My rattie girl, Little Dog just turned 13 (theoretically - she was adopted as an adult from a shelter, so we aren't sure of her real age) and over the past two years she has been slowly going deaf and blind and has had some occasional issues with her equilibrium.  The vet thinks her cataracts aren't that bad, but she runs into and trips over things quite frequently.  We've made it a point to keep stuff off the floor so she won't trip and fall and up until a few months ago, she was still doing quite well going up and down the stairs, although she has occasionally missed the top or bottom step.  Recently, though, she's been having episodes that are much worse than her normal wandering aimlessly - today she fell down the stairs from the top to the bottom (we've put up a gate now) and she kept walking at strange angles and falling over onto the walls, cabinets, etc.. She's done this before, but to a much lesser degree, never falling over entirely.

We've had her on meds for doggy dementia and those seemed to help with her alertness (not staring into corners as much), but has not helped with her equilibrium.  She doesn't appear to have arthritis. She can hop and jump (she bounds accross the fields at my in-laws house, which are mostly free of obstacles, although we have to keep her in the mowed area because she fell into a hole once), but doesn't jump on furniture as much as she used to because she can't see where she's jumping and misses often, so I think she's given up.  She doesn't appear to have any joint pain, but I notice that she'll drag her left leg every so often and she frequently walks in circles around the house (not in circles like she's getting ready to lie down, just wandering in a circle from room to room on our first floor). When she's out in the yard alone for more than 20 minutes she'll start circling the perimiter in what seems to be almost a panic. She has trouble keeping her balance while eating and will get distracted, forget she's eating and look for food elsewhere in the kitchen, circle the kitchen perimeter, find the food bowl again and start eating again. She'll do this about 5 or 6 times during mealtime. Her appetite is good, and she's been tested for hypothyroid. She was slightly low on one test, but after she had her teeth cleaned and antibiotics for an infection they retested her and she was normal. She's a normal weight and when she's "exploring" outside of our yard (out at the farm or at the dog park) she enjoys herself. Even though the vet says her cataracts aren't bad, I can tell she can't see anything but what must be blurry shapes. She'll bite anything in front of her if it's within 1-2 inches of her nose - not because she's attacking it, but because she thinks it might be food. She'll take a little chomp and then make a face like, "oh, that's not food." and then turn away.  And of course, with all this confusion for her, she's not as good with the house training anymore.

Whatever she has, I doubt I have the money to fix it (I just spent 2,600 getting my 1 year old rottie a new hip and my job hasn't paid me in over a month - hooray not-for-profit world), but what I'm having trouble with is the following:

1) I'd just like to know what she's dealing with so I can properly monitor her (I'll be taking her to the vet this week to that end if I can afford whatever tests they want to run)

2) I'm not sure if she's really NOT in pain, since dogs are so stoic a lot of the time.  She doesn't "appear" to be in pain...

3) She doesn't have any hobbies (not interested in toys or chewing on bones and never has been despite my best efforts) and I feel so terrible that she spends most of her time either asleep or wandering around confused, but when we go out for walks and on "adventures" she seems to be pretty engaged and interested, even if she's not really sure where she is or what she's doing - new smells are always stimulating I guess.

I've talked to the vet about these concerns before (usually at her regular checkups) and they haven't been as helpful as I'd like. My last dog, Pokey, we put to sleep when he was 15 (and so was I - we grew up together) and he was to the point where he had lost all bowel function and was paralyzed from the waist down (this extreme condition happened quickly, over the course of a week). But it's so hard to know when it's time until the animal has maybe suffered more than they should.

I truly don't think that it's Little Dog's time yet, but I know it is probably not exceedingly far off and I'm just having trouble watching her condition deteriorate.

I'm sure there are many of you out there who have had to endure similar experiences and I'd really appreciate any advice that anyone might have to offer.

Thanks in advance,

Sonya

Just like with Pokey you will know when it is time.  She will let you know.  For me and my 17 year old sheltie I told her years before it was time that when she stopped eating that would be her sign (she was a chow hound).  The last 2 days I tried to feed her everything she just kept looking at me like come on mom you know what to do.  Course she probably couldn't see me she had one eye and couldn't see out the other anymore.  That was the worse day of my life but I owed it to her to let her go in peace and now she is waiting on the other side of the rainbow bridge for me.  Let me repeat you will know when it is time.

Sonya,

I'm so sorry you're going thru this. I just went through a similar situation with my old boy, my JRT.

He was 13 and his vision was poor. He got agitated easily. His kidneys failed and I lost him in March.

I don't have any real advice. You have her on meds. Doggy dementia is real.  Maybe trying to find a canine homeopathic doctor could help?

Sounds like you are doing all you can to keep her comfortable and preventing her from getting hurt. Dogs function with their senses: NOSE, ears, sight.

SO she probably is loving going for walks and smelling stuff. I had my old man trained to "step" down off curbs carefully on walks. He was such an awesome frisbee/ball catching dog, it was quite a heartbreak when his vision suddnely went bad.

HUGS and Luv sent to you, I know you are going thru a rough time. Just luv your girl.....

Just to add to what has already been said here, you might want to have your little one checked for canine peripheral vestibular syndrome.  It may be a cause of the unsteadiness.  It's true that they let you know when it's time for them to leave.