Not the puppy - we also have a 14 year old German Shepherd/Husky named Saki (see my user picture).

I'll try to be brief - Saki has always been in good health; we've had her since she was 3 months old. We adopted her along with her sister, Ducati, who passed in 2009. She's a mellow dog, tolerates my puppy and whatever else is going on.

Within the last year she's lost a ton of weight. We took her to the vet and also mentioned how she's been having this crazy disgusting discharge from her eye. Vet wasn't concerned, said the weight loss from due to old age, less movement, less interest in food. She was eating, though.

That was about a year ago. We started taking her to the vet this month again because she now drinks water excessively. She sits there and turns thr water into foam, then drinks the foam. It's tough to hear/watch. She somehow lost 13 pounds in one week - she seemed to be eating fine and whatnot. She's given her own dog food along with whatever else we may be eating, including full slices of pizza at this point, just so we can put weight on her.

She literally is skin and bones right now. Vet had run tests for cushings, thyroid, diabetes, etc, and nothing has been shown. They did x-rays and saw nothing. At this point we are thinking she may have cancer they aren't able to find. The vet doesn't know what to do or what to tell us. She says she doesn't think we should go to a specialist and spend big money sine there's no promise of even that showing anything.

I don't know what to do anymore. Since just basics tests have been done, I don't know if it's even worth it to go to another vet. She seems to be eating less. I guess there is a silver lining in my being unemployed right now, because I can sit and try to feed her all day. It takes some convincing but she will eat some American cheese, crackers with peanut butter, dog food with tuna, and whatever else we can mix up for her. I even started giving her vanilla Ensure, which she seems to not mind, but like everything else, she doesn't want tons of.

Does anyone have any advice? It's heartbreaking because she seems in good spirits for the most part - she has lost some of her hearing and seems a little senile; when I take her outside she stands in the middle of the driveway looking around, looking lost, sometimes forgetting to "go".

It seems like this forum has a lot of dog people on here, so I figured I would see if anyone has any advice. Thanks in advance.

Here's a picture she's, behind the puppy (probably for the better so you don't see how skinny she is). But see, she looks happy. Even in my user pic from last May she looks happy!

Awwwww, thats always heart breaking.

Have you considered worms?? Thats always a good guess when they are eating but still losing weight...

I lost a lab to allergies. Misdiagnosed by the vet. In defense of the vet, it was a rare condition.

Vets have it hard since their patients can't describe their ailments. I'd just monitor her very closely, even keep a journal if need be.

With that I would say go ahead and get a second opinion without thinking about it.

At this point, I'm not really sure what can be done for her. Even if another vet is able to diagnose a "fixable" problem, I'm not sure how much good it would do. Dogs can only live so long before it is their time. All we can do it try to make their time here as enjoyable as possible and allow them to leave this place with a little pain as possible.
It certainly is a sad position to be in, and I do not look forward to dealing with the same issue for my Lucy in a couple years, but dogs come and go. At least that is what I tell myself to distract myself from the facts.
Good luck,

14 is pretty old for that size of dog,like us living til 100.

I hope I get 14 years out of my Husky/Shepherd, that's a good run for a dog of that size. Good luck with this.

I hate to say it but that is exactly what happened to our dog before he passed away....He lived to be 15 but for about a year to year and a half before he passed, he lost about half of his body weight. He was never a very big dog, about 45-50lbs at his max, but when he passed away he only weighed about 25-30lbs and you could feel/see every bone in his body.

As he got older, he started losing weight and his interest in food, so we put him on a special diet that was full of rich and fatty foods like ground beef to try to keep his weight up. That seemed to work pretty well because he enjoyed being spoiled and eating people food so we were finally able to stabilize his weight a little. I think you are doing about everything you can, I but she is just getting older. I would recommend trying to feed her fatty foods to try to keep her weight up. Other than that it sounds like you are doing everything you can.

Finally, this thread made me think of one of the very few chain emails that I actually saved and didn't delete right away because it had a very meaningful quote:
To the world you are just one more rescue person. To a rescued pet, you are the world. "Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened."

I wish you and Saki the very best of luck.

Its always sad to see a loved pet getting close to its last run. As far as advice and or any two cents i can offer to be of assistance. Dogs are extremely strong minded, unless they have broken bones, torn tendings, or other extreme pain causing injuries they are very prone and good at hiding there pain and suffering. Its kind of there way of not being a weak link to the "pack" (your family and other pets). they'll push through a headache, ear ache, back ache, hip pain, athristis, things we would normally complain consistantly about they will ignore to the fullest until no one is watching then they might nurse there hip or paw or other injury. I understand injurys dont necessarily relate to your specific situation; however, what im getting at is that your dog loosing intrest in food, lack of energy, not wanting to move around, these can all be caused by underlying pain the dog is hiding trying to be your tough best buddy. (dogs are so loyal they dont even want to slow you down with there pain) In my previous ownership of many older age dogs I've had great experiences with getting dogs interested in eating and slightly becoming more energetic by using daily doses of asprine for pain releife, as well as fish oil pills glucose pills, and other vitamins to promote heathy joints and help them use the little protien they do collect in there minimal eating to retain muscle growth, and energy consumption. These methods unfortunatly dont make the dogs imortal (how we all wish some were) but it does increase there abilities to live life to the fullest! As dogs get old they also have an internal clock that "tells them its there time" more comonly this internal clock its noticed in larger dogs more so than smaller dogs. But as they reach a time in which they "feel its there time to go" alot of dogs will often wonder away from the house or yard in which they would call there home, to find a "peacful" place in there mind to lay down and pass on. Its in there instincts to not slow the "pack" down with there pain or suffering, and as well to allow the "pack" to move on without them knowing that they're former brother has felt its his time to move on. I wish all the best for you and your loved one, and i hope this may give insite a vet might not have passed on.

Thanks for all the kind words and advice. I don't think we'll be going to another vet; it's just a hassle for Saki and we rather just keep things peaceful. We still are trying to feed her whatever we can.

It's just difficult; we've had a lot of dogs. I'm almost 24 and the longest time I've lived without a dog was less than a week. With the others that have passed it was nothing like this. There was almost that dreaded morning where I'd get up and see my mom in shambles sitting with whatever dog it was at the time, waiting to go the vet. There was always a stroke, or a day where it was obviously cruel to keep the dog alive. With Saki, she gets up, she eats a little bit, it's not the same yet it's scary to watch her deteriorate right in front of your eyes. She sleeps at least 80% of the day away. I really hope no tough decisions need to be made this time.

IanB, our other GS/Husky did well also, made it to about 12. I hear a lot of good things about the longevity of GS/Husky mixes.

Thanks especially to 4ever4running and aha2988, your posts really helped. She is a strong dog who has been living a great, well fulfilled life. This is one of many heavy issues on my plate right now but hopefully it will be alright.

Thanks again.

Austin is right. Dogs have a very high pain tolerance and though she's not showing direct symptoms there is obviously something going on.
I'm really surprised that basic blood work came back with nothing. I would suspect even a CBC (Complete Blood Count) to show some elevated levels with her kidneys or liver.
X-rays don't always show what they need to show and if you do see something, they're not always conclusive. A lot of times an ultrasound is needed and this can be expensive.
She's lived a long life. Sounds like a happy one at that. Both of my dogs have had extensive testing done on medical issues that they have. None of witch lived as long as your girl. You're very lucky!
You need to be the only one to make the decision of when it's time to go. Don't let anyone decide this for you. BUT you need to know when the time is right. Don't keep her alive because you're going to be in too much pain to let her go. Quality of life is number one.
I wish you the best and my prayers are with you. It's never easy.

yowch. this sucks. i know all too well.

the excessive water drinking points to compromised kidney & liver function, but the massive weight loss and waning appetite probably do indicate something more dire (that the endocrine system is being taxed to compensate for).

first off: embrace the fact that you're able to dedicate this time to her. it's the most important thing—to her, and in the big picture. secondly, have you tried feeding her raw meat and steamed vegetables and rice or quinoa? diet is almost everything with dogs... and they say cancer feeds on the high carb content of commmercial dog foods. can't hurt to try.

if it comes to it... my last dog (the love of my life, frankly) hung on like a trooper until the very bitter end—and forced me to do the last, hardest thing i could ever do for her. i know she did it because she didn't want to leave me any more than i want to be without her.

good luck to you and Saki. your bond is one of the most amazing, beautiful things this life has to offer.

So nothing was out of the normal range or borderline with the bloodwork?

Are any of her lymph nodes enlarged?

Have you done a urinalysis (UA)? Urinary tract infection (UTI) could explain the recent excessive drinking. If you do get a UA, have them get the urine sample by cystocentesis (not free-catch). If she does have a UTI, do another UA when the course of antibiotics is up to make sure the infection is gone.

Oh, maybe get a bigger water bowl if she is turning water to foam? One of my water bowls is a 4 quart mixing bowl...then again, there is a lot of dog in my household.

I am very sorry to hear about your dog's situation. Stressful and very sad times watching a loved one in a situation like this.

Very sad to hear.. I have a 13-year-old yorkie who has started slowing down recently and this reminds me of how much I worry for him.

Thanks again for all the replies, everything has been very helpful so far.

The vet tested just about everything you've all mentioned. Liver & kidneys were fine, in normal range. I have no idea though about the CBC or enlarged lymph nodes (will have to look into that). They ran her urine, it was fine. Unsure about the UTI, I would imagine they did that (will have to check) as she had bladder stones about 5 years or so.

That is a good idea about a larger water bowl. So far I'm trying to let her have her own water bowl so the other two don't touch it or get in her way. I tried feeding her with the other two outside but she seems to only eat if they are.

My mom's a fanatic about all the dog food recalls and more often than not our dog food is mostly homemade with just some kibble. Saki's having a tough time chewing as you can imagine, so she's eating a lot of ground meat (she had some leftover broken up meatballs last night) as well as tuna on top of kibble, rice, etc. We found a recipe for dogs that are found by rescue groups and get a certain diet if they're extremely underweight and malnourished - I have that cooking right now. Besides that, it takes a lot of convincing to even get her to eat pieces of cheese and drink the ensure.

I'm going to look more into what some of you mentioned as what could be the cause of all this. I know we aren't likely to find an answer but it's still worth a shot. For now the main concern is just making things easy for her and trying to get her to eat. I don't even want to show you all a current picture of this dog, it's not good.

It's a tough decision to make but I don't think it's time - she came outside with the puppy and I before and was even wagging her tail. That said, I don't want her to starve to death or anything though.

Does anyone have any experience with Cortizone? My vet said this can be something to try next but will cause her to urinate uncontrollably. I forget what it's supposed to do, I think help her eat.

Thanks again, it means a lot.

It almost sounds like your girl has signs of Hyperadrenocorticism. I know you said she was tested for Cushings already but If I were you, I might research this a bit more.