She's always been a lazy dog that loved sleeping and eating more than anything else in life, but she would always remain healthy. We watch her weight and take her to the vet's regularly and stuff. She's 14 years old now though, and her age started showing a few years ago. Her fur turned grey, she never wanted to play with her toys, and she refused to go on walks. Over more time, she lost almost all of her hearing and sight. Further on, she developed some bad arthritis in her legs, so she can't bend her knees anymore. When she walks, she has to waddle, with her stiff legs just moving from side to side. She's gotten thin because her body can't process food properly anymore. Every time Mrs. Dash goes to sleep somewhere, my mom is always hesitant to wake her up because she's afraid that the dog isn't going to wake up that time. Mrs. Dash can barely move around anywhere anymore. She can only walk short distances, and slowly. Sometimes she'll just stand in one spot for hours, with her legs looking stiff and uncomfortable, just staring at people pathetically, probably because she can't gather the effort to move.
My parents have taken her to the vet over and over and over again, dumping money into treatments that never help her feel better. The vets can't seem to figure out what's wrong with her (aside from aging) or how to deal with it.
It's just... sad. No one but me and my mom can hardly stand to even look at her anymore because she looks so decrepit. My mom lets Mrs. Dash live like that because she doesn't seem to be in any actual pain, but I always feel terrible that the dog has to live that way. She never looks happy except for the few minutes in the day when she's being fed. The rest of the day she sleeps or is just struggling to move around.
I'm not terribly upset about the whole thing, as Mrs. Dash was always more my mom's dog than mine, but I still feel bad for the dog. It's almost painful to watch her live like that every day... and there's nothing I can do but continue to watch her grow older.