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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
  
Location: 31 lengths farms | Needing some support here. My mom's old dog is 19, she has been doing remarkably well up until 2 weeks ago, she quit eating and then when we could get her to eat she would end up throwing up violently. She has some loss of kidney function due to her age, but every time we've taken her to the vet in the past she has always done an amazing turn around. Not this time. Took her in, she had no temperature, her heart sounded good. They gave her meds to help calm her stomach, help her stomach empty easier so her kidneys wouldn't have to work so hard and something else for diarehea. Got her home and thought she was doing better as she was comfortable enough that she finally laid down and got some rest. When she got up, she drank some water and about 10 minutes later threw that up, seems totally lost in the house now. She is blind and has been for about a year but she can't seem to negotiate what used to be easy for her suddenly, also think her hearing has gone recently too. We are all due to be out of town this weekend and it kills me to think of her out on the porch by herself not feeling good and needing help. I really do know this is what needs to be done, guess I'm just trying to hang on a little longer to a part of my mom. |
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  Fact Checker
Posts: 16575
Location: Displaced Iowegian | Hugs!!!! I really have no advice because I am in the same position. Our dog is 16 and has been battling heart failure for almost a year. This past couple of weeks have been h*ll and mirrors your experience......he will eat very little. My husband has even built his casket and has dug the hole under "his" trees........but will NOT consent to have the vet help him along. On a better note, he doesn't seem to be in any pain and still loves to have his ears rubbed. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| this breaks my heart. hugs and prayers to you. It is a personal decision, but I will say that after my husband had his 12 yr old chocolate lab put down this Christmas due to Congestive Heart Failure...he immediately knew it had been the right thing to do. The emotions that tear at us immediately up to that point are devestating beyond words, but there was clarity on the other side and we knew it was OK.
Big big hugs. This is a decision/time in a pets life I wouldn't wish on my very worst enemy. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Hugs, it is the right thing but it does not make it any easier. I went through that 2 years ago with my old guy. He got a little senile and would pee in the house right in front of me. He became an outside dog, he would not stay in a crate, would pee and poop in it and would howl and scatch non stop- he would never quit. Same thing if I tried to confine him in a bathroom or utility room. Fortunately I live down south and our winters are not too cold, he had a heating lamp and a little "nest" I made him to keep him warm. His last fall though he started to lose a lot weight and got really confused and developed raw itchy eyelids- vet didn't have a clue what that was about. I knew winter would be too hard on him. It was tough but we put him down, he was 15.
Edited by rodeomom3 2014-05-23 4:51 PM
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Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | I know, I go to bed each night praying that God will see fit to just let her go to sleep peacefully and not wake up. This dog is connected to everything good in my life and all I want is a peaceful end for her with someone that loves her holding her. She was always such a blessing for my mom when she was diagnosed with dementia, a constant loving companion. A couple years ago my dad was in one of his moods, put a log on the fire and took off for town before I got home from work to watch my mom, I got home to find our neighbor man there, all the windows open in the house and him getting the fire in the woodstove tamped down. Dad had thrown a log on, didn't vent the stove properly, took off, the house filled with smoke and my mom with dementia and 82 years old walked up out driveway, down the road about a 1/4 mile to get help. In the confusion Bandit came up missing, we searched for 4 hours and couldn't find her. I thought maybe she had followed mom up the driveway and down the road, got lost and hoped someone picked her up on the road, planned on putting signs up the next day. Went to bed that night trying to still think of all the places we hadn't maybe looked for her, when my fiancé popped out of bed and headed out the door. About 2 minutes later I hear BAndit nails running across the hardwood floor and hear my mom say "David!!! Where'd you find my dog!!!!" DAve said he knew my mom wouldn't leave the house full of smoke and not take Bandit with her, he just kept thinking "what did she do with her???" He had thought maybe she put her in the horse trailer as it is right at the end of our driveway, he checked there, no dog. Then he got to thinking the other camp trailer, checked there, no dog. He realized the only vehicle in the yard at the time everything happened was his little BMW , walked over and sure enough, there was Bandit sitting in the seat waiting for us to find her, LOL!!! Mom had taken out of the smoke filled house, just like DAve figured and then realized she couldn't carry her up the drive way and put her in a safe place but then with her dementia she couldn't remember where that was.
After mom had the stroke in December and had to go to a facility it took Bandit about 3 months to quit going to mom's chair and asking to be picked up. I'd sit there and put her on my lap sometimes but for BAndit it just wasn't the same thing. |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | I wish I could personally give you a hug. I had to have my Chubby put to sleep November 10 last year. I won't tell you what I spent trying to keep him alive. But he went to sleep in my arms knowing how much I loved him. There comes a time when there is just no more and maybe you are there. It hurts so bad and I am sorry you are having to face this. You are in my prayers. |
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 The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | So sorry that you are now in this situation. It is very sad that our beautiful and special creatures do not have as long a lives as we wish they could live -- and that we are faced with such a hard decision. I always ask myself am I hanging on for myself because I do not want to feel the pain of loss? Is saying good bye the best last gift / good thing I can do for my beloved special friend -- to give him / her peace and take away the misery? And I try to collect all the wonderful times and memories we have shared and remember those and take time to be grateful to have known my friend and had our time even if it was not as long as I wanted it to be. This past year I had to let my beloved show gelding go after he developed a heart issue very suddenly. One day he seemed fine, then he was not. There was no hope of him ever being "right" again. He was having heart attacks often which were very painful for him to endure. The decision to put him down hurt a lot, but it was the right thing to do. I could not imagine how scared he was and how much he hurt when he had an attack -- and he looked to me to make it right. Hugs to you as you walk this path with your special friend. You will know when it is time. |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | Been there and even though it was the hardest thing to do it was the kindest thing to do. We always know when it's time but it sure doesn't make it easier and always pray when it comes close that the Good Lord will take them and make it easier on us.  |
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Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | Thank you all, I know I will see it thru. I cannot stomach the idea that she would leave us without being held.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/tuckercan/Cocoa-Rosie003.jpg
She started going down the creek bed on rides with us when she was about 10 weeks old, loved to swim in the beaver dams and only had to be picked up and brought the rest of the way home one time in all the years, she was old and it was hot. Got stomped by a mad momma deer, went blind from a poorly placed dog dip at a dip clinic, thankfully regained her sight in about a week, poisoned by Quest plus and had seizures until my fiancé figured out a formula to save her with activated charcoal and amino acids. She might be part cat :-) |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 614
Location: Usually on my horse | Zipping up my flame suit. You are keeping her alive for you....her quality of life is gone. It is time to do the right thing and you know what that is. Are you really going to leave her on the porch by herself all weekend. Sorry but that does not sound very compassionate to me. Sounds like she deserves better than that. I just went through this with my 15 yo lab. Hardest thing I have ever had to do but it was the right thing to do. She left this world in the arms of someone who loved her....not left out on the porch by herself. I am shocked that you would even consider leaving her like that. |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | Sounds like it's time.....you'll get to hold her before she goes.....(hugs......I never got to say goodbye to mine.....) |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 331
Location: Loma Linda, CA | run n rate - 2014-05-23 3:29 PM
Needing some support here. My mom's old dog is 19, she has been doing remarkably well up until 2 weeks ago, she quit eating and then when we could get her to eat she would end up throwing up violently. She has some loss of kidney function due to her age, but every time we've taken her to the vet in the past she has always done an amazing turn around. Not this time. Took her in, she had no temperature, her heart sounded good. They gave her meds to help calm her stomach, help her stomach empty easier so her kidneys wouldn't have to work so hard and something else for diarehea. Got her home and thought she was doing better as she was comfortable enough that she finally laid down and got some rest. When she got up, she drank some water and about 10 minutes later threw that up, seems totally lost in the house now. She is blind and has been for about a year but she can't seem to negotiate what used to be easy for her suddenly, also think her hearing has gone recently too. We are all due to be out of town this weekend and it kills me to think of her out on the porch by herself not feeling good and needing help. I really do know this is what needs to be done, guess I'm just trying to hang on a little longer to a part of my mom.
19 is a huge milestone for a dog considering most of their lifespans is 12-14.
What I tell our clients is it isn't quantity of life, but quality. When your pet can no longer walk/eat/drink/defecate/urinate etc then it is time.
If your pet seems tired (not in a literal sleep all day sense), but has had enough of what life has to offer it is time.
When a pet is not sustaining themselves (vomiting anything they eat or drink), they are in pain (cancer, renal failure etc)... it is time.
I think it is more cruel to keep an animal going when it is obvious it is their time. They will tell you when, you just have to listen. It is an extremely difficult decision, but ultimately you can see when they are telling you to let them go!
I have had animals literally look up at their owner or give them one last kiss as if to say thank you for doing this last favor for me. I don't cry or get emotional during euthanasias very often, but I will break down when I see that because it is at that time I know what type of relationship the pet had to his or her family. Heck, I'm tearing up writing this post lol.
I'm not sure if you've ever had to make that decision, but I promise you it is painless. Some vets will even do a sedative prior to injecting euthanasia (request it if your vet normally doesn't. They can use telazol or propofal).
I am so sorry that this decision is being faced. Good luck.
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Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | Yes, I knew it was the right thing to do on Friday, she no longer had that little spark in her eye, poor sweet girl was tired and I knew if I didn't make the call that she wouldn't last the weekend anyway and with no vet help available at that point. I held her while the vet administered the dose, she just went peacefully and we made a little time capsule of sorts for her. Put her in a box with her bed and her blanket that she always slept on with several toys of hers and pictures of her and my mom together. My fiancé took the backhoe and dug a place for her next to my old bay mare who she was buddies with, put her soccer ball in with her also. Such a hard thing to do but I knew when I saw her on Friday afternoon when I went home to check on her.
A little time line of her life...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=602942009800997&set=a.530150... |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 805
Location: Montana | I am going through the same thing, my dog was diagnosed in kidney failure due to an infection we didn't catch right away. We had decided we were going to put him down last Friday, but he is bouncing around acting like a puppy, he has always had a problem going into summer with dropping a few pounds but this time he lost almost ten lbs. when on antibiotics couldn't even keep rice down. I don't want him to suffer but he is acting like he is fine. |
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Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | Bandit was diagnosed with kidney failure 2 years ago..put her on the Prescription Renal dog food and she did really well on it. She wasn't a big fan of it but we mixed some goodies in it, like ground lamb and she would eat it fine then.
Hope you have some success treating his kidneys! We just tried to watch the protein. |
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