How do you decide to euthanize a dog?

[Pea-n-Me]

Seeing him definitely makes me smile! He sounds like a very special boy. Thanks for sharing his photo and story with us!

Thank you, Terri. Your post made my cry. But it was a good cry.

 

[jjj444]

I worked in a Veterinary Hospital for many years and this is what we would tell clients: 3 things to look for about the quality of their life 1. Are they still eating/drinking? 2. Are they still wanting to play? 3. do they still get excited when you come home and exited to go for a walk?

Really when they don't want to any of these things anymore what kind of life are they having?

 

[LSchrow]

I can't believe I found this post here today. After a month of trying to get a miracle for our beloved Tinkerbelle I am waiting for my son to get home from College to take her to the vet. She has been sick for a lot longer than I think we know but she has now lost all her eye site and her ability to walk. The vet said she has a brain tumor and the only way we would know for sure is if we take her for a neurological work up at Penn Vet Hospital. Then we would have to put her down because I am not Donald Trump or even related to him. We have made her as comfortable as possible for the last 6 weeks but now it is just our own problem she is too sick to care I think now. She was such a great dog. Please pray for all of my family we are just so sad right now. I have always had dogs but I never had to do this. I guess I should be grateful for the last 12 years and how happy she has always made me feel. I swear the only kind of dog I am going to get again is a stuffed one. I know that isn't true but it is easier.

you loved & took care of her for all these years....the ultimate sacrifice you do for a furbaby is letting them go when the time comes.
they depend upon us to make the right decisions their entire lives ~ the final, hardest "right decision" is seeing that ending their physical pain is more important than the emotional pain we suffer without them.

 

[momto2girls]

I can't believe I found this post here today. After a month of trying to get a miracle for our beloved Tinkerbelle I am waiting for my son to get home from College to take her to the vet. She has been sick for a lot longer than I think we know but she has now lost all her eye site and her ability to walk. The vet said she has a brain tumor and the only way we would know for sure is if we take her for a neurological work up at Penn Vet Hospital. Then we would have to put her down because I am not Donald Trump or even related to him. We have made her as comfortable as possible for the last 6 weeks but now it is just our own problem she is too sick to care I think now. She was such a great dog. Please pray for all of my family we are just so sad right now. I have always had dogs but I never had to do this. I guess I should be grateful for the last 12 years and how happy she has always made me feel. I swear the only kind of dog I am going to get again is a stuffed one. I know that isn't true but it is easier.

I'm so sorry!!

My dog just turned 14 and I'm so sad that we'll be facing the loss of her sooner rather than later. We will all be devastated when the time comes. Like you, I don't think that I'll ever have another dog.

 

[pumba]

When our dalmatian died........a part of us died with her........we held her while our vet gave her the help she needed to die........broke our hearts.......we said never could we do this again......but two and a half years later we got another dalmatian.....Megara is the best doggie ever......we said the same thing about Jasmine......and we think of how much love both of these animals have given us....Megara is only 3. SO never say Never......I love to be cuddled and kissed and loved by our furbabies.......

 

[james'mommy]

We put our rottie down last year. He was almost 11 which was very old for his breed. I always had said that quality of life was more important than quanity of life but I didn't realize how hard it would be to actually do it. Elmer was my first baby, the reason my husband and I got together and what had made us a family in the beginning. We found out Elmer was sick with heart failure in January. By the end of Feburary it was obvious the meds weren't working and he was not enjoying his life. He wasn't eating, he wasn't playing, he wasn't even greeting us or even getting up when we came home from work. I lived in fear of finding him gone everyday. Whenever I came down in the morning or came home at night I wouldn't go into the kitchen (where he was stayed) until I heard him breathe or move in some way. I couldn't let him suffer because I was too weak to let him go. I hope there is an afterlife so that I can see him again. I know he isn't in pain anymore even though I still am. (I'm crying buckets as I write this)

What was also hard was dealing with our boxer afterwards. Elmer was Zuzu's whole world. She loved him more than she loves us. She grieved horribly. She was so mopey and depressed. We ended up getting a new puppy not long after Elmer passed. Harleigh is only part rottie. She is a rescue because we couldn't save ELmer so we saved another dog in his memory. Sometimes I swear she is part of Elmer reborn. Maybe its breed traits but she does a lot of things Elmer used to do. Eventually she helped to ease some of the pain. She really helped our boxer work thru her grief.

My husband and I both have a tattoo of Elmer's paw print on our leg. Mine also has the chinese symbol for love because in my heart that's what he stood for.

Sorry this post is soooo long but I guess I really needed to unload everything. I've been carrying this around for over a year. Thanks for listening.

 

[Caleb's Mom]

When our Cocker Spaniel bit our 18 month old in the face. We'd loved him 7 years. It was both the hardest and the easiest decision we'd ever had to make all at the same time. (BTW - son is fine but still shy of dogs.)

 

[Disneydenise]

Thank you for your kind thoughts. I know we did the right thing. I also know that I will have a dog agin. I really just love them so much. It was time for her to go and run and chase rabbits and bark again. I will miss for a long time but it really is better this way for her. We still have another little dog and she is going to be sad I think too but she has known that she had to be gentle with Tink for the last few weeks and then as it got worse, she was just staring at her. I am really glad that we have her because she is a funny dog and she loves us too. I just made her go for a walk with me and she didn't seem to mind that it was raining. Usually you have to beg her to go for a walk. Tink would have walked for NJ to CA if you would keep going. Thanks agin for your kind thoughts.
Denise

 

[Blondie]

When the animal's quality of life is gone, that's when it's time. It's not an easy decision to make. Very often we keep our pets around for ourselves, not for them.

 

[PrincessTiff]

I can't read this entire thread as this topic puts me in tears every time. Pea-N-Me, for what it's worth, this picture put a smile on my face.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

for what it's worth, this picture put a smile on my face.

Thank you.

 

[Snowysmom]

It is a difficult decision to put a pet to sleep. My westie had osteosarcoma in one of her vertebrae. We had her for 5 more months after she was diagnosed. She wasn't in any pain, loved to eat, was interested in us and anyone who cme to visit. A friend at work told me that I would know when it was time. And I did. One day she was breathing heavily (the cancer had gone to her lungs) and no longer moving around or interested. We knew we had to help her. I miss her terribly and it has been almost a year but it was the right decision. I get upset when people euthanize their pets for the wrong reasons such as we didn't want them to mess up the house anymore, or the kids wouldn't take care of her. At that point, give up the pet to a shelter or find a good home. Prayers and pixie dust to all who are or will have to make the decision soon.

 

[msteddom]

I had to call my dog Jake into the room as I read this thread. He is only four, but I know sooner or later we are probably going to have to face this decision. Hearing all of your stories is very reassuring. Thank you for sharing them!

 

[msteddom]

I think this was a wonderful thing you were able to do for your dog! You can just see the joy on his face! He's thinking, "I'm going for a walk, I'm going for a walk, I'm going for a walk!" I think you were right in not taking his joy away too soon.


Melissa

 

[MrsPete]

We had our cat put to sleep years ago. It was a horrible choice to have to make, but it was the right decision at the time.

He was 13 -- not tremendously old for a well-cared for indoor cat, but he was definitely not the cat he'd been in his youth. He was declawed on all four feet, and he had some arthritus; it was obvious that sometimes -- not all the time, just sometimes -- he hurt a little when he walked. He could no longer jump up on to the sofa or the bed; instead, he'd come up and cry to be picked up. He was much slower than he had been, and he just generally didn't seem to enjoy life as much.

The biggest problem was that he was beginning to lose control of his bowels. He pooped on the carpet about every other day; to make matter worse, our carpet was cat-poop brown, so I'll leave you to guess how we most often found the evidence. He wasn't able to keep himself clean as he had in the past (sometimes I'd smell him coming up behind me), and he required frequent human-assisted baths, which were not a pleasure to him.

He probably could've lived another year, but his aging issues were compounded by the fact that we had two preschool children at the same time -- in a small house. When the first was born, he was able to deal with her, though he never really enjoyed her company -- she was a little rough on him. By the time the second came along, he just gave it up and spent most of the daylight hours in relative safety under the bed. Though we were working on teaching them to be kind to animals, they were toddlers, and they were often very rough in showing their love.

The final straw came one day when I awoke at 5:00 AM to hear my oldest crying, "Mommy, Kitty's in bed with me, and he's pooped all over us both!" It was true.

I just couldn't manage an aging cat who needed protection and the two preschoolers. Even though I knew he couldn't help himself, I couldn't allow him to poop on my children. So I decided to put him to sleep rather than see him wither away to even less than he was.

I loved that cat dearly, and it was a difficult decision. I cried. But it was the right decision. I had to choose the children's welfare over his, and he was released from his physical suffering, which -- being caused by aging -- wasn't going to get better.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I think this was a wonderful thing you were able to do for your dog! You can just see the joy on his face! He's thinking, "I'm going for a walk, I'm going for a walk, I'm going for a walk!" I think you were right in not taking his joy away too soon.

You're right! From the first moment he got his wheels on he was on a mission - "Look out people, I'm coming through!" We walked him every day, and he could go out in the yard with them on and putz around. As luck would have it, we had a blizzard and a couple of times the wheels went up the side of a snowbank and he toppled over, but it was almost as if he was laughing at himself, saying "quick, get me up, will ya - I've got places to go, things to do - this is slowing me down!" He was always a good sport. My vet hung this picture up in his office, he was happy to see him walking again, too.

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

I'm sorry about your dogs.

Thank you!