When do you say enough is enough ...

[venetia_sassy]

... and euthanise your pet?

Lady Muck is getting weaker and weaker. Her hind legs sag but she's fallen on her face a few times recently which is new. She's increasingly confused but she's still happy to see us. She's been declining slowly these past eighteen months and we thought the tipping point would be when her hind legs gave out or when she lost interest in food. But she's still very interested in food. And not much else. But when do you say she's too frail and falling over too much and it's just not kind to keep her going?

Mum thinks we've reached that point. I've never had to make that decision before. We've had pets die of old age and natural causes but only two that I knew as a kid were euthanised. A cat who had cancer and our last cattle dog who was 16/17, mostly blind, mostly deaf but quite happy until the day her legs gave out. Those were clear cut situations. This is not. But do we wait until she's clearly miserable all the time or do it now when she still has some happy moments?

She hasn't smiled at me the last few days. That's unusual.

Comments

[northern]

Sounds like a really hard decision. :(

[melusina]

What a terrible decision to have to make! Speaking just for myself, I think I would err on the side of euthanizing while the animal still has some quality of life, rather than waiting until he or she is suffering too much, but I think it's really hard to determine when the animal has crossed the line into that kind of decline. I'm so sorry you're facing this. *hugs*

[turps]

I had to make the decision to have our dog put down last year and it broke my heart to do so. It's breaking my heart to think of it now.

Tex was really old, had been mostly blind and deaf for a while, but he was happy. He loved going out for walks even though he could only go a very short distance in the end and liked eating and barking at any other dogs that walked past our garden.

Then his back legs started to go. He'd fall over and just lie there, obviously confused about what had happened and started to forget where he was, just staring into space and walking in circles.

That was the beginning of the end and I knew it was close. We said enough when he lay on his blanket and didn't want to get up. When he was starting to wet himself and there's no dignity in that.

The dog we had when I lived with my family we left it too late. I used to have to take Brock out on the grass and keep him up so he could go to the toilet by using a scarf looped under his body. Looking back I'd never do that again.

I think they know when it's time to go. Tex did, I looked at him and never wanted to see him lie in his own pee, uncomfortable just because we wanted to hold on to him a bit longer.

It's one of the hardest decisions you'll have to make and I can't give exact answers. Just, pets deserve dignity too and sometimes you have to love them enough to let them go, and that's the biggest cliche ever, but is also one that's true.

I'm sorry, bb. My heart is aching for you right now.

[turlough]

That is such a terrible decision to make. I'm incredibly lucky and have never had to do it (not yet...) so I don't have any advice to give you. I can just send you all the strength and good thoughts. ♥

[glitteryv]

I believe that pets earn the right to be euthanized when their quality of life declines to the point that the bad definitely outweights the good. It's really hard to gauge the line between holding on to them and letting them go because it's a decision that hurts and I'm sorry it has to be made.

To me it seems that the fact that you've begun to wonder if that time is fast approaching means that your dog could be trying to tell you to start getting ready from an emotional point.

*hugs you*