One of our two deerhounds died recently. The other, younger one is in mourning. He does not eat, or very little, and then only if the food presented to him is his favourite. German bratwurst is one of his favourites, but we cannot go on feeding him just on snacks and/or junk food.
He has lost quite a lot of weight. Will he get over this loss or will he just fade away? What should we do to help him?
Of course we're in mourning too but we can rationalise our bitch's death, which helps, if only a little.

Bonnie Im so sorry for your loss, you must all be devastated.Your dog will get over it in time, but he is pining for his lost friend too. It is natural for this to happen but dont worry he will pick up. Gx

Its always devastating to lose a hound or any loved pet. The symptoms you describe with the younger hound are natural Ive experienced time and time again. Even owning 6 hounds the loss of one has a real affect on the pack status and mind set.
With 2 in your pack and yourself the same will occur and yes it does take time.
My first reaction would be to change your regular walks and go somewhere different that evokes new smells etc to enhance interest and longer walks or car journeys.
Secondly are there any doggy neighbours where you could combine walks and your hound has new accquaintances.
Thirdly introduce a new member of the family be it a cat or another animal to focus the attention.
If you have a space so to speak Im sure there may be Deerhounds in need of a loving home via club rescue.
As for the food all of mine have never ate well after a death but if I throw food on the floor and the cat shows interest guarranteed the hounds will gain an appetite.
Hope this is some help.

Hi firstly we are sorry for your loss but as we went through the same thing short ago our oldest hound stopped eating for a while but he perked up and is eating normally now

Bonnie wrote:



I was just wondering if your hound is improving and beginning to eat again?

he's started eating again, albeit not with much appetite.
The breeder where they both came from, has offered us an older bitch, which is an awfully kind gesture. We're considering taking her in, although she can never replace her predecessor.
Thanks everybody for your kind words and advice. It helps sharing your grief.

That is a kind offer and one definitely worth considering. I am pleased he is eating again.

Thats a lovely gesture and I,d take the older bitch for two reasons one to cheer up your youngster and two to shower the new one with affection too in her latter years.

so very srry to hear of your loss I hope you do take in the older bitch as she will help you all. Take care

So sorry to hear of your loss. Not yet had this experience ourselves, know it will be heart wrenching for all of us.

As we have had dogs all our lives, we've been through this several times, but I can honestly say that we never get used to it. It hurts each time it happens.
It helps to think that the greater the (sense of) loss, the greater the joy and happiness she has given us and we have shared with her. In time that's the only thought which helps coming to terms with it.

This has certainly helped, perhaps even more so for us!

Having lost a few dogs recently (unfortunate result of having so many oldies) I'm interested in the effects on the 'pack'.

I lost Arden at the end of December. She was 10+ and had congestive heart failure for over 10 months. She was the pack alpha bitch. The house was very quiet for about a week, but generally continued as normal. It took maybe 10 days for Gwynedd (my 4 year old) to assume the mantle of alpha. Interestingly it was not Arden's 6 year old daughter Charley who stepped up -- with Gwynnie stepping up it showed the true pack status of the breeding female as alpha (Gwynnie is mum of the "I" litter. Charley's never been bred).

In April I lost my darling Findlay. The impact on the pack was much larger -- Fin was 13.5 after all. While Fin had not been the 'administrative' head of the pack for a while (that's 8-year-old Andrew) he was top dog without a doubt and his word was law (definitely ruled with a velvet glove). We are all still recovering from losing him. No-one has really stepped in to replace him, not even Andrew who has been aching for the job for years. The pack isn't rudderless and is functioning well, but there's a void. I'm interested to see how long this persists.

And now we are preparing to lose dear Biff. He's nearly 11 and has some sort of aggressive fungal or bacterial infection in his rear leg (two sites, either side of his stifle). Fortunately it is not Osteosarcoma (a real problem in his particular pedigree) We are not pursuing any kind of aggressive treatment, just good pain management (Tramadol) and anti-inflamatory (Rimadyl) and will let him go when the time is right (at which point we will biopsy for diagnosis). Biff will be the 4th dog gone from the pack in 12 months.

Anyone have observations?

And Bonnie, I'm so sorry for your loss.

Lyn

I once lost 4 hounds in one day!! Sounds dramatic but I had 4 oldies and all succumbed on the same day for me it was utter devastation and for the pack they behaved as follows;

Like yours a younger bitch took the Alpha bitch role on which surprised me!
However I had no "older" dog to take Alpha Dog role all I had was a 18mth old dog who had looked up to the Alpha Dog never challenged him and was subservient to him.

The whole pack was like yours in a form of disarray, however I noticed the new Alpha bitch doing more than her fair share the young dog just would not take the role on however it took a few weeks possibly mourninig period when the young dog seemed to suddenly get the idea and took on the role.
He has never been a real assertive Alpha dog , he,d rather talk things through than argue!!! But he is a leader and the others follow him, but he is so laid back, he just seems to command respect without having to do anything!!
I,m sure yours will settle and its interesting watching the politics of the pack.

As far as I know the best painkiller at the moment is Previcox, it's anti-inflamatory, analgesic and it reduces any swelling.

It's five weeks now, and still he's not eating the way he did.
Tomorrow we're going to have a look at the breeder's.

Does that mean you may take up the offer of the older bitch?

I am so sorry for your loss. I have just gone through this in April and have had a very different pack experience to other times. In the past the dogs have gone via a trip to the vet and when Atticus died in April it was unexpected and he was just dead - slightly warm in the yard when I woke. The other two were extremely calm and showed none of the panicked searching behaviour I have experienced when dogs are just 'gone'. I guess they know whatever it is dogs know.

Since then they have been behaving well and sort of normally but slightly clingy no
one appears to take the lead. I brought in a deerieX lurcher two weeks ago and it is as if a light went on and we are all back to normal. The dynamic has picked up no end they all seem greatly relieved. I had planned to wait on another rescue deerhound - so glad now that I didn't.

meet D'arcy

I love that name!and D'arcy has a wonderfully naughty face.Welcome!

Yes, she's here, she's wonderful, although utterly different from her predecessor, but that's just as well. We don't think of her as a replacement, but as a new companion. And it's working! I've just taken both of them for a short walk and already they're walking together as if they've been doing so for years. She's still uncertain, which is natural, but we're confident that in a few days she will have settled in.