Senior dog with Arthritis and liver tumor

My senior dog started being fussy with his food or where he was eating it to hardly eating at all. We went to see the vet who suggested bloodworks and dental treatment. Appointment was made but dog refuses to eat and it was a struggle to get anything in him at all so got an emergency appointment. Bloods cane up with issues with the liver, ultrasound confirmed “tumors” all over the liver. To determine what type of tumor requires biopsy which the vets (3 different ones) do not deem necessary as regardless of what type of tumor we are working with, surgery or chemo is not advised due to him being 14 yrs old. He was given steroids injections and anti nausea injections on 2 separate occasions and is on 2 x 5 mg prednidale, 3 x 100 mg gabapentine and since 2 days also lactulose , 2 x 5 mg to see if he will eat and feel better. He drinks quite a lot, but hardly eats anything. He still reacts to some people walking past or me getting up but not like he used to and is not interested in playing or going for a walk (we do walk a bit so he can do his business). His chest seems quite expanded and his belly feels hard.  Through the night and just now he had a very loose, very dark (nearly black) bowel movement. I wonder if this is upper intestine blood or if it could be to do with medication. I cannot comprehend what is happening or what i should be expecting as other than all that he seems relatively “ok” to me but my fear is i am in denial and don’t want to let him go but he is suffering in the mean time. The vets say he is not showing classic signs of pain but i have no idea what to look out for. Can anyone give me any advice or point of view? Thank you for any advice offered

Hello - I am so sorry that you are facing such illness with your dog.  The thing that you need to understand from your vet is, What are the differentials / possible diagnoses for the pattern they are seeing?  It may be that, given the potential differentials list in this case, they wouldn't do anything differently even if they did the tests to name the specific disease.  Eg if it was cancer, they already know that they wouldn't reccommend chemotherapy, but give supportive treatment.  Are there any possibilities that may harbour a positive outlook if they found them?  It sounds as though your dogs' condotion may be serious; black bowel movements imply bleeding into the gut, high enough up that the blood is digested before being made into poo.  This can be associated with certain steroids, but can also be a sign of a clotting disorder (liver related - livers help clotting), or a tumour, or something else.  It sounds possible that doing tests to name the condition at this stage could put your dog through stress or discomfort without changing or improving his life expectancy or his physical condition. However, these are questions for your vet; I do not know his case.   MORE TO FOLLOW

Sometimes, balancing liver disease and pain releif can be very tough because what helps one, can worsen the other.   Does your vet feel that there are any choices left?  Do they feel that a referral eg to a liver specialist would be helpful?  What would be the costs vs benefits of further treatments?

These can be difficult questions to ask and there is very rarely a 'right' answer.  I would never be ashamed of asking your vet,'What would you do if this were your dog?'   I find that it can be a very telling question.  There may be some useful internet resources;  you can read a little around liver disease in general in the blog.  However, in case euthanasia is on the cards, you may find The Ralph Site, about greiving for pets, exttemely helpful.  I hope that something here is useful for you.