[pyrnet] old pyr health question

[Debra Slocum <slocum_da@earthlink.net>]

Hello

I am new to the list.  I have a 12 1/2 year old Pyr spayed girl. 
Over the past few years we have seen signs of aging, most notably more 
sleeping (less barking!!!), coming in earlier at night,  and generally 
less able to keep up like she used to.  She has minor arthritis (which 
she takes meds for) , so I would say she has everything one would expect 
from an elderly dog.  Our vet has said over the past 2-3 years that he 
cannot believe how well she is doing given her age.

She gets plenty of walks, which she loves, but is now starting to have 
breathing problems if we go more than 1/2 a mile.  She has a history of 
multiple allergies and I switched to making her food about a year ago.  
She has started wheezing though during walks, which I think is mostly 
due to high pollen counts, etc. as it does go away.  She will also sleep 
the afternoon away if we do go on a longer walk.  My heart breaks 
because she would love to go further, and looks longingly at the path, 
but it really takes a lot out of her to walk more.

Her appetite has not changed much.  During the summer she has always 
switched to eating every other day or so.  She does get a pig ear every 
morning and is always offered food every night, but she will only eat it 
about every other day.  (When it gets cooler she will eat every day.)  
My point is, she continues to eat what she wants.  She still does a 
great job of guarding the grill when it is on, and is aways rewarded for 
her efforts.  

My biggest concern is that she has lost 28 pounds since Oct.  She was 
always on the big end, about 135lbs and now weighs 107lbs as of last 
week at the vet.  She had lost 8lbs just in the past 2 months.

A week ago the vet did worm tests, blood tests, checked her lungs, 
heart, body for masses,  etc. and they cannot seem to find anything 
wrong.  All the tests came back with excellent results for a dog her 
age.  No x-rays were done because none of the other tests gave any 
indications that they needed to be done. 

Our vet suggested that she may simply have lost weight because she is 
old.  Also, I often suspected that she was overweight due to the 
allergies.  When I changed her food to homemade  her skin improved and 
in general she was doing better and I attributed the original weight 
loss to the better food.

My question is this - should I be concerned and take her back to the vet 
or am I being paranoid?  Does anyone else have experience with an older 
Pyr that has lost weight but is otherwise healthy? 

Any and all advice and/or comments will be greatly appreciated.  I just 
want to make sure she isn't suffering.

thanks
deb