How can I comfort a terminally ill dog?

Dogs will sense your negative emotions no matter what, especially when the dog’s family knows their
beloved pet is going to pass on. Terminally ill dogs may not be as keen to show their pain but they may
still try to comfort their human who is expressing anguish and guilt. My advice is give physical affection
and a calming tone to your voice as you talk to them. If possible have at least two people available to
also accompany the dog so they don’t feel as distressed from feeling lonely. If your dog is willing to eat
and the vet gives the ok now is the time to spoil with foods they don’t normally get to taste. If they
respond to toys (any toy that doesn’t encourage too much energy from the dog) having familiar objects
and playthings may help them and the owner too. Being present or in the moment with your dog (jokes,
gentle teasing and selfies with them) and not dwelling on the final hours to come is my final bit of
advice.

What are examples of mentally ill dogs?

Dogs, and cats, can get depressed.
This is difficult to diagnose since, obviously our pets do not talk. However as with people there may be a
dullness to the gaze, a lot of sleeping or simply being withdrawn and avoiding company. Dogs may loose
their appetite, too.
Dogs that have been very badly treated may exhibit very neurotic behaviours, and stress, hunching and
shivering with the tail tucked right underneath the body, cowering under furniture, flinching when
touched and avoiding all eye contact. If they were human they would be hospitalised for severe
depression and anxiety.
Badly socialised dogs can be unpredictable, aggressive, show dominance towards people and be
dangerous. It's fair to say that such dogs, in societal terms are the canine equivalent of criminal
delinquents or have severe personality disorder.

Can dogs suffer from mental health issues?

Yes. Owners often tell me how their dogs is pining when a companion dies or is taken away. They notice
the dog is tucked away and less energetic, or sometimes more needy. As they age, they can suffer from
Cognitive Dysfunction, a bit like dementia in people. They get anxious, forget their toileting habits, bark
in the middle of the of the might, forget to eat and drink, just like humans.
Rescue dogs or any dogs can suffer from anxiety if they have had bad experiences and anticipate this
may happen again. It may be related to the owner going away (separation anxiety) noise phobias, fear of
harm from people, fear of loud or moving objects or other animals. My current rescue dog is terrified of
being approached by strangers especially men and will lunge and bark at them if they walk close by.
They are emotionally very close to humans in their fears and anxieties.

Are there mentally challenged dogs and cats?

Because cats are my area of expertise, I can most certainly say there are mentally challenged cats. I
actually have one myself.
Marley was born with a physical disability and adopted as a young kitten to owners that sadly abused
him beyond belief. He came to me via the Veterinarian to assist in his care and aid in his long road to
recovery. Marly was so challenging to me in the beginning, I often wondered if I was actually going to be
able to help him.
The abuse Marley sustained left him with PTSD and anxiety as well as his physical challenges.
Cats with this type of history can become amazing companions just provide them with bundles of love
and have oodles of patience.
Marley became so attached to me, I ended up adopting him for myself.
Do pets suffer from mental disorders?
This answer is based on my personal experience with a pet dog who suffered from a psychological
disorder.
The dog was a Shepherd/Rott mix that we adopted from the local pound when he was approximately 3
years old. At first, things were fine, but then when I started working regularly, we started having issues.
He suffered from Separation Anxiety (which can be very common for dogs).
We don’t know if this was something he was born with or if it had to do with abuse or neglect since he
was found as a stray and taken to the pound where we adopted him from - so no back history at all.
He would chew things up and scratch at doors and stuff along those lines.
We started crating him (a common solution to give them a sense of security in a small, cave like space) -
which worked well until a day that he was crated and a dump truck hit a power line two houses down. I
can only imagine the commotion and the power went out. When I got home, the metal cage was a pile
of twisted metal that had been thrown up onto a couch (it started on the floor since this was a 100+
pound dog) and the dog was nowhere to be found.
Luckily, I was able to hear a soft thudding while calling for him and found him wedged under the
headboard of our waterbed. He was wedged so tightly in the 8 inch gap that he couldn’t even bark since
his throat was wedged against the bottom edge of the bed…not even a whimper.
I had to pull the bedside table out and help him wriggle out from under the bed.
We couldn’t crate him after that.
The worst happened when I was pregnant. His anxiety went into overdrive and when I would get home
from work, there would sometimes be pools of blood on the floor by the back door where he tried to
chew and dig his way out of the house. He tore out two of his teeth.
So we took him to a pet psychologist.
She advised that when I get home from work, I give him a massage (she taught me a special technique).
The technique took about an hour to give him a proper massage - and at 6 months pregnant, sick with
full term morning sickness and working full time…I didn’t use the proper technique. But just spending
about a half hour every day when I got home petting him and giving him one on one attention seemed
to be enough.
There were a couple more incidents of chewed up doors but once my son was born, he calmed down.
There are other psychological disorders…some genetic and some environmental…but that was one of
our experiences with pets with a mental disorder.

How long after contact with an ill dog would it be safe for one to have their vaccinations updated?
You must check with the dog’s Vet to see why the dog is sick. Some dog diseases cannot be transmitted
to humans, but others can. If an animal has rabies, you must start ‘shots’ immediately.

How often should a healthy dog visit the vet?

This is a particularly sad answer today as a good friend just lost his beloved dog to liver cancer
yesterday. Take your dog (especially older dogs) to the vet at least once per year for bloodwork. Here’s
why.
Like humans, many conditions that are caught early are treatable. But when we wait until they are highly
symptomatic, all too often, they end in euthanasia.
This poor dog went in for what was believed to be a fungal infection. It turned out to be liver cancer. If
caught earlier, his prognosis would have been much better, but it was too late and he had to be put
down.
But here’s a happier scenario of catching a deadly disease early to end on.
Our Rat Terrier Daisy needs to go in for regular testing because of a serious illness she got when we first
rescued her. She’d recently been a tad lethargic, but nothing too bad. She still wanted to go on walks
and had an appetite, so we didn’t think anything was too serious.
We got her in and found she was in stage 4 kidney failure. Two more weeks or so, and it would have
been irreversible and killed her.
We immediately got her on IV fluids, a lower protein diet, Benazapril, and a miracle kidney treatment
that you can purchase on Amazon. I would list what it is, but Quora would think I was trying to sell it,
which I am not. DM me if you want to know what it is.
Long story short, she is alive and doing exceptionally well because we took her in because she was due
for a visit. My hunch is that we have reversed a lot of what was happening in her kidneys, and we will
find out in another 60 days or so when we take her back in for blood work.
Our animals can’t ask us to take them to the vet, so do the right thing and take them in periodically for
check-up’s and blood work.
These visits are a thousand times easier than the ones they don’t come home from.

Has your dog ever gotten ill from eating a rawhide bone?
A couple of months ago our Anna had a bad case of diarreah, followed by two vet visits where she was
prescribed some kind of anti-bacterial meds. Her first bout was early, early of a morning just after she’d
come upstairs from her house. She sneaked into the bathroom (appropriately) and deposited a really
scary looking bowel movement, as if she’d eaten a mouse or bird out in the yard and it had worked its
way through her system in one chunk.
But the loose bowels continued. Other than evidence from some bacteria in her sample stool, the vet
could only conjecture.
I read up on beef rawhide chews, which were her favorite thing to gnaw on. This was one website I
found (there were several others similar to this): Rawhide Bones and Treats for Dogs: Risks and Benefits
That was pretty scary. I did a lot more research, especially after I took her off the beef rawhide stuff and
switched to pork rolls. During the last vet visit, he suggested she might have an allergy of “some sort”.
Another research, and I learned that beef in general is the number one allergy for dogs. Another website
for you to examine: Caring for a Dog with Food Allergies
Considering that her food and treats had contained beef, even good brands, I took her off it and bought
salmon-based kibble and top it off with some plain chicken breast - canned or from Caesar brand. I also
keep her off of grains, which many dogs can’t tolerate