When I read my friend Debi’s heartwarming post on Facebook about the older dog she and her husband Tim had adopted, I was inspired to ask other animal-lovers on my Friends’ list to share their own stories about the senior pets they’ve chosen to love and live with over the years.
Have you considered adopting an older animal?
Want to know how it’s worked out for others? Here are some of their personal experiences:
Debi Davis (Nevada) We adopted our little guy a year and a half ago from a rescue group. He was a pet-shop dog, had one owner who died, and he was put into a kennel rescue situation for many months. When we adopted him, he only had eyes for men and he quickly attached himself to Tim. I was thrilled. I have my own Papillon mix, the same age, who is never more than 10 feet away from me. Tim really needed a dog to love him the way Cooper loves me.
Ziggy the Cav came with many behavioral issues we have had to work through. He hated any type of grooming and it’s taken us well over a year to get him to accept that our hands will not cause him pain. That and a lick mat for peanut butter taped to his grooming table has given him a real attitudinal adjustment.
He also came with some of the worst perio problems I’ve ever seen, and though I began a daily regimen of tooth-brushing, it wasn’t enough to save eight teeth he had to have extracted, which were all abscessed.
Poor thing had to have two flaps done on eyeteeth and also a large cyst removed from his eye, which couldn’t be done cryogenically since it was so large and deep.
Ten days in a cone, and he still couldn’t have his teeth brushed for another 10 days. But he’s so grateful to have that cone off now and to be able to rest his head on Tim’s laptop computer again. It’s a joy to see him feeling so much more comfortable.
How we love the senior dogs. They are so grateful for love and for a bit of spoiling. Shoot, we’d been putting off getting a new bed for 25 years, and we finally splurged a couple of months ago for a king-sized bed—and for what reason? To make the dogs happier, so we would not worry about them getting wedged in between us. Now we all stretch out and Tim and I wake up all the time giggling because Ziggy out-snores all of us.
Puppies are beyond wonderful, but with our age and disabilities, the senior pooches have captured our hearts. And they are just so grateful, so easy to be around. So very loving. I wish we could afford a whole house full of senior dogs in need of extra love during the last chapter of their lives.
Photo by Debi Davis
Tim’s faithful companion, Ziggy the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Here he is with joy in his heart, remaining still for hours as Tim teaches math classes from home now. This is Ziggy’s “Look of Love,” and all of Tim’s students know his name.
Manda Lorian (Wisconsin) When I lost my two seniors that I’d had since they were puppies, a year and a half apart, I went to the rescue shelter with every intention of getting a one- to two-year-old dog. The woman running the rescue, however, had other intentions. She introduced me to Taz (now Bodhi). Bubs is a small Shar Pei who was pulled from a shelter after being a stray. He needed eye surgery, which they did, but then he sat in the rescue for two years. Why? Because he was old and no one wanted him. He was about 9 or 10 by the time I met him, and I was immediately smitten. He’s been with me for a year and a half now, and I’m glad to report that he is a very happy and healthy little dude. He has the most gentle temperament and he absolutely loves his big sister, even though she reminds him constantly that she is the queen. Sometimes, I look at him all snuggled up on the couch and I think about how he spent two years sleeping on a cold hard kennel floor. Even though I face heartbreak way sooner than I would have with that one- or two-year-old, giving Bodhi the best he could possibly have for his golden years makes it all worth it.
Photo by Manda Lorian
Gwen Jones (California) We “fostered” Moli—at age ten (?), she had been left to starve. She was 16 pounds when rescued; she is now 33 pounds and the perfect weight. Our biggest hurdle was our dog-reactive boy who is unpredictable and fearful. After several months of slow integration (she’d never lived in a house, so wasn’t potty-trained) and lots of management for both dogs, the two are fast friends and can often be seen flirting when not in the company of our young border collie.
Frances Dauster (Alabama) I adopted a geriatric, hardly-any-teeth dying hound from a random Facebook post. He was supposedly a hospice case. Damn dog wouldn’t die. I had him for three years. He was intact—no one had informed me and it didn’t occur to me to ask! Two years into having him here, at Christmas, he started playing! It took him two years! I cried. And I got it on video. He passed peacefully with me by his side after having a great “retirement” from being a reactive, aggressive old fart to becoming a sweet old gentleman. I miss you, Humboldt. (That’s what I named him, like the squid that reaches out with his tentacles via a Facebook post.)
Marni Dlin (Canada) I adopted Jake and Jax when they were 9 1/2 years old. They are now 16—blind, deaf, and a bit wobbly but still doing well.
Photo by Marni Dlin
Maria Burton (Washington) My sassy, sweet girl Holly! She was eight when I met her at the Spokane Humane Society two years ago. She was a typical heeler with little training and she was getting herself into trouble.
When I introduced her to my hubby, she jumped into his lap, so we decided we were up for the challenge of an older, stuck-in-her-naughty-ways doggo.
I don’t have advice for introducing a new dog to your current animals. I’ve just gotten extremely lucky and everything I’ve brought home gets along. I do have a talk with all the animals I bring home. I tell them they need to get along with my pets if they want to stay. No eating the free-roaming rabbit allowed. So far, it’s worked great!
Medically, you just need to be financially prepared. Any senior animal is going to cost money, no matter how healthy they are when adopted. For example, Holly needed a dental within 6–12 months of adoption (which I was made aware of by the adoption counselors). Additionally, shortly after the adoption, we realized she had some incontinence issues. This isn’t something that could have been noticed in a shelter. It is easily managed with an affordable daily medication, but it does mean frequent vet visits.
Holly needed to be basket-muzzle–trained to go to the vet, to have her nails trimmed, or to be in any situation where she might come across a new person. Old dogs can definitely learn new tricks, but it isn’t always easy! It took a lot of time and patience. Holly was worth it, though. She’s an amazing, loving, loyal dog that brings so much joy to our family!
I hope she will have many more healthy, adventure-filled years with us.
Photo by Maria Burton
Holly and Maria on their way home right after the adoption.
