Doing the best for my old dog

[NonZeroSum]

I have a 16 year old collie /spaniel mutt who's deteriorated a lot in the last year. His eyesight and hearing is really poor at this point and he's lost all his muscle tone and gets really stiff so needing to get up and walk around often, then struggling to settle but going into deep sleeps pretty fast after. He's still very jumpy and playful around the time when his metabolisms going at food times so I just keep saying as long as he's happy, but need to have him get checked at the vets more often because dogs can hide pain really well even if they're still enjoying getting affection.

I've made comfy dog beds in corners of rooms all over the house I can encourage him onto, and take him out on 2 half hour walks a day but really short just strolls along the river going at his pace, stopping often. I'm giving him tablets in with his meal for his joints and have had to pull up the carpet to the slate floor below because can't hold his wee's very long anymore.

I've really narrowed down my social life and work opportunities looking after him because he's our family dog but ever since college I used to take him off to land co-ops and squats I was living at because it was a better life than being stuck in 10 hours a day waiting for my mum to come home from work, and no long walks or attention. So he really just follows me around the house at this point, and looks to me to know he's safe.

I've become a proper village busy body helping out all the neighbours with their allotments, minding chickens and taking the neighbours welsh sheepdog on big mountain biking expedition's to stay fit and also expecting the dogs death to really hurt so want to be able to direct that into cycle touring again, but life's kind of on hold at the moment which isn't great, and living in a village far away from the cities I used to nomad between where my mates are.

Just thought I'd share that, anyone dealt with similar experiences?

[Jebus]

Just thought I'd share that, anyone dealt with similar experiences?

Similar but "worse". I have a 14 year old with a bad case of incontience. The vet put her on medication but this made her very sick and she still hasn't fully recovered. Another of our dogs has a curved spine from being hit by a car and needs help doing pretty much everything

The dogs have completely taken over my life. I'm not complaining because they give me lots of joy except for some recent difficulties. We had eight dogs (all rescued from really shitty situations) until December we had to say goodbye to one for the first time due to declining health. Later the same month, another had a cluster of seizures which left his lower body completely paralysed. It was so bad that he needed help turning over in bed. We got him a wheelchair and kept hope for three months but then he got too sick and miserable so we had to say goodbye to him as well.

Out of the remaining six, two have fallen ill with the same symptoms as the first one, i.e. daily vomiting and loss of appetite. I don't think it's a coincidence that half of our dogs have become sick with similar symptoms within a period of six months, but it is frustrating as we haven't been able to pinpoint the cause of the illness.

The vets say that I need to feed them meat which I refuse to do. I really don't think the plant based diet is a problem as they thrived on this for many years.

I hope your 16 year old has at least a few more happy years in him.

[NonZeroSum]

Out of the remaining six, two have fallen ill with the same symptoms as the first one, i.e. daily vomiting and loss of appetite.

Wow Jebus that does sound worse and really tough. Have you tried heating up the vegan kibble in a pan with a drop of water? Sometimes the aroma helps encourage appetite. Boiled chicken breast is recommended for sick dogs too, I know you said about freegan meat from butchers in another thread, if you haven't already tried frozen meat from supermarkets bins, we used to find tons of whole chicken carcasses thrown out on Sundays. Pet stores too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N37EiNAapo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRlRjGKDAfg