15 years old dog

[meuhmy]

Hi!
My dog is 15 years old. She is female and she was not spayed. She never had puppies. She is deaf (but not from age, from an unfortunate accident) and she is has cataracts, she even keeps scratching her eyes with her front paws and we assumed it was because the cataracts disturbed her. She had a surgery on one of her back leg which healed perfectly, but her other leg is injured. The vet said it might be dangerous to fix her other leg via surgery since she is so old, she could not react well to the anesthesia. Her first leg was fixed when she was 10 years old, and she got her second leg injured when she was 13 years old. For a week she kept peeing inside the house but afterward it came back to normal, so we didn't worry too much. Sadly, there are no vets near my house because we live far away from cities and stuff, so seeing a vet is sometimes complicated. Otherwise, her legs now seems fine, it is not too apparent and she didn't lose muscles from lack of use like she did for the first leg. Though, my mom keeps being afraid when she starts running that she injures it again, while I think that if she never runs she won't be healthy and probably will cause her to die earlier. She seems to be very healthy for her age though. She stills walks and climb stairs without any problems and she often runs. She weights around 20 pounds and isn't from any specific breed (we actually can't tell what breed she might come from)
I wondered if at her age we should worry about her leg and her cataracts. I also wondered if my mom is right about not letting her move too much or am I right to let her play and run a bit. Also, both times she injured her legs happened when she fell off from something a bit high (first time from a VTT, second time from the couch)
Here's a picture of her, at 14 years old: https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/1040369_10201426248559858_725055016_o.jpg

[ginger899]

Wow! So your (lovely) girl is still alive and kicking hey? And thank you for posting back since last November.
It seems she is doing very well for a dog going on sixteen. There are bound to be some health issues as the good old girl's body grows older, but if she is still enjoying life and getting around, then that's wonderful.

Just watch her for signs of pain. Old dogs have old joints, and if she winces, makes any noises of pain etc, then a few painkillers or anti inflammatories from the vet may help.

She has a pary Border Collie look about her. They are great dogs, so loyal, intelligent and very tough too. She might also have some Springer Spaniel in the mix...?

[meuhmy]

Yes, I guess so! But I have no idea how to know for sure. Her mother was already a mix that we couldn't tell (small with long blond hair) and the father is unknown. I guess DNA tests must be expansive. We're now almost in December and she's still alive and active. :)

[meuhmy]

Yes, she does look a lot like a border collie cross! Can't you copy/paste the url? It works for me. She's much smaller than a border collie. She weights only 20 pounds.
Sadly, she became deaf around 2012 because of an accident, it was not because of her age. My dad is a hunter and he made a sad mistake of forgetting to warn my mother that he was firing with his 300 magnum. Usually he warns her before so she gets the dog elsewhere but then he forgot and both her and my dog got problems but my mom went back to normal, not the dog. Though, since a week, for some reason she started to react to noises and to our voices like she used to! Could it be that she is healing even though it is been almost 3 years?
We don't let her jump on furniture anymore since the second time she injured a leg was from falling off the couch. So he build tiny stairs and she can get on it quite easily. She still climbs stairs by herself, and just last week I saw my mom and her playing on skype (she was running and everything) and my mom told be she's been energetic these days (I'm away because of university but I'll come back in a few weeks)
But how did you guess about her look?

[ginger899]

Good old girl. From what you described it sounds as id she is growing old pretty gracefully. To want to walk and exercise, and to be able to climb stairs with no problem at her age is very good. It sounds as if the recent injury to her leg may be gently healing. Maybe it was a ligament or muscle strain?

Examine her eyes to see if there is any pus from them, or redness, and if so she may need an antibiotic eye ointment. I know cataracts cause her not to be able to see well, but they may be better left alone. Dogs can cope with loss of sight to some extent. If her hearing is still okay....it's amazing how she will compensate with sense of smell and hearing for any dimness of sight.
It might be a better option to leave the cataracts than subject her to the stress of surgery, and any risks.

Let her live as natural a life as possible. Let her walk and run if she wants to. Don't 'wrap her in cotton-wool'. But obviously keep a careful eye on what she is doing and don't let her take leaps to awkward places, or get involved in anything which could cause injury. Her lack of sight won't help her to avoid something last-minute -so you are going to have to think ahead to any possible dangers when on a walk etc....and be her eyes for her.
Within reason, she must live as normal a life as she is able to.

I couldn't load her pictures! But I imagined her as a small border collie cross....Just out of curiosity -am I right?

[Jerry_NJ]

I'm not sure what can be said to help, it reads like you dog is getting along okay, but from what I know about cataracts they will cause blindness if not treated, I believe a rather complicated operation and maybe one that isn't normally done on dogs.

Also15 years old is old for any breed, so her life expectancy can't be very long.  I would most likely try to keep the dog as comfortable as possible and prepare myself to for the day when the subject of ending her life is the one that must be considered.

My wish is that your dog will be able to share more time with you, her family.