Hey everyone. Sad post here. First, some background. My dog is a long haired german shepard, 10 years old (11 in November), male, intact. He was my fiance's dog before he was our dog. My fiance has owned him since he was just a few months old. My dog is a purebread and bought directly from a reputable breeder (I know, kind of controversial) I have been with my fiance/dog for almost 4 years now. This dog is my fiance's baby - I mean, I've never seen anyone act this way towards a dog/pet before. It was actually kind of annoying in the beginning. When we first met, he used to hand feed the dog rotisserie chickens and steak! I had to break that habit. Now, the dog eats on his own a diet of meats plus wet dog food and finally now dry food mixed in as well. Other than the problems I'm about to describe, our dog is in EXCELLENT health. He runs, plays, goes on multiple walks per day, and is a very happy dog.
About 6 months ago we started noticing blood drops coming from his penis. We gave him cranberry treats and he basically recovered in about a month. Jump to about 4 months ago and the blood was back but a lot more. Drips everywhere, constantly. He's also having trouble pooping and cries all night (but not during the day so i'm not sure about that). Called the vet, took some urine samples, not an infection, probably just prostate. Fiance didn't want to neuter him and after another month or two the blood drops basically stopped. Within the past month, the blood started back up. Called the vet again, she did a rectal exam and said his prostate is huge. We scheduled the neuter (for Sept 25) and she gave us 2 weeks of antibiotics for now. Antibiotics didn't help so I contacted the vet again. She said that is very concerning and we need to schedule an ultrasound before the neutering because it may be something more severe.
The ultrasound is in one week. My fiance is losing it. He has even said that he will basically be on suicide watch once that final day comes. We have always been back and forth about getting another dog (before ours passes) to kind of ease the blow. Our dog is not really friendly with other dogs so that's the main concern for not getting one plus some other reasons. Now, my fiance is freaking out because we may lose our dog soon and then just be left with nothing. He doesn't think it's good to get another dog now while our dog is sick because it could be traumatizing for the new dog and we don't want our current dog to feel like we are replacing him.
I have been through the death of a pet and family members before. He has not. I really don't know how to console him or prepare him. He has never experienced death before - well his grandpa, but he was about 5 y/o when that happened. Any advice for this situation will help. I have never seen him upset like this before. I keep telling him that we don't know anything for sure until we get the test results. Like I said, besides the prostate stuff, he is in great health but my fiance is convinced it's cancer and the dog is going to die soon. I really don't know what to do.
TL;DR - 10 year old dog is my fiance's baby and he is distraught to the point that I have never seen him like this before and he is totally un-consolable. Our dog has been having some prostate problems but overall is in excellent health. How to help him get through this situation (our dog is having some tests and possibly surgery soon) and prepare him for what will happen eventually, but hopefully not soon.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/i9l3dq/how_to_deal_with_senior_pets_health_declining/
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