I have 2 senior dogs 1 is 17 and the other is almost 15. My female beside being furniture and sleeping almost 20hrs a day and eating or going to the bathroom, barks constantly while she's awake. Non stop barking for hours sometimes. Shes hypothyroid and covered in growths. Our 17 yrs old is deaf in one ear and still plays, runs and jumps. Its crazy but I'm wondering if dogs can get dementia?

RESCUE ONLY

‼️‼️🆘 Although rescue only, this dog can still go from a rescue to the right adopter! If you are interested in adopting this dog, DM OP or BanditY77 so that you can fill out an adoption form immediately! Please help! Available for adoption (in or out of state or Canada), rescue, or local foster‼️‼️🆘

🆘On the euthanasia list Monday, 8/31. There will be no extensions per BARC. 🆘

⏰ Leon must have a 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃 no 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝟭𝗣𝗠 or he will lose his life.🥺 We need pledges and a local foster for a rescue to help.💰🏡

🚩Please do not honor pledges until the post has been updated with rescue information and a freedom picture. Please reach out with any questions or concerns

RESCUE ONLY
💜🐶 #A2093475 Leon
8/27 Stray | American Staff Mix | male | 8Y | 91lbs | HW-

💜 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀: We were not able to meet Leon, but if you want to help meet the animals, please reach out to us!

🔷Intake: 8/27/2026 INTAKE Large dog crossing the road and stopping cars.

📝 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:
he greeets me with a neutral body and walked on a loose leash to and from the runs

🚑𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:
Medical (Senior and hip dysplasia)

Dog is stiff in the hind end and seems unable to lift tail.
INTACT male
T26-478095 08/27/2026 91.0 lbs OTHER
Temperature : F
8/27/26:
S/O: stiff in rear end
A: ddx hip dysplasia/other
P: rx rimidyl 75mg bid x 14

Rescue Only:
🏷 This pet can only be tagged by a RESCUE group but please remember all rescues need 𝗙𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 in order to tag this pet and save their life. This pet cannot be fostered or adopted through the shelter, so please message the page if you can help!

📌 Please contact BARC if you are local and can help! Neither BARC nor the page can assist out of state adoption or foster offers. We are NOT the shelter.

💌 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘀𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹. 𝗜𝗳 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄:
barcfoster@houstontx.gov
barcadoptions@houstontx.gov
BARC.Aid@houstontx.gov
𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝗺𝐚𝐥’𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭 𝐈𝐃 𝐧𝐮𝗺𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝗼𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫.

📍BARC Animal Shelter
3200 Carr St Houston, TX 77026
www.houstontx.gov

Hi All. My senior bull terrier started Labrela two months ago. It is actually working really well for her, But she is having an unlisted side effect. She is super hungry. She lost five pounds her first month, her weight seems to have stabilized month two. Hunger and weight loss are not listed as side effects. Anyone experience this?

I miss her so much, every single day. I can't even say her name without crying. My girl, Princess. She was the only one to love me unconditionally. Not my family, no one. My friends love me but they don't like me....I know that. I'm not an easy person to love but she did it so effortlessly. It's been 500 days today. Feels like an entire lifetime. 💔 (please don't tell me to adopt another, we already did soon after).

My beautiful Boston Terrier boy Barry lost the battle with a seizure yesterday. It was such a horrific morning. Hes been getting epilectic seizures for 2 years, and had been under medication since his first one. The fits caused one of his eyes to go blind, and it needed removing earlier this year.

His seizures started getting closer together so he was prescribed new medication only 2 ish months ago. Unfortunately, yesterdays siezure was one that his body couldn't recover from.

My mum is more than broken. She was with him 24/7. He was her baby. My dad and brother are on holiday abroad, theyre absolutely broken and I'm devastated that they couldnt be here at the emergency vets with us.

He was 9.5 years old. He had such an amazing life with us. If anyone has any tips on grieving your loss, I'd love some help. I don't know what to feel or what to do. Thank you for reading 💜💔

please read if you have any advice to give 🐾💗

We said goodbye to Dublin (~12 years old, Basset Hound-Corgi) this past Monday night. We decided it was our decision to give him peace after we realized he simply could not rest comfortably anymore due to CCD and a brain tumor. It has been the worst week of my life. I’ve never felt emotional pain like this before and it is so difficult to sit with and process.

I adopted Dublin during my senior year of college back in 2017 and he has been with me ever since. At the time, the shelter said he was between 3-5 and I chose to go with him being 3 but he very well could’ve been older. This dog has been with me through my entire twenties basically. Went to class with me, walked across the graduation stage, tons of moves, tons of breakups, tons of relationships, mental health challenges, first job, family changes, an engagement, general life changes…all of it. My twenties have been a rollercoaster and Dublin was my rock through it all. Losing him feels like I lost myself as well. My world feels like it ended yet everything keeps moving forward around me.

The grief is so painful. I can’t think straight, I’ve been off of work the week, and my body hurts all over. I’ve barely slept and actually rested myself. Our vet gave us a small baggie of his fur I keep next to my bed that I feel like I can’t sleep without. Getting through the week was hard. Seeing the life leave him was something I wish I didn’t see but I’m so glad I was able to hold him and say goodbye. This is the first dog of my own and I’ve never been through anything like this. It has to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Also his birthday is next week and I really thought he would be around for it. I’m not sure what I’ll do when the time comes, but it adds to my grief that he’s not here for that either.

I am lucky to have an amazing support system who loved my dog just as much as I did. Tonight they helped us celebrate his life through a beautiful party with tons of cries, laughs, and memories shared. I am so grateful. As I continue to navigate this grief, I am reminded of how community is everything and how special our relationships with our pets are. He is my soul dog and I miss him and love him more than words can express. I know this pain will stay with me forever as this is the cost of loving him so deeply.

Hi everyone! I’m doing some early research on what aging actually looks like at home for senior dogs, and I’d really love to hear from people who are living through it.

If you currently have or previously cared for a dog who is aging, I’m curious:

1. What was the first change you noticed as your dog started getting older?

It could be something physical, behavioral, or just a small change that felt different.

For example:

• slowing down on walks
• stiffness or trouble getting up
• sleeping more
• waking or pacing at night
• becoming more anxious or clingy
• seeming confused or staring
• changes in appetite
• bathroom accidents
• hearing or vision changes
• losing interest in things they used to enjoy

2. At first, did you think it was just “normal aging,” or did you think something might be wrong?

3. What has been the hardest part of caring for your dog as they’ve gotten older?

4. Have you tried anything to help? What actually worked — or didn’t work?

I’m especially interested in hearing the things that people don’t normally talk about.

I’m not selling anything. I’m trying to understand senior-dog owners’ real experiences before deciding what would actually be useful to build.

And if anyone would be willing to do a 3-minute Aging survey or a casual 20-minute conversation with me, feel free to DM me. I’d be incredibly grateful.

Thank you — and please share me your dog’s name + age too. 🐾

I think its time.

It is 4am here & I am spending another night awake with Gary. A few months ago I posted that I had thought the time was near but he actually did very well since then, until today. Lately he has been very restless at night, he is walking around barking & cannot get comfortable. 😫

Well we are at our cabin this weekend & he jumped off of our deck. He landed on his legs/belly & kept walking which was surprising but I think it was the last straw. I think he is sore & hurting....but also very tired.

He is also, as of this last week, peeing in the house & hes been trained his whole life. I am doing my best to comfort him until morning where I have inquiries out to mobile euthanasia to come to our home so he isnt scared. I just truly feel that it is time.

My heart hurts. Ive had him by my side for 18 years. Through every tear, every move, every walk, every meal, every shitty man, my 21 year old daughter is in FL for college, Gary is her world & she cannot be here to say goodbye. 💔

I am hurting, severely.

ETA: Can't edit title but I am sorry I called anything "miracle product." It does sound spammy but it's what I have anecdotally calling it to my sisters and friends when talking about how much better my little girl is feeling. Swear to God, this is not an ad. I've been Redditing forever, I'm a real person, just excited to share something that might bring hope to other senior dog owners.

----------------------------
Last fall, my chi-Corgi mix Peanut had what I though was a stroke. She's 12 going on 13. Really dizzy, leaning to one side, etc. It slowly got better and when I brought her to the vet about i, they said it likely wasn't a stroke, but a common "vestibular"/neuro syndrome and that she could manage it with extra physical support. Carrying her around, making her feel safe, etc. They said I could go to a neuro for $700 but that they'd likely say the same thing and there is really no cure. Just part of aging for some dogs.

She kept about the same until about a month ago when she could no longer manage stairs, she would lean to one side and just seemed extra clingy. It got so bad I was ready to tell my son and husband to get ready for putting her down because she was seeming to lose her joy for life.

So I gave her supplements I got from Amazon. MY VET APPROVED THEM WHEN I SENT A LINK.

I'm not allowed to post a link and I I do *not* work for them. Just do a search for dpg supplements that have a combo (or close to it) of Fish Oil (omega 3), Acetyl-L-carnitine, Resveratrol, L-theanine, Phosphatidylserine, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Ginkgo Biloba, Dried poultry liver flavor, Glycerin, Dried sweet whey, Dried ground pea, Black malt extract, Salt, Lecithin, Vitamin E supplement, Ascorbic acid, Lactic acid, Citrus Bioflavonoids, Acetic Acid.

You guys, I'm not kidding. It's like she has aged backward by about 3-4 years. Suddenly she's racing up and down the steps, is way less clingy and more confident, her eyes are less goopy and she's running around chasing her 80lb chocolate lab brother around and trying to get him to play with her. I am so so grateful for these things!!

I'll report back but seriously, bookmark this for any future aging dog confusion, dizziness, etc. They have made our whole family so happy and relieved for now!

Photo of Professor Peanut for tax.

Hello everyone. I’ve been having issues with Dinky ever since he turned 14 a couple months ago and I’m very worried. The past month he has started to wake up at 4am every other night and will pace all over the house in the dark then come stand in the door way crying until I wake up. I either lay there and tell him repeatedly to get in the bed until he does or get up and check him. I rub him and point to the bed to get him to jump up there and go back to sleep but sometimes he will run under the bed from me like he doesn’t know me then come back once I give up and start crying again. Tonight he jumped up in the bed after pacing and crying and was very agitated, I had to hold him in my arms and talk to him to calm him enough to get back to sleep. He also started peeing all over the rug and his dog beds on purpose along with refusing to eat until 7-8pm, no longer interested in treats, no longer barks when the doorbell rings, sleeps majority of the day and night, plays for about 10 minutes then goes back to lay down, and no longer has interest in going outside to the bathroom. He has a tooth that needs to be removed and has arthritis in his legs, especially the back ones because he sometimes drags one or both of them, hops around like a bunny, or stands up from laying and falls over. Could the nighttime agitation be from his tooth or arthritis? Or could it be dementia? Sorry this is so long I’m not very good at explaining things. 😓

Today we said goodbye to our goodest boy. He was our rock, our strength, our best friend. It was so hard to let him go, but it was his time. Our family will forever miss him.