When to put a dog down

[DawnM]

I understand being attached to your dog, I really do, but I have also come to believe that if the dog is suffering (and it isn't easily treatable), it is better to let him/her go.

I have been thinking about this recently as a friend has told me about her dog who is suffering. He is in obvious pain (wimpering a lot), not eating or drinking, etc.....but I can tell she doesn't want to put him down. Now, I am not saying she should necessarily as I don't know all of the conversation that went on with the Vet, but it got me thinking more.

How about you? How do you know when to put a dog down?

Dawn

 

[Mermaid02]

I understand being attached to your dog, I really do, but I have also come to believe that if the dog is suffering (and it isn't easily treatable), it is better to let him/her go.

I have been thinking about this recently as a friend has told me about her dog who is suffering. He is in obvious pain (wimpering a lot), not eating or drinking, etc.....but I can tell she doesn't want to put him down. Now, I am not saying she should necessarily as I don't know all of the conversation that went on with the Vet, but it got me thinking more.

How about you? How do you know when to put a dog down?

Dawn

I don't know- our dog is almost 13 and I can't imagine not having her with us.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

Well, in the case of my mom's dog, she starting having seizures suddenly one evening and we took her to the emergency vet who couldn't get them stopped and we were told she had a brain tumor. Since they were'nt able to get the seizures stopped and she was obviously suffereing, we had them put her to sleep.

I have also had to have 2 rabbits put to sleep, and it was when they were no longer responding to treatment and very obviously suffering, it didn't seem right to keep them alive for me.

It is one of the hardest things to have to do as a pet owner, but when they are suffering with no chance of getting better, it is time to let them go.

Suzanne

 

[DawnM]

We had to put our dog down. He was 11 years old. It WAS hard, but we had had his tumor removed from his leg once and the Vet told us then that it was imbedded in his bone and would grow back and at that time we should watch for him to have pain and would need to put him down.

It didn't grow back for almost a year, so we had that extra time with him, but it got so bad he couldn't bend his leg and would whimper and cry when he had to lie down. We finally did put him down and YES, it was HARD, but I also couldn't stand to see him cry and suffer.

Dawn

 

[marthachick]

Our dog, Samson, is 11 and he's recently went blind. I took him to the vet last week. He was tested for Glaucoma because it's painful. He, thankfully, doesn't have it. The vet prescribed some drops. They are hard as heck to get in his eyes, but we're doing them twice a day.

He also coughs a lot and has some breathing issues. The vet prescribed a steroid to see if that helps. He thinks it's something similar to COPD in humans. We take him back tomorrow to see if he's responding to the treatment.

He still eats, drinks and uses the bathroom as usual. He doesn't seem to be in pain but if I thought for a minute he was, we'd have him put to sleep. It will be very hurtful for us all but I couldn't stand to see our dear sweet Sampy hurting.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

If there is no medical option that will improve their quality of life and remedy their suffering, they should be put to sleep. This is the same mentality I carry for people as well, quality of life is key.

 

[DawnM]

Well, I do not put people in the same category as humans. I fully understand refusing treatment or having a DNR, but injections to kill for low quality of life, I do not agree.

Dawn

If there is no medical option that will improve their quality of life and remedy their suffering, they should be put to sleep. This is the same mentality I carry for people as well, quality of life is key.

 

[golfgal]

If an animal is suffering, it is time. You can't reason with an animal. They don't understand why they are sick or why they are in pain and you don't do something for them. In the case of pets, it is the humane thing to do.

 

[bballmom56]

I relied on my vet.

 

[mhsjax]

As soon as the vet tells me that they are in pain and there is nothing that will relieve the pain. Keeping them around because you can't stand to be without them is selfish.

I have a friend that has a rescue dog. Now, I know nothing about how all this works, but she has cancer and the vet told her that it is inoperable, right now she is fine and she doesn't have any pain or problems resulting from it. The vet did tell her that as soon as she starts showing symptoms and is in pain, that because she is a rescue dog, he had to step in and put her down, even if my friend didn't want him to. That being said, my friend completely agrees, she has had a very hard life and is now in a wonderful home. But no more pain for this doggie.

 

[Disney Doll]

Well, I do not put people in the same category as humans. I fully understand refusing treatment or having a DNR, but injections to kill for low quality of life, I do not agree.

Dawn

I'm not thinking that the poster meant to kill someone if they have a poor quality of life. I am thinking they more meant no need to prolong a person's poor quality of life by artificial means.

As far as a pet....see thepoem in my signature. I believed it then when I had to put Ted down and I believe it now.

 

[Jennasis]

I have always put that faith in our vet. She has been excellent at holding our hand through this process.

We put our beloved greyhound Janky down last May. She had developed a plasma cell tumor in her jaw a year prior. We took her to a specialist who said surgery would be successful but dangerous for a dog of her age (11). We chose to keep her quality of life as high as we could for as long as we could. The tumor grew and grew, eventually to the size of a softball over the course of a year. We had taken to feeding her wet food. She would dribble the food and drool constant;ly but otherwise seemed fine. Then one day I went to feed her and she wouldn't eat. She just looked at me with big sad eyes like "HELP ME."

I called DH and the vet and we put her down that day. I vowed to never let her suffer and if she couldn't eat, that would be suffering.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Well, I do not put people in the same category as humans. I fully understand refusing treatment or having a DNR, but injections to kill for low quality of life, I do not agree.

Dawn

I think you mean, you don't put dogs in the same category as people. To expand upon my post, I do believe in assisted suicide for terminally ill people or those whose quality of life is to the point of never ending suffering with no hope for medical treatment to change their status.

 

[disneyfans95]

We put down ouar 14 year old sheltie last year. He woke up one moring and would not eat. By the weekend, he was stumbling around in a circle, crying in pain.

Once we saw that, I brought him and we put him to sleep.

It was hard, but not as hard as seeing him in pain. That made the decision a no-brainer. It hurt so bad to let him go, but it was his time.

We planned on taking a year off or so from owning a dog, but we got a rescue pure breed 4 month old choc lab about a month later. Just laned in our laps and he has been a blessing for the family.

 

[bballmom56]

The vet did tell her that as soon as she starts showing symptoms and is in pain, that because she is a rescue dog, he had to step in and put her down, even if my friend didn't want him to.

Wow, all of our dogs have been rescues and we have never heard that from our vets.

 

[npmommie]

As soon as the vet tells me that they are in pain and there is nothing that will relieve the pain. Keeping them around because you can't stand to be without them is selfish.

I have a friend that has a rescue dog. Now, I know nothing about how all this works, but she has cancer and the vet told her that it is inoperable, right now she is fine and she doesn't have any pain or problems resulting from it. The vet did tell her that as soon as she starts showing symptoms and is in pain, that because she is a rescue dog, he had to step in and put her down, even if my friend didn't want him to. That being said, my friend completely agrees, she has had a very hard life and is now in a wonderful home. But no more pain for this doggie.

All of our pets have been rescues, and never once has a vet said this to us.
That doesn't seem right.

anyway, to answer, It is such a hard decision, and one I admit I had a hard time with.
one of our dogs had a cancer that had metastasized by the time it was found, it was a rare kind of pancreatic cancer that affected the insulin producing cells, so the first symptom was low blood sugar which led to a seizure.
anyway, her quality of life was good for almost the first 2 years after diagnosis. by the end of that second year, her quality really went down, and i didn't want to admit it, I wanted to "fix" her. couldn't imagine our family without her.
I love my vet and without him I don't know how i would have come to the decision, but he helped tremendously, and we did put her to sleep, and I have to say, looking back we should have done it sooner than we did.

its a hard hard decision, especially with someone like me, because i second guess myself constantly.

 

[mhsjax]

All of our pets have been rescues, and never once has a vet said this to us.
That doesn't seem right.

anyway, to answer, It is such a hard decision, and one I admit I had a hard time with.
one of our dogs had a cancer that had metastasized by the time it was found, it was a rare kind of pancreatic cancer that affected the insulin producing cells, so the first symptom was low blood sugar which led to a seizure.
anyway, her quality of life was good for almost the first 2 years after diagnosis. by the end of that second year, her quality really went down, and i didn't want to admit it, I wanted to "fix" her. couldn't imagine our family without her.
I love my vet and without him I don't know how i would have come to the decision, but he helped tremendously, and we did put her to sleep, and I have to say, looking back we should have done it sooner than we did.

its a hard hard decision, especially with someone like me, because i second guess myself constantly.

Well, like I said, I have never had a rescue dog. She has had other cancers but they have been able to treat her. I don't know, but frankly, I like it. She was in a puppy mill and she was bred non stop. Then someone bought her and they left her tied to a tree. So if this vet wanted to step in and rescue her from someone that didn't have the guts to put her down, once she starts going down hill and is in pain, I think he is doing the right thing.

We are all hoping for a miracle and so far so good. She is soooooo sweet.

 

[preb]

We had a blind cocker spaniel that went deaf from a brain tumor. The vet said, "When you feel that it would be a blessing if he died in his sleep, it's time." I thought that was good advise.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

That decision is so difficult to make... I think it is really hard for animal lovers to separate themselves and their wants from what their animal needs. Keeping them around because we don't want to be without them is pretty selfish if they are suffering.

It's a really hard thing to come to terms with.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

We put our rescue dog down a couple of years ago. It was a very hard decision. She already had knee surgery. She had arthritis and hip dysplaxia, albeit minor hip issues. The arthritis meds didn't appear to be working and she would have trouble standing up. I took her to the vet. He asked me is she breathed very heavily normally or she was just anxious. It had become normal so he did an exam and told me she was in heart failure. He laid out my options and asked what I wanted to do.

I asked the same question I always ask "If this was your dog, what would you do?" He quickly responded that he would put her down. I agreed and he did it. He also said that she passed so quickly that her heart was much weaker then he had initially thought. He literally injected her, walked around me to listen to her heart and she had already passed. Even he was shocked. Poor baby.