Hi, I would love to hear if anyone has got any advice for me on how to help my beloved furfriend,
this is what happened: up until a week ago I owned or should I say I was owned by 2 basset hounds (father and son),
Sadsam 11 and Harvey 9,
Last monday reluctantly we had to take sam to the vets a few age related probems mainly his walking, he was really slow and his back legs were wobbly, and unfortunately the vet advised us that it would be kinder for him to put him to sleep, the other option was to put him on an aggressive course of steroids but that the outcome would be the same, heartbroken we agreed with the vet, he had had a brilliant life, everything a dog could ever want, no exspence spared, and I know he was very happy, we decided to leave him at the vets as he was a large heavy basset and have his ashes returned once he had been cremated, the next few days were hard, especially when I was walking Harvey and bumped into other dogwalkers and naturally they asked where the other one was,
I was surprised with Harveys behaviour as he has never been alone from birth, I owned both his mum and dad and when his mum (Honey) passed after a bad reaction to a sting we were advised to bring her home and let sam & Harvey see her so that they would understand what had happened to her, they both sniffed her, sam snuggled up to her and harvey just carried on with the (enough about her, what about me attitude), Honey was then taken to be cremated and her ashes returned, for about a week after both Sam & Harvey were unusually quiet and off their food
but as their was a dog nearby in season we were'nt sure if they were grieving or in love,
life soon got back to normal and until last week they plodded on together, although smaller & younger Harvey was in charge, until a couple of days ago Harvey didn't seem bothered that he was the only one, but suddenly at night within an hour of going to bed he has started barking constantly, he seems to be frantic his heart racing and as soon as I lay down with him he falls fast asleep, ( I would let him sleep with us in our room but 3 years ago he suffered a slipdisc in his back from going up and down stairs and jumping off the sofa which left him suddenly paralysed from the waist down, we feared the worse but with physio and loads of tlc he slowly progressed to walking again unaided and within a year he was 99% better, he is too heavy to lift up & down, so the only way to have a good nights sleep is for me to sleep downstairs with him on the floor, which is not really practical, I've read where some dogs that have lived with another all their lives passed away not long after their friends passing, I can't imagine losing Harvey so soon after losing sam but don't know what to do, I don't think it would be fair on Harvey adopting another dog, as I think they would have to go through the stage of deciding which
one is the dominant one, even though harveys not a fighter he likes to be the one in charge, and this would be too much for him at his age plus the risk of damaging his back again,
We have tried to ignore him and not give in to him but the barking gets more frantic until its a full howl, he is fine through the day it is just at night, I have ordered a new bed for him one of those petcave types as he likes to be covered & a lovely new faux fur blanket hoping this will do the trick, if anyone else has had this problem and has got any advice please let me know, also will it get easier or do you think or should I look into investing in one of those foldaway beds that I will have to sleep on for the rest of harveys life,
all advice wellcome