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Brining a fur baby into your home is a deliberate choice to expand your family, and they bring a lot of joy, love, and compassion into your life. You are their lifelong companion, and they depend on you and love you unconditionally, which in my experience, is something that never changes throughout their life. If anything, the dependency becomes greater, particularly as they age, which requires a lot more compassion, patience, and understanding as their lifelong companion.
Nikko is by-far, my greatest fur love. We have been inseparable since I was sixteen and had adopted him from our local SPCA when he was three months old and has always been a constant for me. We have been on countless adventures together, and he has been with me in every new apartment, complicated relationship, and personal heartaches. He used to sleep on the bed, lay on my lap on the couch, and spent countless nights going for long walks at our local beach. We would hit up our local trails, or at times, go to the nearest lake where he could roam freely and occasionally dive head-first into the water, which he would immediately regret.
There are a lot of things that I wish I would have known or thought to consider when Nikko came into my life at the young age of sixteen, which is what I am going to highlight here. Watching Nikko age has been one of the most challenging things for me, especially over the past year. He is my main man, my sidekick, and watching that dynamic change, watching him struggle, has been heartbreaking in so many ways, especially knowing that someday soon, our time together will be over.
I would never trade our time together for anything, but going through what we are now, there are things that I wish I would have known to help better equip us for this experience.
Things I wish I would have known:
Create a savings account for vet bills
I would have to say that Nikko was very fortunate throughout his life, and aside from the occasional vet visit, never had any major health issues or large medical expenses. However, vet appointments have become quite frequent, and he now takes medication to help manage the pain that he experiences from his arthritis. The cost of Nikko's medication alone is about $200 every month and a half, and on top of that, unexpected visits to the veterinarian can unexpectedly cost upwards of $300.
Knowing that when you bring a fur child into your home that they are going to be with you for countless years, you can create a savings account and allow it to build over the years for the inevitable and costly vet bills that will one day come your way. In general, it is good practice to have a savings account in place should something unexpectedly happen, and they may require immediate surgery or care. If you open an account right away, simply adding $10 to $20 a month can effortlessly build over time to a substantial amount.
Get them used to the grooming experience
I have always bathed Nikko and given him a good scrub down because why pay someone when I can do it myself!? However, the weight of the water has now become too much for him to handle. The last time I bathed him, he struggled to stand up to get out of the bathtub and vowed that would be the last time I would wash him myself.
I do wish that I would have brought him to a groomer well before the age of 12 years old so that he would be well adjusted to the grooming experience. Seeing a groomer for the first time in his senior years was an incredibly stressful and terrifying experience for him, and the last thing that I would want to do is add more stress to his life. So make note that if you have a large fluffy dog (or a fluffy dog in general), they may benefit from being accustomed to being professionally groomed well before their senior years.
I do have to say that a groomer can provide the level of care, detail, attention and time needed to take care of a senior dog that I would have no knowledge or experience of, and I am grateful for that. While it was a stressful experience for Nikko, the groomer took close to three hours with him, giving proper care and attention to his needs, and took thoughtful consideration for his arthritic pain. Honestly, the level of detail and care that the groomer provided Nikko made me wish that I would have thought to bring him to the groomer years ago.
Going up the stairs is going to be challenging
Unfortunately, stairs are a hard thing to avoid in most living situations, especially if you are accustomed to apartment living. Some days it is not so bad, and Nikko is feeling extra fresh and can get up the stairs without a hitch. However, more often than not, going up the stairs can be a challenging undertaking for him, especially the days where his hips are weak. As such, there have been a small handful of times where Nikko has lost his footing going up the stairs and could not get his bearings to continue. Thankfully, in those moments, not only was I was supporting his bum, but my wife was home, and I was able to call for her support to help him get up the stairs.
They may lose control of their bowels and bladder
Just like humans, as they start to age, they may begin to lose control of their bladder and bowels, which is a hard pill to swallow and still is. Nikko is losing control of his bowels and now poops unexpectedly, most of which is also to his surprise. Sometimes he poops while he sleeps, or could be relaxing on the floor perfectly wide awake, and his legs will start flail about as he starts to poop, to his surprise. For Nikko, this has become almost a daily occurrence and takes a lot of patience and emotional control on our part, especially as the smell of fecal matter fills our tiny apartment. It takes a lot of empathy and understanding during these moments, knowing that there is not anything we can do to change the situation.
There will be a time when you need to start paying attention
When Nikko was a pup, we made a pact that he was going to live forever, and I sincerely wish that were the case. There is going to be a time where you will need to start paying attention to the quality of their life to ensure that, more often than not, they are happy and comfortable and are not suffering. You will want to pay attention to things such as their temperament, and if they are eating and drinking, if they are going to the bathroom regularly, and so forth. Typically, this is something that your vet will speak to you about if they believe that you need to start paying more attention to their quality of life, which is a strange thing to have to do. Essentially it is a rating system on various categories, and so long as the total score is above a specific number, you have nothing to worry about. However, when your score is consistently below that threshold, it may be an indication that they are only in more pain and suffering than anything and that you might have to consider the unfortunate reality of bringing them peace.
It is just going to be heartbreaking
Nothing is ever going to prepare you for what will inevitably happen. But until that time comes, there are going to be moments when your heart continuously breaks as you watch things become progressively more difficult for your baby. Unfortunately, there is not one thing that is going to help prepare you for that.
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It can be a quick and easy decision to expand your family with a four-legged-friend, and I say that coming from experience and not one that I would change. However, there truly is a lot to consider beyond their puppy years that can be easy to overlook, and I hope that you have found this to be insightful, especially if you are considering expanding your family.
The number of cherished memories that I have with Nikko is definitely worth the current-day struggles and would not change our time together, not one single bit.
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