Today is Tally’s 16th birthday. Happy Birthday, Tally!
Every day with her these days is a blessing and a new adventure. She has difficulty negotiating the three stairs from the house into the backyard so I carry her down the stairs. I just stabilize her a bit when she’s on her way back in. We need to coax her to eat. Recently, I’ve taken to tempting her by adding bacon grease or melted pork lard to her food which she likes very much. I’m sure her teeth hurt her but she’s frail enough there’s not much we can do about them.
Somewhat to our surprise we got the pressure sore, the equivalent of a bed sore, on her right hip under control. She’s a bit unkempt in this picture but she really doesn’t think very highly of grooming these days.
Tally is the oldest Samoyed we’ve ever had and, I think, the oldest Samoyed I’ve ever met. When people ask “how old do Samoyeds get?” the usual answer is 12 to 14 years. She’s outlived the actuarial tables.
She’s still eating, pooping, walking around, doing her stuff. She’s still happy. As long as that’s the case I’m willing to do what I can to keep her that way.
She’s outlived the actuarial tables.
Always an accomplishment.
I’ve heard of a 17 year old Samoyed but never met one. Given what I know it’s hard for me to believe.
I’ve heard of a 17 year old Samoyed but never met one.
I wish you and Tally luck with your efforts to meet one.
Happy Birthday from the gang in LA: Hunter, Myles, and Bojangles.
Damn, I’d love to just eat, poop and walk around, but Obama’s got me having to pay just to live.
ObamaAmerika has to be one of the few countries in which people are treated worse than dogs.
Will she lie on a donut to help prevent the decubital ulcers? You just fill it minimally with air so that it takes the pressure off without lifting up her hindquarters too much.
No. She won’t even lie on a bed. She has some trouble getting up from bare floor so she now preferentially seeks out the hardest non-bare surface she can find.
How much longer will you or I be doing as well?
Happy birthday Tally!
And Dave, you might want to look into a Kurunda bed (http://kuranda.com/). We had a 15 year old shepard/husky mix with a bad back end and the raised bed helped a lot.
My beautiful Sammy passed away 2 months before turning 16. I miss her dearly. My biggest wish is that my new girls, a Sammy and a lil rescue Pekingese-something mix live up to 17 years of age and more!