At my witts end & dilemma

Hi All,

I have a male he is 5.1/2 and has always had amazing energy, full of life, absolutely adorable happy fellow! Until..... 13th of February, when he lost his lifelong mate who was twelve, they were inseperable and everything has really gone down hill since there.

In short, March he started with breathing issues which only came about if he got over excited, we returned home and he sounded almost like he was having an asthma attack or possibly we thought anxiety attack, Trips to vet and then three specialists and varying tests later have confirmed that his larynx isn't working as it should (not opening out when he breathes in to allow enough air to fill his lungs) there is no nerve damage to the larynx so they are now thinking that it is or could be, a neurological condition:(

Whilst resting his breathing is near to normal(which a normal larynx candidate wouldn't do) the episodes come to their crescendo when he is over excited, resulting in us having to keep him calm, cool, very little walking etc .... After the loss of his mate in Feb he was so so very down, off eating etc.. that we put a deposit down on a pup as a friend for him thinking this would pick him up, as he then turned unwell sadly this was put on hold and then cancelled until we got him well again. Now maybe this condition was already there lurking in the background and it is all coincidental but its playing on my mind that he has gone down hill since losing his mate, I've spoken to the vets re bringing a friend in to see if this would help his mental state of mind and perhaps perk him up but they have said it could be a good thing or possibly a bad thing depending on how he takes to the pup, what would you do if you were me??

Anyone else had any experiences of this, dog losing his mate and the effects?

Or any suggestions how you can keep a dog mentally stimulated that can't play, walk very far, he looks so fed up

Thanks for any thoughts - going out of my mind right now with worry!

Sorry to hear you're going through such a hard time

Personally, I wouldn't get the puppy if it were me in your position. My reasoning is that a puppy is very energetic and presumably your boy is already finding it hard to stay calm and not run around and play. I think a puppy would make it even harder for him (physically and also mentally that he wants to play and wouldn't be able to).

I agree with Tara on the Puppy, but you could always look at an older rescue?

I took on my Grandad's dog when he died and she grieved for him very badly, she was always a very healthy dog put since he passed she stopped eating etc didn't want to walk etc. It is normal to see this sort of reaction in an animal.

However, over time it does improve. It takes a lot of patience though.

I'm not sure if there would be a direct link to his health issue but like ourselves, stress and anxiety makes general health suffer also. So it's quite possible sadly

A agree getting a puppy would probably be a bad move. Have you considered getting an older dog as a companion for yours or even fostering an older one that may be in a rescue centre and needs some time out for a while to see how they on together.

Have you tried introducing him to friends' dogs to see if he will play with them? Do you know anybody who has a young pup that you could introduce?

I'm of a mind to think that it's too much of a coincidence to say that the passing of his friend and the illness aren't connected. If the vet hasn't specifically diagnosed a problem with his larynx (which would normally have shown up long before now) then it seems strange that it would suddenly turn into a problem?

Thanks all for your replies and thoughts.

Sadly I don't think getting an older dog in would be very successful, my dog isn't the world's best with other dogs, fine walking past them, sitting by them in the vets etc... but not too good when they come full on at him and with an older dog already having their own personality i think it would be too hard which is why a pup I think would be easier to introduce.

I do have a friend who is getting a pup at the end of the month so after it's had all it's jabs I think we are going to arrange to meet up a couple of times and see how he fares with the pup and then bring it round to our home to see how he is in his own environment - thanks for your suggestion.

In the meantime I'll just have to try and keep him as upbeat and mentally stimulated as much as I can - which is really hard as I'm sure you can imagine!

Poor fella.

I think dogs go through the grieving process much the same as humans do. It may just take him some time to adjust. ><