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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2017 15:12:38 GMT -5
So, do most pets end up going to the vet to be put to sleep, or do most end up just passing away in their sleep or something?
I had cats growing up, but they mainly got hit by cars or ran away or just got old and passed on.
My 14 year old chocolate lab is the first dog i ever had. Every stage is me never having done this before.
He has a tumor on his spleen. The vet said it really wasn't even worth checking to see if it was malignant at his age. I took him in two weeks ago because he had two days when he was very lethargic and breathing deeply and not moving around so well. The doc said while there was no X-ray evidence of a bleed, it sounded like he had had one. He gave me more pain meds and antiinflamitories. The dog wasn't 100%, couldn't get up the stairs alone, but was making steady progress till yesterday. Now its back to those two days lethargic and not moving well at all. Had to carry him outside this morning.
He doesn't seem like he's in pain. He eats and drinks when i bring it to him. He still likes to be petted and its quite possible that this could be another small bleed on a benign tumor and he'll bounce back again. But ultimately, this is going one place. How will I known when and what is best to do?
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dee27
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Post by dee27 on Jun 22, 2017 15:19:31 GMT -5
14 is about the age my two labs were at the end of their lives. One died at 13 1/2 years and the other just over the 14 year mark. Their bodies gave out, and when they would not eat or take their meds, we had them euthanized as a more humane way to go than languishing day after day. Both had cancer and they would have endured a painful end. Only you can judge when the end is near.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Jun 22, 2017 15:26:50 GMT -5
Our vet told us that when Sabah quit eating, drinking and was non-responsive/lethargic it was time to put her down. She did not eat her dinner and then did not eat her breakfast the following morning. When DH called to her she barely lifted her head. He made the decision to put her down.
We've had two dogs die at home. Midnight died in her sleep of what we guess was heart failure. Leonard died at home shortly after we discovered th tumor in his abdomen. He was active and happy tday before, he passed early the following morning in his sleep.
Penny had kidney failure when my dad put her down. Nickles had a massive seizure/stroke and became non responsive. Junior couldn't move anymore. Brutus died in his sleep, we are not sure from what but think it was cancer.
It's a personal decision. I wanted to put Sabah down after we discovered that her butt was severely enflamed/engorged and she stank to high heaven. I feel guilty thinking she was suffering more than we knew. Animals instinctively hide their pain. If I can see it then it is REALLY bad.
DH could not bring himself to do it until she met 2 out of 3 of the criteria listed above.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jun 22, 2017 15:30:15 GMT -5
I have had many cats over the years. I have never let them die at home. I knew they were sick and when it got to the point they had very little quality of life, I took them to the vet to be euthanized.
I even did that with a cat who was a little over a year old when the vet told me she wouldn't make it through the night. I could not bear to let her suffer as she could not breathe due to FeLV. This was years ago before there was a vaccine.
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Green Eyed Lady
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Post by Green Eyed Lady on Jun 22, 2017 15:31:05 GMT -5
Are his gums still pink or do they look grey?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2017 15:34:52 GMT -5
His gums are pink. And they do 'bounce back' after you press, but i didn't do that immediately after he started acting lethargic, so the vet said it really didn't tell him anything, bleedwise.?
He did also send me an antibiotic, because lab has had lymes in the past and with his arthritis said it could also be a flair up of that. Or just a flair up of arthritis. Sigh. I wish he could talk.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2017 15:36:02 GMT -5
I had one dog getting near end of life that did the slip away never to be found again. This is a little dog that for the year or two prior had barely strayed more than 20 feet from the house due to a stroke, bad eyes. Vets said they go hide to die. That one was especially tough. The other two dogs and all my house cats I've taken in when quality of life was greatly diminished. It was not hard to tell when it was time with any of them. They were obviously in pain and not happy. I'm sorry you're facing this. It's tough to make the call, but I do think you'll know when and hopefully you'll be at peace with that. 14 is a really good age for a lab, not many make it much beyond that.
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Green Eyed Lady
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Post by Green Eyed Lady on Jun 22, 2017 15:37:59 GMT -5
His gums are pink. And they do 'bounce back' after you press, but i didn't do that immediately after he started acting lethargic, so the vet said it really didn't tell him anything, bleedwise.? He did also send me an antibiotic, because lab has had lymes in the past and with his arthritis said it could also be a flair up of that. Or just a flair up of arthritis. Sigh. I wish he could talk. I was just speaking with a friend about this the other day. She also has a dog who is elderly and ill. She is going through the same issues of not knowing what to do. He doesn't want to eat, but still drinks. He's also very lethargic. The vet couldn't find any cancer or anything other than just old age. He told her that if the dog's gums turn greyish, he isn't getting enough oxygen and it is the beginning of the end with no treatment that would give him any quality of life.
That's obviously second-hand information and nothing I'd attest to being true or not, but it does make sense. It's such a hard decision and knowing how much I love mine, I wish you peace in reaching the right one.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Jun 22, 2017 15:44:47 GMT -5
We've had 7 dogs die. 6 of them we had euthanized at the vet and 1 died at the house. The firing at home was the hardest on us. For the others, 3 the vet told us it was time. The other 3 we made the decision based on how they were at home, not eating, not moving around. One was skin and bones, vet said was likely some type of cancer, but she was 14. It's tough to decide, but as an owner you can tell when time is right.
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andi9899
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Post by andi9899 on Jun 22, 2017 15:46:57 GMT -5
I've only had one dog pass. She was a 13 yo GSD. She couldn't hear very well anymore, winced and yelped in pain whenever she stood up or laid down, then she lost control of her bowels. I had her humanly euthanized. She was such a good dog. The two I have now are only a year old, so I have plenty of time before they pass. I know I'll be a wreck when it happens, particularly Jackson. He's my baby.
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whoami
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Post by whoami on Jun 22, 2017 15:48:56 GMT -5
He has a tumor on his spleen. The vet said it really wasn't even worth checking to see if it was malignant at his age. I took him in two weeks ago because he had two days when he was very lethargic and breathing deeply and not moving around so well. The doc said while there was no X-ray evidence of a bleed, it sounded like he had had one. He gave me more pain meds and antiinflamitories. The dog wasn't 100%, couldn't get up the stairs alone, but was making steady progress till yesterday. Now its back to those two days lethargic and not moving well at all. Had to carry him outside this morning. He doesn't seem like he's in pain. He eats and drinks when i bring it to him. He still likes to be petted and its quite possible that this could be another small bleed on a benign tumor and he'll bounce back again. But ultimately, this is going one place. How will I known when and what is best to do? My 12 year old dog had a softball size tumor removed from her spleen about a month ago. We found out about it during a teeth cleaning when the vet noticed her blood work off and felt a mass in her belly under anesthesia. She had absolutely no symptoms. After doing some research, we came to the conclusion that we had one of two options. Remove it or have her put to sleep. These tumors re very vascular and we were not willing to wait for it to rupture whenever and have the dog bleed to death. After X-rays and an ultrasound, it didn't appear to have spread so we chose to remove it. She had the surgery 5 days after we discovered it. We got a call a week later and were told it was not cancerous. She has recovered very well. The whole episode cost about $2500.
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emma1420
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Post by emma1420 on Jun 22, 2017 16:27:05 GMT -5
I had one dog put down at the vet and the other died at home.
My oldest dog died at home while I was at work. I came home and found her dying on my bedroom floor (she was basically dead, she let out one agonal breath when I touched her). I rushed her to the vet, but it was too late. It was horrible and unexpected, despite her being older.
My other dog I had put down. He didn't eat his dinner on Saturday evening, and then on Sunday he wouldn't eat or drink and couldn't get up. He was almost 14, and he already lost an eye due to have a cancerous tumor removed, and it was probable that the cancer had returned and now was in his brain. The vet didn't think that he would have much quality of life. So I made the decision to put him down. It sucked.
Losing a pet sucks. It's never ideal, you always feel guilty to some degree, however, I do think if you have the choice going to the vet and putting a pet to sleep is easier (well for me anyway, others may feel differently).
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Jun 22, 2017 16:27:56 GMT -5
I agree with the others about the eating and drinking.
I know it's very, very hard.
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billisonboard
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Post by billisonboard on Jun 22, 2017 17:11:08 GMT -5
I have had one dog in my life. I was able to provide a rescue dog maybe or close to full bred Golden an incredible life full of freedom. In exchange, he gave my great joy. One summer I had over 250 trail miles with him (which meant he covered about twice that). He carried his own food in his pack and he carried my garbage as it grew and his load lightened. He was a friend to the neighborhood and to kids who came to the camp that we worked at. He was also very kind in letting me know that it was clearly time for me to let go of him so he could go on his final adventure. His body is buried with his pack here at the camp under a big rock with a plaque honoring him. My coworker has told me that Calvin and I had the weirdest relationship he has ever seen between a dog and a human. Use your heart and not your head. You will know when it is time if you do.
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busymom
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Post by busymom on Jun 22, 2017 17:27:23 GMT -5
I had one old dog who died very suddenly (from the description of the death, the vet suspected it was a heart attack), and one dog we had to put down. Both losses were very difficult, but I felt a lot of guilt about the one we put down, even though he was in a lot of pain at the end (if your dog is unable to get up after sleeping, without a lot of pain, that's a good sign it's time to let them cross the rainbow bridge). Even the dog knew it was time, as he refused to make eye contact with me the last few days of his life. Now, Bad Boy Puppy is seriously old, & I think at times I hope he'll make it obvious when he's had enough of life on earth.
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Shooby
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Post by Shooby on Jun 22, 2017 17:28:30 GMT -5
My last pet was a Wheaton Terrier, super cute and very sweet. She was a healthy dog, then all of the sudden started vomiting a lot. We tried changing her dog food and so forth then took her to the vet. And, she was going into renal failure. They gave me some renal dog food but she just rapidly got worse. Finally she was pretty much vomiting all the time and the vet said nothing he can do but I could take her to a specialist for dialysis. Anyway, I said no and that was on a Fri and I had planned to have her euthanized on Monday. I sat with her over the weekend and kept her clean. And, early Sunday morning, i woke up really early and went down to take her out. She got up and it was a cool day with dew on the grass and the sun was shining. She literally went and just laid down completely on her side in the grass. I just sat on the porch watching her breathe in and out thinking how she was enjoying feeling the dewy cool grass on her and hearing the birds chirp. Then after a period of time, i went to pick her up to carry her in to the house and she literally took her last breath and died in my arms. I held her for awhile. Then I woke up DH and told her she had passed and we buried her in our backyard.
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jun 22, 2017 17:33:17 GMT -5
😢🙏🏻💔
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Jun 22, 2017 17:36:51 GMT -5
No dogs, but I have had 4 cats die. First 2 had congestive heart failure, both were 14+ years old. I took them to the vet and had them euthanized when their QOL diminished to nil. Third cat I'm not sure what was wrong with him. I had him to several vets, and none could find anything, one vet suggested he had a dessimated lymphoma of the bowel. Despite the fact he ate like a pig, he went from 11 lbs to 3.5 lbs. He told me when it was time to go.
Last cat was fluffy. It was when my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I was in NY for a month. TD put him on a diet while I was gone, and in about 6 weeks, he lost 1/3 of his body weight. Vet found a growth on his spleen, and when he opened him up to try to remove it, he discovered that the cancer had spread everywhere. He was euthanized on the table.
It is hard, but they will tell you when it is time.
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MarleyKeezy78
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Post by MarleyKeezy78 on Jun 22, 2017 18:22:02 GMT -5
We have a girbil that is on his last legs, he has a huge patch of cancer covering his tummy but is still eating and drinking, he must have had a stroke and leans to one side and tips over easy. He still gets around ok, sleeps a lot more but we just keep giving him treats and stuff and hope he passes peacefully Dog isn't old enough to worry about that stuff yet.
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suesinfl
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Post by suesinfl on Jun 22, 2017 19:05:05 GMT -5
billisonboard and Shooby your stories made me cry. I'm so afraid of how my DD will react when something happens to her two dogs. Lucy is older than what we were told and Parker is younger than we were told. Both are rescues and spoiled rotten, but loved so much.
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suesinfl
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Post by suesinfl on Jun 22, 2017 19:09:36 GMT -5
oped, I'm sorry that you are going through this.
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milee
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Post by milee on Jun 22, 2017 19:14:59 GMT -5
I've always made the choice based on if the pet was suffering and also considering their individual feelings about going to the vet. If they were suffering and weren't too worked up about going to the vet, then having them euthanized was a good choice. That was the way it was for several of my dogs. On the other hand, if they weren't suffering, then dying at home with their family seemed like what they might want, so I did that. The toughest ones are the ones that appear to be suffering and also don't like the vet. I had one cat like that; he was terrified of the vet. When he got cancer in his sinus area, the vet explained that it would be painful after a while and I'd know when it was time to put him to sleep to keep him from suffering. But I knew how much he dreaded the vet, so really didn't want that trip to the vet to be his final experience. The vet was incredibly kind and came by my house on the way home from work to take care of him. I held him in my arms on his favorite spot near the window and am still very grateful that the vet was so kind to help us like that.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2017 19:22:37 GMT -5
Most vets will make housecalls for something like this. Of course, it might cost you. My parents always had the vet come to the house, all my animals thought the vet was awesome even when sick or hurting so I took them in.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jun 22, 2017 19:28:24 GMT -5
I dread the day when I have to put Lucy down. She's my baby. She's 5 years old so hopefully we have many good years left. I don't know how cat years translate to human years.
They do let you know when it's time to go to the Rainbow Bridge. It has never been an easy decision and it's not easy when it has happened.
I do have cremains for my cats that will go with mine in the distant future.
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msventoux
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Post by msventoux on Jun 22, 2017 20:29:03 GMT -5
Since I've been out on my own I've had one dog and one cat die.
The cat died at a relatively young age, maybe 6 or 7. He died at home unexpectedly. He was fine when I went to bed and slept on the bed with me. Sometime between then and the next morning he died. He was partially under the bed and it looked like he just keeled over mid stride. I'm thinking he had some undiagnosed heart issue as he'd been perfectly healthy until then.
The dog last year was much, much more difficult. He was old, had been having trouble getting around, and because of his mobility issues had ulcers on pressure points that I had to tend to. I was happy enough to do so as his arthritis pain was controlled with meds, he still ate and drank, didn't seem to be bothered by the ulcers, was loving and still tried to play.
He rapidly went downhill. Previously I was sometimes having to help him stand, but he got to the point where he couldn't get up or stand on his own and started acting off...disoriented and not himself. I decided after a couple of days that it wasn't a short episode he would recover from and that his quality of life in that state wasn't good. After speaking with the vet I decided that it was time. I would have liked to have him put down at home, but due to scheduling issues it would have been a couple of weeks and I didn't want to let him go on like that for that length of time.
I still feel horrible about it. But I think it was kinder to end it then rather than watch him become even more incapacitated and disoriented. Sometimes I think I should have done it sooner, but we were dealing with his mobility issues and he seemed happy and pain free prior to that point. Everyone always says you'll know when it's time, but I don't always think that's the case.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Jun 22, 2017 23:22:37 GMT -5
Most vets will make housecalls for something like this. Of course, it might cost you. My parents always had the vet come to the house, all my animals thought the vet was awesome even when sick or hurting so I took them in. That may be different in your area since you are farmers, but around here in the suburbs there's no way a vet will do a housecall. During off hours you have to take them to the 24 hr emergency vet where it runs about $300 for them to take a look at them. Any procedures are about 3 times more expensive as a regular vet. Whenever our pets were terminal the vet said once they stopped eating and/drinking then it was time to bring them in. We have had to euthanize two and a tough call to make. Both of them hung on for a couple of months. In hindsight, if we are in that situation again, I won't wait as long. There just wasn't really any benefit to keeping them alive as long as we did. They had long, happy lives and I think it would be better to leave it at that than to let them be sick for two extra months. I'm sorry you are going through this. It's difficult to let them go.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2017 7:12:28 GMT -5
Most vets will make housecalls for something like this. Of course, it might cost you. My parents always had the vet come to the house, all my animals thought the vet was awesome even when sick or hurting so I took them in. That may be different in your area since you are farmers, but around here in the suburbs there's no way a vet will do a housecall. During off hours you have to take them to the 24 hr emergency vet where it runs about $300 for them to take a look at them. Any procedures are about 3 times more expensive as a regular vet. I didn't say it would be cheap! But, my parents aren't in the country and just go to a small animal vet. There are the same rules with off hours and emergency vet costs here, but when you're talking end of life and especially if you have an ongoing relationship with the vet, I would go ahead and ask if this is something you want. You might be surprised. Vets are human and totally get that this is like putting a child down for a lot of people.
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Artemis Windsong
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Post by Artemis Windsong on Jun 23, 2017 7:19:32 GMT -5
So hard.
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milee
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Post by milee on Jun 23, 2017 7:22:31 GMT -5
That may be different in your area since you are farmers, but around here in the suburbs there's no way a vet will do a housecall. During off hours you have to take them to the 24 hr emergency vet where it runs about $300 for them to take a look at them. Any procedures are about 3 times more expensive as a regular vet. I didn't say it would be cheap! But, my parents aren't in the country and just go to a small animal vet. There are the same rules with off hours and emergency vet costs here, but when you're talking end of life and especially if you have an ongoing relationship with the vet, I would go ahead and ask if this is something you want. You might be surprised. Vets are human and totally get that this is like putting a child down for a lot of people. Doing a home visit wasn't something this vet normally did. This was an office in urban Phoenix. But she and her office were always very nice to me after I brought in a stray dog that I'd found hit on the road. Since I couldn't find the owner of the stray dog, I paid for the vet bills and kept her. When it came time to put Oscar (my cat who had the sinus cancer) to sleep, the vet knew how afraid Oscar was of the vet and she offered to come to the house. It was a favor and it was very, very kind. I hope she knows how much small actions like that impact people and they remember even 20 years later.
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OldCoyote
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Post by OldCoyote on Jun 23, 2017 7:34:46 GMT -5
There is a service I use here where the Vet comes to your home. I have used them four times now.
Before , when I would take them to the Vet office, my pets would be real tense,
Here at home it is just that, it is their home!
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