Yukon4Runner
New member
We went through same debate with our old black lab.
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When To Put a Dog Down?
- Thread starter Husker Z
- Start date
mnofpeace
Member
I write this admitting, i am NOT a dog person at all, i dont like them. but my wife had to have the Spinone as the family dog for about 9 years...her mothers former dog before she moved from her former house.
it was a nice enough dog, very obedient, barked to protect when people were outside, all of that. I walked the dog often in our local woods, parks, so yeah...it was a fine enough dog.
then after 13 or 14 years old, the deterioration started and proceeded rapidly over about an 8 month time frame. slower walking, a lot less stamina. then it got worse. incontinence, hips were shot, appetite started to fall. in the last months, walking was not even possible...would go out into the yard about 10 feet and plop down. then we had to carry her from room to room. in the final few weeks my wife and i argued about putting her down or not. by that time, the dog was pooping uncontrollably in the house and i was fed up with that. i had read that dogs know when its over when they completely stop eating, and she had done this now too. in the very end, we placed her down in our basement in some blankets with a poop pad under her backside. on one occasion, an Indian summer type fall 70 degree day, i picked her up and laid her in the sunshine in the back yard, thinking i was giving her one last day outside before the inevitable...and the look on her face seemed to make that the correct call.
the dog died on my basement floor about 4 days later. i buried her in the woods near our home.
It seems to me, what living thing WANTS to be killed...suffering or not. We watch movies that try to tell us that there is some sort of 'dignified' time and place and way to die...FUGG THAT...if im alive, in pain, thirsty, hungry, and yearning to scratch an itch in a very difficult place...im still alive!!! Let me have these last few moments, you dont think the dog KNOWS its dieing?!?! im sure the dog doesnt know, when you are putting him into the car that day that TODAY is the day its dieing.
i know its probably hard on your emotions, but in some sort of way, does your dog want to be dead? or alive with some discomfort?
thats all im sayin...
it was a nice enough dog, very obedient, barked to protect when people were outside, all of that. I walked the dog often in our local woods, parks, so yeah...it was a fine enough dog.
then after 13 or 14 years old, the deterioration started and proceeded rapidly over about an 8 month time frame. slower walking, a lot less stamina. then it got worse. incontinence, hips were shot, appetite started to fall. in the last months, walking was not even possible...would go out into the yard about 10 feet and plop down. then we had to carry her from room to room. in the final few weeks my wife and i argued about putting her down or not. by that time, the dog was pooping uncontrollably in the house and i was fed up with that. i had read that dogs know when its over when they completely stop eating, and she had done this now too. in the very end, we placed her down in our basement in some blankets with a poop pad under her backside. on one occasion, an Indian summer type fall 70 degree day, i picked her up and laid her in the sunshine in the back yard, thinking i was giving her one last day outside before the inevitable...and the look on her face seemed to make that the correct call.
the dog died on my basement floor about 4 days later. i buried her in the woods near our home.
It seems to me, what living thing WANTS to be killed...suffering or not. We watch movies that try to tell us that there is some sort of 'dignified' time and place and way to die...FUGG THAT...if im alive, in pain, thirsty, hungry, and yearning to scratch an itch in a very difficult place...im still alive!!! Let me have these last few moments, you dont think the dog KNOWS its dieing?!?! im sure the dog doesnt know, when you are putting him into the car that day that TODAY is the day its dieing.
i know its probably hard on your emotions, but in some sort of way, does your dog want to be dead? or alive with some discomfort?
thats all im sayin...
this thread brings back memories that really bum me out still. it's been over 5yrs. remember it like it was yesterday. my pal wasn't ill, but had been hit by a car and broke his neck. that was the last time i really had a melt down. nothing like looking into your pal's eyes and knowing that there is nothing you can besides nod your head and say "it's gonna be ok."
Blue Seat Lyfe
New member
I'd try to get every last day with the dog I could...a little arthritis and problems moving, I can help with that.
Unless theyre having violent seizures and vet bills are piling high, I would keep my boy alive. One thing I dont understand is people dropping thousands of dollars on a teenage dog for expensive treatments. Forgo this and let life run its course. Its not worth the money, enjoy the days you have now and dont spend them at a vet office.
When they do go, it happens fast... Ive seen with other dogs I've known. One day fine, next day its over.
Mine is only 15 months so I hope to have many more years with him
Unless theyre having violent seizures and vet bills are piling high, I would keep my boy alive. One thing I dont understand is people dropping thousands of dollars on a teenage dog for expensive treatments. Forgo this and let life run its course. Its not worth the money, enjoy the days you have now and dont spend them at a vet office.
When they do go, it happens fast... Ive seen with other dogs I've known. One day fine, next day its over.
Mine is only 15 months so I hope to have many more years with him
This thread couldn't have come up at a better time.
My wife and I are currently struggling with "when" is time for our nearly 14yr old lab. Of course she says the decision is mine since she has been my dog since I was 16.
She has layringial paralysis and bad hips, seems to get stiffer week after week. It's hard to call it quits, and I hate to feel like I"m giving up on here. But I also feel like at some point it's better to let her rest than to make her suffer. Just have to decide when is the appropriate time...
My wife and I are currently struggling with "when" is time for our nearly 14yr old lab. Of course she says the decision is mine since she has been my dog since I was 16.
She has layringial paralysis and bad hips, seems to get stiffer week after week. It's hard to call it quits, and I hate to feel like I"m giving up on here. But I also feel like at some point it's better to let her rest than to make her suffer. Just have to decide when is the appropriate time...
mickeyblue
New member
The week before Christmas I found myself on my hands and knees scrubbing the laundry room floor for the, seemingly, zillionth time. Our elderly Dalmatian was spending her nights in our laundry room because it wasn't safe to let her sleep anywhere else in the house since she was totally incontinent. She'd been having horrifying seizures for the last three years that we tried to control with phenobarbital, sometimes one would slip through anyway. She still had a huge appetite even though she was very thin. I was sure that she no longer knew us but couldn't bring myself to take her in to be put to sleep.
The Sunday before Christmas, she was eating in the kitchen and I noticed a pool of blood underneath her. We turned her on her back and found a large, maybe two by two inch spot that was just some wet, pink, mangled glob of flesh that was bleeding. I started crying because I knew I had waited too long. We called an emergency vet that was open that late and took her in.
It was the most peaceful thing I'd ever seen, they were so kind and gentle with her and it was over in seconds. They gave us a clay print of her paw and they stamped her name on it.
Please don't wait too long like I did. You'll find yourself blaming yourself for prolonging the animal's suffering and wondering why you did.
The Sunday before Christmas, she was eating in the kitchen and I noticed a pool of blood underneath her. We turned her on her back and found a large, maybe two by two inch spot that was just some wet, pink, mangled glob of flesh that was bleeding. I started crying because I knew I had waited too long. We called an emergency vet that was open that late and took her in.
It was the most peaceful thing I'd ever seen, they were so kind and gentle with her and it was over in seconds. They gave us a clay print of her paw and they stamped her name on it.
Please don't wait too long like I did. You'll find yourself blaming yourself for prolonging the animal's suffering and wondering why you did.
I don't have kids but I had to do the same thing a few years back. Hardest thing I had to do. Never thought there may have been a chance that i could have had a vet come do that at my house. I brought my boy in and then brought him home. All 107 lbs of him. Then I finished the hole in the back yard and I think about him all the time.
I don't call any other dog my boy any more. I miss him.
I feel for everyone that has gone through the same thing but for me my boy was suffering and I hated to see him go through it. In the end it's your own call but I couldn't bear to see him suffer.
I don't call any other dog my boy any more. I miss him.
I feel for everyone that has gone through the same thing but for me my boy was suffering and I hated to see him go through it. In the end it's your own call but I couldn't bear to see him suffer.
