[Gizzybear]

Hi all,
This is my first post on here and I wish it was under better circumstances. I have a Pekinese/poodle mix who is quite up there in age. We can't quite remember how old she is but she is definitely past the age of 13. I believe she's about 15.

This last year or so she's gotten very tired and hardly plays anymore. She used to be super energetic with our cat but he succumbed to a bad infection last August and she hasn't been the same since then.
She pees all over the floor. There's times when she wakes up and asks for the door and we let her out and she pees on our wooden porch. She also wanders around the house as if she were lost.
Most of the time she's hiding behind the couch sleeping and will only come out to eat a little and drink.

She was my dad's dog but he passed away 8 years ago and my mom won't talk about possibly putting her down. She gets super defensive and tells me there's nothing wrong with her and that she still plays like a puppy. I think she's in denial about how bad Gizmo really is. The only time she barks is when our pitbull is allowed into the living room.

Her eyes are also glossed over but she can still see. It looks like she's having a hard time hearing as it takes a few tries to get her to respond. Today I was giving her a nice tub since her hips were hurting and I noticed this bump on her skin. It's white and is three little bumps real close to each other. I thought it was a pimple at first so I gave it a gentle squeeze but it's so hard. I think it may be cancer.
And lastly my mom won't let her go to the groomer in fear that they're going to say something about her hips and stuff. So she has longish hair that my mom cuts every few months. Her nails are also extremely long and have started to curl. She(the dog) won't let me cut them so I've been using the dog nail clippers to shave at the nails in a way so they break off on their own. None of them are going through her paws.

Sorry this is so long.

What can I do to get my mom to think about putting her down? She just looks so sad and won't play...

 

[Rain]

Your best bet is probably going to be to try and get your mom to take her to the vet for a check-up and go along with her. When there ask the vet what he thinks Gizmo's quality of life really is, if there is any medicine that may help her feel better, and what to look for that may help determine when it will be time to put her down.

She may have the beginning stages of canine cognative dysfunction, there is medicine that can help with it, and things you can do to better manage the symptoms. Loss of housetraining, wandering like she's lost (especially if she's doing so mainly at night), and hiding can be signs of it.

She may be in pain if she has severe arthritis, hiding, not wanting to move, inability to get comfortable are some signs of that, There's medicine that can make her more comfortable and give her a better quality of life.

If she's peeing indoors because she's incontinent, then you can either manage it with doggy diapers or talk to the vet about medicine that can help.

Those lumps may be nothing, my elderly dog had more then one that was like you describe and they never bothered him, they do have a name but I cannot recall what it is. Ask your vet about them.

The vet should be able to restrain Gizmo and cut his nails. Once they are cut you'll just have to maintain them, and if you can clip the tip off one. or two, every couple of days while someone feeds a tasty treat then they should stay relatively short.

Honestly I think that most of what you mention is manageable and that if you get him to the vet most will be able to be handled with medicine and the rest with management.