Putting a dog to sleep

stickybean

My heart is breaking as I write this, but I don't know where else to turn for advice.

Our little dog Lucy (now 14) has been very ill for the last few months, she has had a several growths on her skin, lost much of her hair, she has been deaf for two years now and has recently started to loose her sight. She has lost a lot of weight in the last few weeks. She sleeps in doors but every night is destroying the place.

We take turns of sitting up with her till midnight and getting up early (around 6.30am) but she still wets and poo's everywhere. We have tried feeding her earlier in the day, walking her at different times and changing her food, but the last few months we spend every morning and some afternoons cleaning up after her. As she is an older dog I would never dream of letting her sleep outdoors.

The vet has told us it is old age and despite many tests there doesn't seem to be any defined problem. We have her 6 years now, she was a rescue dog. The vet has said we can run more tests, but I have to ask myself is there a point anymore? I know I sound very heartless, but believe me I love her to bits. We have already spend €680 in the last 3 months on tests and apart from a viral infection we keep getting back he is okay.

Me and my husband have been talking this weekend about getting her PTS. Oh God, even saying it is killing me, but I just feel she has very little quality of life right now and not sure if we can honestly afford much more. She doens't like walking and sleeps most of the day now, while the vets assure me she is not in pain I really am not sure. I feel she just lives to eat and sleep and has no real life anymore. Please help me.

tk123

AH sorry about your dog You get to a point where you just know it's time to let go and tbh from your post I think you've gotten to that stage? It's the toughest decision an owner can make but it's also the bravest one too.

Dunny

Awk :{

As tk123 says it's tough but you must think about the dogs welfare...

Briskit

It's a horrible reality to come to Stickybean, but sometimes love is shown in letting an old friend go peacefully.

We had a beloved Yorkshire/Kerrin terrier mix for almost 14 years, and she was 3 when we got her... anyways, we all grew up with her.. went off to college.. she stayed with all of us when different family members went on college.. and she peed herself with joy and could barely contain herself anytime we went home no matter how much time would pass...

... her tail would wag so hard, and her whole back and she'd cry out loud and howl, but she'd hardly be able to move towards you so excited she was...

.. she was like this to all of us... I had snuck her onto BusEireann before as I was a student with no other means of transportation and she was always regarded as a family member.. and that Christmas, I was sharing the holidays with a friend from Cavan who was in college with me in Dublin, while all my family were away (boom years and all !!) while I was at the only feckin university in Dublin that was semesterised at the time, thus had study to do over the holidays...

Anyways, Kimmy was a best friend.. an avid listerer... a caring ear whenever you had something to get off your chest and always with a tail wag... she even conned her way into everyones bed at some stage in the winters... even my mom... that would never have tolerated "that lark" from any dog...

well, one time when she was 11... she took a bad turn while we were up the country... and it turned out that it was kidney failure - too much rich food, and she had a penchant for eating sweets... she unwrapped a Cadbury Cream Egg that was left on a coffee table one night and gobbled it up... the tinfoil was all that was left the next day... anyways, this was the 90's and we weren't aware of chocolate not being good for dogs...but Kimmy had a thing for Jellies too.. and could sniff out a Harribo from Three Miles away... which was handy, as I always liked them too, but alas the only person whose benefitted from such is my dentist these past few years... ka€hing €hing

... well anyways... this amazing vet whose name was Dr. Kelly up in Donegal, stayed up all night and performed dialysis on the poor Kimmy and literally performed a miracle and turned her health for the better thru' shear will and persistance and moved by the flood of teary eyed family members that arrived in a cortage at her clinic late at night as we all felt it was over....

Overwhelmed and overjoyed, we were instructed to change her diet to a brand known as KD-Canine... a vile lifeless looking grey yuk of a food... deer too.. .but it kept Kimmy going for years, even though she hated it and we never did give her sweets again... although she was partial to hanging out with my dad, who always slipped her a sausage or a rasher to ease the burden of such a spartan diet.

well.. now I'm getting to the stage where you are... at around 14, Kimmy who was a bit of an emotional wizz of a dog... and a genius at understanding family needs and instructions was a bit off... my dad came up to Dublin with her one day and said "Do you know poor Kim is deaf" and probably had been for a long long time... we all felt shocking bad, as we'd probably given out to her once or twice for not obeying instructions or what not.. and we would always feel rotten... as the love for her was something else.. she was there and consistant thru' all those years when hormones raged and you were angry or rebelling against everything.. but the one consistant thing in a family full of siblings at different fazes of their childhood/adolescence was that Kim was always cool and always happy... and ALWAY game for a walk... feckin 6am coming from the club... if you said the word.. she wanted it... and you know what... if it ever happened.. even if it was a drunkin eejit friend who said it... I would walk her, as her eyes were kind and loving and it just wouldn't be right to give her a false sense of hope...

.. and its for those moments I loved here... study breaks in the snow, rain or sunshine... a lovely chance to get outside and clear the head that you might never have taken otherwise.

also... and it was before the time in Dublin when it seemed that every Tom Dick and Harry had a dog.. and 'cause she was small, the usual comment passing the pup was "you walkin your rat"... to which neither of us ever passed any notice... we had bigger things on our minds and were secure enough to know that our companionship was real and forever...

Everywhere she'd go... when some of us started driving.. sure she'd be up in the back window barking... at every dog she saw to say, hey look at me... I'm out cruising!!! or something along those lines... she wasn't the most social of dogs with other canines (her only weakness - one that was ingrained by the time we got her, and perhaps the reason she had been sent out of the city in the first place)

Anyways, if someone was depressed or down about something... a teenage heartbreak, a failed exam, sick etc... my dad always regarded sending Kim to that person as the best treatment for any such ailment.. and usually, he was right... if you were sitting in moping.. playing video games, listening to music etc... well, at least if you had the dog.. she'd force you with love to walk her... as she adored it.. and that would get you out and healthy.

.. so poor kim at around 15.5 had really bad cataracts on both eyes, and the vet said that she was so old and frail now that anesthetic would be risky.. as she may not come out of it, thus the cataracts couldn't be surgically removed.. this was DrKelly the wonder vet speaking... who loved Kim and still brings her up if we visit her today with any of the families many other dogs...
so by 15.5 she was deaf and blind.. but she still wanted to walk.. and knew the lay of the land in both the country and in Dublin in the places where she was always familiar.... but she was barely holding together.

by 16.. she was an invalid... and her bowel movements were not under her control... now Kim.. migh spray a little pee when she was excited in the past, but only once now in the 14 years we owned this dog, did she do her business inside... and she hid in shame for the rest of that day.. it gives me goosebumps now to remember this as I remember this little sweetheart having just raised little brat kittens and a few pups the past 3 years where they almost break your heart eating shoes, handbags, belts, fecking legs of kitchen tables, scratching walls, destroying plants etc., etc., and then I think of a long term companion like Kim...

Its a long journey that you go on with your pets and its brilliant... there are those crazy moments too and horrible moments with accidents etc... but its like kids... it's all worth it and it makes you smile down the line...

Reminds me of my favourite dog cartoon... (don't have a pic, so wil explain the context)

A poodle is talking to another dog who's in the neighbouring back yard.

Poodle: " Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo... I don't get what all the fuss is about... they all taste the same to me!!"

I love it and anyone whose had a pup can appreciate the context... as they'll always eat your most expensive or at least your favourite stuff.

... anyways.. back to you stickybean.

Yep... by the end, we had a deaf, blind dog with all kinds of lumps and bumps all over and under her skin... trying to force feed her a little bit of any kind of food.. but for the last 2 months she was a complete invalid and the walkaholic Kim would barely make it out into a little city garden....

One morning on my way to work.. there was poop all over the poor wee thing and she was IN BITS... my heart was broken tidying up around her as I scarpered out late for work and I sent my brother who was going to be home that day a text saying "For the love of god will somebody PLEASE take the poor dog to the vet and put her out of this FCUKING misery"

When I came home that evening I was greated by my two tearful sisters and a quiet brother and they showed me photos of a little coffin they had made for her and buried her out in the front garden, where she still lies to this day - only now with a lovely prickly little shrub/flower type plant that has a lovely red hue on its green leaves and flowers red in the autumn... and it still makes me smile to know our little family member for so long is still with us....

We also have her bowl hanging on a nail above the kitchen.. it's scraggly and crappy but you'd dare not touch it or try and throw it out in our house... once when we got new pups I took it down to give them water and my sister nearly went thru' me.

We live in a time of photos, cameras and never forget natural memories.. if you're wee dog is suffering... have your cuddles and say your goodbyes as the more a Friend they have been to you then the more they deserve that in return from you in making the decision for them... as the poor things can linger on horribly for no other reason but suffering.

My heart goes out to you but trust me... you have to say goodbye and the memories and good times are forever,

Thanks for letting me tap into my own memory banks just now in getting a whole lot of Kimmy nostalgia off my chest, and I haven't thought of the wee girl in ages... bar calling the plant out front of the old house the 'Kimmy plant'

Good luck Stickybean and I know you'll do the best thing for Lucy.

Briskit.

Mo60

stickybean wrote: »

My heart is breaking as I write this, but I don't know where else to turn for advice.

Our little dog Lucy (now 14) has been very ill for the last few months, she has had a several growths on her skin, lost much of her hair, she has been deaf for two years now and has recently started to loose her sight. She has lost a lot of weight in the last few weeks. She sleeps in doors but every night is destroying the place.

We take turns of sitting up with her till midnight and getting up early (around 6.30am) but she still wets and poo's everywhere. We have tried feeding her earlier in the day, walking her at different times and changing her food, but the last few months we spend every morning and some afternoons cleaning up after her. As she is an older dog I would never dream of letting her sleep outdoors.

The vet has told us it is old age and despite many tests there doesn't seem to be any defined problem. We have her 6 years now, she was a rescue dog. The vet has said we can run more tests, but I have to ask myself is there a point anymore? I know I sound very heartless, but believe me I love her to bits. We have already spend €680 in the last 3 months on tests and apart from a viral infection we keep getting back he is okay.

Me and my husband have been talking this weekend about getting her PTS. Oh God, even saying it is killing me, but I just feel she has very little quality of life right now and not sure if we can honestly afford much more. She doens't like walking and sleeps most of the day now, while the vets assure me she is not in pain I really am not sure. I feel she just lives to eat and sleep and has no real life anymore. Please help me.

I feel for you because I was in the exact same position with the first dog I ever had. Even though it happened 18 years ago I still think about her and whether I did the right thing about having her pts. Although I know really I did what was best for her at the time.

She was the same as your dog, elderly and gradually deteriorating healthwise and messing herself. I did not mind cleaning up after her, but one day she messed and ended up pacing and being covered in her own mess. I felt she had lost her dignity and this is what finally made me make my decision.