Advice on caring for an older staffie

Hi there,

I'm from Cape Town, South Africa, and here, Staffies are well-known and loved. Recently one was found wandering around our neighbourhood without a collar or any form of identification. My husband met and fell in love with him. He's a really gentle soul, brindle and quite a big boy. Unfortunately we had to go out, so couldn't do much to help and while we were gone our neighbours took him in and to cut a long story short he's ended up at the SPCA. A number of us have tried hard, and unsuccessfully to locate his family. So my husband and I have decided that if he's not claimed in the next week, we'd like to adopt him. The SPCA say he's about 8 or 9 years old. He's very sweet and friendly, and really took to my hubby. He's rather over weight though, so will need some good exercise, and has been found to have what they called a "grade 1 heart murmur". The vet didn't seem to think it was serious though, I hope not.

Please can you give me some info and advice on caring for an older staffie? He's really going to need to get his weight down too, he kind of waddles at the moment. And I'm concerned about this heart murmur. We're really hoping things work out, my 10 year old son is super-excited, and my husband has already chosen a name for him. Duke!

Duke!!!!!!! is a wonderful name thats what my boys called weight is much harder to put on then get off in older amimals so try to do it gradually. Im sure if your rescue is succesful the rescue will give you advice on feeding.
Id try a high energy low calorie feed and also a little fresh meat or fish. No excercise too vigorous though a nice walk and when hes had enough let him rest but he will need loads of hugs and kisses and cuddles

A grade 1 heart murmur isn't too much to worry about. An awful lot of older dogs have this & it's often not diagnosed because the dog's in good health!Don't overdo the excercise, just some nice long walks & as gem says, if he wants to stop & rest, let him.

There are quite a few commercial foods on the market that cater either for the 'oldie' or for an overweight dog, you just need to choose the one that seems right for him. You could also get him some joint care capsules from the pet shop jsut so that he doesn't start to stiffen up with the excercise.

I'm sure he'll give you a few years of love & loyalty which will more than repay you for giving him a home!

Good luck in the next week on giving Duke a forever home

Thanks for the replies! I heard from the SPCA yesterday afternoon, they've decided to stop waiting for his original family since it's been 8 days already. So it looks like he's going to be ours!!! The inspectors will be coming round to check our property, but I really don't foresee any problems there. So it's looking really good. Apparently he's doing well, they say he's a friendly, vocal boy, happy to talk to anyone, so I'm taking that as a good sign. The vet was going to take a look at him to make sure he's suitable for adoption, but I think that may have been done already. We're seriously excited!

Nice one. Don't forget the best thing to do for a staffy around 8-9 years old is to take plenty of pics and post them on this forum

Would just like to say that 8 years of age is not really old - my last boy lived to over 16!

Good Luck.

Lizzie

Ernestine wrote: We're seriously excited!

So am I, and it isn't even going to be my dog!

BlueStaffBlue wrote:Nice one. Don't forget the best thing to do for a staffy around 8-9 years old is to take plenty of pics and post them on this forum

Excellent advice! We want to see him!

Good luck with Duke!!

have to admit, i totally agree with all said, but also make sure he gets into a routine, molly went straight into jakes routine and settled in nicely, knowing when fed, walked, playtime etc, am sure you'll have loads of fun, and well done, plenty of pics please xxxs

Awww i love rescue storys :') .. makes me happy to see people love to rescue the older dogs aswell
I bet he will repay you in love and licks for giving him a new forever home! hope all goes well with duke! keep us posted and like said above remember to take plenty of piks haha

A nice comfy bed and plenty of laps are required plus loads of kisses & cuddles, i lost my old boy Nitro at age 11 years 4 months. He was healthy until he got his cushings.

They still enjoy walks at that age and some even like the occasional paddle in water (like a pool or ocean etc but not to vigourous).

I really hope u and your family get Duke, you sound like a gr8 forever family. Also welcome to the forum.

What a great rescue story well good luck and duke is a great name

Got him!!!!
Sorry I've only just replied, it's been a bit chaotic at work. Well he arrived the weekend before last, and settled in so quickly, it felt like he'd been with us for years. His weight is coming down nicely, probably due to the fact that he hardly ate anything for the 1st week, plus he had a cold. He's managed to shake that with the help of some antibiotic tablets (not fun trying to get him to take them, but he was very good, all thins considered!). He's started eating better and he's chirped up quite a bit over the past few days. I'm trying to post some pics, look out for them in the Gallery. Hopefully I'll get it right this afternoon!

And thanks for all your good wishes and advice, it really helped us not to panic so much while he was settling in.

Aww congrats on getting him we are all so happy to hear that. With giving meds try to put them in bits of meat if possible mine won't take their meds unless they are placed in meatballs.

Looking forward to seeing pics of Duke.

Pics on the Gallery forum!

sooz225, I think we've been incredibly fortunate in that he's rather well-mannered. He doesn't beg from the table, he's polite to visitors,(although he gets super-excited and insists on loads of attention from them, lots of tail-wagging and pats before he settles down) and is house-trained. In fact, last night he woke me at 2am to go outside! Little monkey, it was freezing! After that he hopped back into his bed and slept right through.