When do you say enough is enough ...
Jun. 26th, 2012 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.
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.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-26 01:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-27 12:37 pm (UTC)