Dog Euthanasia.

Dale.

Dale.

Bo Derek
Suspended / Banned
Messages
13,716
Name
Dale.
Edit My Images
Yes
I'm faced with a difficult decision, one I'm sure many of you will know about.

I have 3 dogs, 2 Weimaraners and a Border Collie. One of the Weims, I've had from a pup, he was 7 weeks old when I got him from a breeder. He was ethically bred, not a puppy farm, although it was an old farm house, with stables and out buildings, but not a working farm anymore. The pups were born in a stable. There were 3 bitches, who were bred once a year and only one set of pups at any given time. I named him Blue, it just sums him up, he is that slatey, ghosty blue/grey colour.

All 3 dogs are getting on now, the youngest is coming up on 14. Blue will be 15 this year, which for a Weim, is exceptional, as they average 12. A couple of years ago, Blue had vestibular syndrome, which affects the inner ear. The appearance of vestibular is very stroke like but he recovered well, apart from his back legs, which were weakened, as it also affected his spine.

He currently seems happy enough, his back legs are weaker but he does get about and is able to get to the garden. Walks are a no go but thankfully, our garden is on the big side. Recently though, he has been doing the odd poo in the house. It's not too often and not messy or anything like that and easily dealt with so all things considered, I'm not too bothered about the odd poo pick up indoors.

It has made me think though, I've always said he'd let me know when the time comes and this last few days I've been thinking he's trying to tell me that. He still eats well, enjoys being in the garden and whilst a little unsteady, he's not immobile or confined to indoors.

That's the story, although I'm wondering about others experiences with their dogs when it comes to this time and when they 'called it' so to speak?

I will miss my boy, it will break my heart but I have to do what is best for him. My fear is I may call it too soon.
 
Last edited:
Dale. said:
He currently seems happy enough, his back legs are weaker but he does get about and is able to get to the garden. Walks are a no go but thankfully, our garden is on the big side. Recently though, he has been doing the odd poo in the house. It's not too often and not messy or anything like that and easily dealt with so all things considered, I'm not too bothered about the odd poo pick up indoors.
It has made me think though, I've always said he'd let me know when the time comes and this last few days I've been thinking he's trying to tell me that. He still eats well, enjoys being in the garden and whilst a little unsteady, he's not immobile or confined to indoors.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear this Dale, and to be honest all the above, was the beginning of the end for my 15 year old GSD,
One bright sunny day when she was laying in the garden, she couldn't get up, she had, had a great life with us and so had we with her. ( she was a rescue)
That was when I called the vet...
 
My previous Collie (ex-Battersea, came to us at 10 yo) was great for about 18 months but unbeknown to us hard a growing weakness in his lumbar area. After a Lab jumped on him whilst out for a walk, it became obvious and whilst he was walking fine most of the time, he would occasionally sit down for now obvious reason and struggle to get up again. After about 6 months with this, not getting better or worse, suddenly he would randomly collapse sideways and look completely bewildered and unable to rise. That was the sign and the vet confirmed he had a serious back problem that was probably very painful now. The bewildered look was a cry for help.
Our current Collie (ex-Dogs Trust, came to us at 12 yo) is now 14 and very obviously has weak hips and other leg joints. She always struggles to get up and often her back end gives way, but she eats drinks and walks fine, and seems very happy. There have been days when I think "this is it" but then she confounds us. The cats love her and I think would also behave differently if she was struggling.

So you do need to look for signs. Reading your post several times, it does sound like the old chap is struggling and may be near the end, but if he is eating and still ok to go outside if accompanied, he is probably ok yet. I get the impression that the indoor poo is either because he's desperate or because he wants to be taken rather than take himself? You can tell a great deal from the poo itself though: if it's still fairly hard, then he is not stressed; if it gets runny and stays like it for a couple of days, and there's no reason for his guts to be upset, then its a sign of stress, especially if it goes yellow and bilious. That might be a sign to see whether the vet thinks it's time too.
 
I feel for you, I really do.
Some years ago I had a GSD that lived for 13 years.
When she was 10 she started having hip problems which was controlled by drugs for 3 years.
Towards the end she couldn't go for walks and she started pooing in the house.
I knew what I had to do but I just couldn't face it.
My girlfriend at the time told me it was her time and I just had to accept it.
I could tell from her face that my girl was telling me it was time to go.
On the way to the vets she pooed and had a wee in the car which wasn't like her and on that drive I knew it was her time.
At vets when they gave her the final injection I stayed with her, spoke to her and wailed like a baby.
I had her cremated and spread her ashes in a small Woodlands near a park where she grew up.
I still have her collar and bandanna and a fantastic photo of her with my favourite guitarist, Dave Gilmour on TV.
I know I will have to face the same when it's my current dogs time and it will be even harder as she was there when I went through a very dark period in my life.
I was with a friend some years ago when his Bull terrier died at home.
Mickey had the same expression on his face that my Elsa had at the time so I knew it was his time and he died an hour later.
It's never easy saying goodbye to a dog and it's only dog owners who truly understand what it's like to say goodbye to a loyal friend who loves you unconditionally.
I can't tell you what to do but hopefully my story will help you to make the right choice.
 
Cobra said:
Sorry to hear this Dale, and to be honest all the above, was the beginning of the end for my 15 year old GSD
Click to expand...

Everyone I've spoken to over the years have never heard of a GSD living 13 years and yours beat mine by 2.
 
Yep been here a few times and feel for you mate. Basically if he's still happy and mobile and pain free I think you're ok, but he's obviously at a point where any day now will be the day he simply cannot get up again and that's when it's vet time even if he seems ok in himself because the day after that when he still can't get up is the day after you wish you brought to the vet already :-(

Currently have an 18 month and 4 month border collies so I should be many years away from this point in their lives but it will come as it does to all.
 
hashcake said:
Everyone I've spoken to over the years have never heard of a GSD living 13 years and yours beat mine by 2.
Click to expand...
She was at least 3 when we got her, ( not a lot was known about her or they weren't saying) She was checked by my vet who put her age at 5, but I wasn't convinced TBH.
She stayed with us for just over another 12 years ...
 
If the dog still has a good quality of life and isn't suffering then let him live on and make his last days the best you can, once you're sure that this is no longer the case is the time to think of the big sleep.
 
I feel for you, I really do. We lost Molly my 14yr old staffie 18 months ago, she had been poorly for a few months and when the time came, there was no doubt it really was the time. It's a horrible thing to go through but something most dog owners have to confront at some point.

I remember after leaving the vets with Molly on the table and saying to my wife, no more dogs, I never want to go through that again. But in the end, those days of a heavy heart were soon eclipsed by the 14 years of joy she brought us.

After around a year it just seemed odd no longer having a dog in the house and we now have another staffie (rescue dog) and she is such a joy.
 
Not a dog owner but no easier for any loved pet ... been there and had to make the decision several times. :(

I felt the least stressful option was to have the vet come to my house, but you may feel differently ... I also let the others see that their friend had "gone" rather than just disappeared, which I think helped stop the "looking for them" afterwards.

You will know when the time has come and the problem is not calling too early ... it is leaving it too late.
 
Haven't had a dog since I was a kid at home, but we lost a cat a few years ago and that was hard enough, I can't imagine what it would be like for a dog, as they are much closer to you than cats.

I think you will really know, you will get the signs. Our last dog just couldn't get up when I came in from school, when he used to go bananas a year before. My Dad then told me that he had gone to a home for sick dogs, thought nothing other than that at the time then a couple of years later I realised that he just didn't want to hurt me....
 
Jelster said:
Haven't had a dog since I was a kid at home, but we lost a cat a few years ago and that was hard enough, I can't imagine what it would be like for a dog, as they are much closer to you than cats.
Click to expand...

Can't agree with that, our old moggy was a great companion and we were really choked when her time came.
We had a dog when I was a kid, never liked it much and mainly found it sad when it died because my mum was upset.
 
tijuana taxi said:
Can't agree with that, our old moggy was a great companion and we were really choked when her time came.
We had a dog when I was a kid, never liked it much and mainly found it sad when it died because my mum was upset.
Click to expand...


We've had 3 cats in the last 30 years all of which have been shown a heck of a lot of love, but only our first one really came anywhere near having a close bond, but still nothing like I had with our Lab when I was 14, we would go everywhere together. Our last cat was a rescue but she died of cancer. It choked me up at the time, and her ashes are buried in the garden, but I still don't think you get the bond with a cat like you do with a dog.
 
No, I disagree. if you've earned it, a cat will give you a great deal. All the cats I've had have been wonderful companions and pals, even if only at home because you don't walk them like a dog.
 
Jelster said:
but I still don't think you get the bond with a cat like you do with a dog.
Click to expand...

Exactly, you obviously don't, but there again I don't even like dogs let alone bond with one
My point is to the owner a loss of their loved critter is equally important/devastating no matter what species it is.
 
Come on Guys, Dale has enough to deal with without arguments in this thread , let's agree to disagree.

Dale as Heather has already said, just don't let Blue suffer, you will know what's best for him, hard though it is.
One of mine got incontinent and that for him was for a mental torture, he really hated having
accidents in the house, that stressed him out, unfortunately there wasn't a lot the vet could do about it
I wish you all the best, enjoy your boy for the time you have left with him
 
Last edited:
I just hope that by the time I want/need it, the option is available for humans.

Always hard to know when the "right time" has come - IMO, a day or 2 too soon is better than a day or 2 too late. Dreading the inevitable day when we have to make the decision for the cat.
 
Sorry to hear about your old boy Dale.
It's a difficult decision, but I think you'll know yourself when the time is right.
I'd be hanging off doing anything right now tbh, as long as he's not suffering.
Dignity is a consideration too, but the odd poo I'd expect from an old dog.
My old boy is a rescue dog and we're not sure exactly how old he is, but we've had him 10 years and they think he was about 3 when we got him.
He been everywhere with me, Glencoe is one of his favourite places.
He doesn't have as much energy as he used to, and sleeps a lot, but he's just had a good check over and some bloods done, and they say he's in good health for his age, but I know that can change quickly.
I'm dreading anything happening to him.
I keep thinking we should have one last jaunt up Glencoe before he's too old.

I feel for you pal.
 
Nod said:
I just hope that by the time I want/need it, the option is available for humans.

Always hard to know when the "right time" has come - IMO, a day or 2 too soon is better than a day or 2 too late. Dreading the inevitable day when we have to make the decision for the cat.
Click to expand...

I've had to make this decision five times, for five wonderful cats. It always left a hollow feeling inside me, and a sense of loss, but there were no regrets. Only memories.
 
It cannot be easy when a much loved family pet reaches the end of its life to the point when it's health is so poor that it is only a kindness to to 'let it go' by your own decision.

Though we have never owned dogs or cats, in my mid to late teens (this thread has brought back very old memories for me) I worked on Saturdays and school holidays as a volunteer assistant in the Wimbledon PDSA surgery. Suffice to say there were enough occasions (of varying circumstances) of pets being brought in to euthanised (or "put to sleep" as always called back then) sadly not all 100% due to ill health of the pet(s). And I still remember some specific animals & their owners to this day more than 50 years on!

As mentioned by many others above....................it is the good memories that need to linger on and not the suffering of the pet in the autumn of its days.
 
Last edited:
We had a wonderful crazy spotty dalmatian that had been a rescue dog . By the time we got him he was 3 years old and still didn't know his name [ which had never been changed].

Immediately we got him we realised he had a problem - his shoulders :( They should have been operated on as a youngster - so we saw to it - 6 months between them. He was a lovely beast as long as you didn't run towards him - then he went 100% into protection mode.

He was the only dog we have come across that actually pulled you into the Vet's Surgery - even in France when we took him on holiday with us.

He finally went on to Metacam and I was in charge of upping his dose when it was necessary . It got to the stage finally, when he was about 12, that we sent for our daughters to come and see him for the last time. When the time came I phoned the vet and he arranged for us to come down when the surgery was empty and he himself came out to the car to collect the spotty dog who trotted slowly into the surgery very happily. We followed and our beloved spotty dog fell asleep peacefully. We wept buckets and there was much alcohol consumed that evening - but he was at peace - free from pain.
 
Got my old GSD at six months as a rescue, and was lucky enough that she lived to 14 without a day of illness.
When she went downhill, she did it quickly, and in two days was gone.
Best dog I've ever had.
I still miss her something rotten.
 
I’m so sorry to hear about Blue. No matter how much you know when the time is right its still an amazingly hard decision
 
We’ve had to do this twice in the last 8 months, Archie just stopped being Archie, a trip to the vet within a couple of days confirmed he was in trouble and if he was hers, well, that made the decision, Finlay was at the kennels* when he managed to twist his stomach, emergency trip to vets who also found a cancer on his spine, these make it no choice, have you taken vets advice? Ours lives in the same street and know her as a neighbour and friend so trust her thoughts, it may point in the correct direction.
* He was my daughters dog and we wern’t able to take him for the full term of her holiday, not looking forward to her return fron Mexico.
My wife’s says no more animals in the house, it’s too hard when they go now.
 
Hi all, thanks for the replies. (y)

Blue soldiers on, he is amazingly resilient. His back legs are quite weak and he has some muscle wastage, which makes him look thin on the backend but he's regularly at the vet at least once a month as they are keeping an eye on him. When Blue had the vestibular a couple of years ago, I thought that was the inevitable but in the vet's words "we'll give him a chance" and he is still here. Our vet is awesome, almost a member of the family. :LOL:

Blue has a scheduled visit to the vet in a couple of weeks, I will touch on the subject then. I'm still sure Blue will let me know when, it's just a question of when, I know but maybe not quite yet. I love all our pets, we have 2 cats too, I'm not a cat man myself but we got a ragdoll kitten in 2006 and he is very doglike, I would have another ragdoll in a heartbeat. The other cat is a Bengal cross, she is nuts, does a wall of death to turn the corner in the hallway.

As for Blue, well, it's probably not long but he keeps going, for now at least. (y)
 
As long as he's enjoying life rather than existing. enjoy him.
 
It's never easy. My last dog, Jet, was a GSD and he lived to 14 1/4.
Over the last year or so he began to experience all of the problems that you've seen and he lost his hearing and his sight began to fail but he adapted to his lack of mobility etc and was clearly still enjoying life. Then, within the space of a day or so I could see that he didn't want to carry on - he stopped raising his head to look at what was going on and it was clear that his time had come.

But he had been having a mixture of good days and bad days for a while and I put off the decision for another day, hoping that it was just a bad day. It wasn't, and I put him down the next day. I felt very guilty about it because I had delayed the inevitable for a day - better a day early than a day late. . ..

My youngest son has a border collie, she was a working sheepdog for all of her active life and they have an incredibly close relationship. A rescue dog, not certain of her age but we think she's 16. She is now totally deaf and her eyesight is failing but she has adapted well and is still having a great life. I was playing ball with her a couple of days ago, most of the time it was me who had to retrieve the ball because she can't hear it and can hardly see it, but the fact that she still wants to play tells us all that we need to know. She still goes to work with my son every day although now she tends to ride in the tractor instead of running alongside it, but none of this matters because the quality of her life is excellent.

In my view it's all about the quality of life, not about the physical capability. Even humans adapt to reduced mobility, stamina, capacity and so on - dogs do so in spades.
 
Nod said:
Garry, can you get big dog balls with bells in (like cat toys but bigger)? Might save the thrower a few retrieval trips! (Maybe a blind football ball?) https://www.newitts.com/first-play-...Kt72y95DmdNYokpeK1ALS2UtdYy-fuTRoC4G8QAvD_BwE
Click to expand...
Sadly, she's too deaf to hear a bell inside a ball. It was the hearing loss that forced her retirement from sheep work, which she loved. For quite a while she was sort of able to work because although she could no longer hear the whistle she could follow hand signals - at least when she was facing the right direction - but the sight loss has now made that impossible. But not to worry, she's happy and still enjoying life, so my son just works around her limitations.
 
Sorry, missed the deafness in your earlier post!
 
Garry Edwards said:
A rescue dog, not certain of her age but we think she's 16. She is now totally deaf and her eyesight is failing but she has adapted well and is still having a great life.
Click to expand...

Strange that, I had a collie cross that was the same, hearing went first and he adapted well to sign language,
that made things a bit easier when the GSD came along, he learnt it to from an early age, making agility training
easier too.
When his sight went we kept him on an extender lead for walks, sadly we lost him to cancer a year later
on christmas morning
 
Dale, you have my sympathies - it is a heart breaking decision to make, and one which I fear is approaching for me and the wife :(

We have a Husky x Labrador who is just 13 years old. She had vestibular syndrome a short while ago and is now suffering with spinal problems and being unsteady on her pins. At the moment she is still eager for walks but they have had to be shortened considerably. Today she was laying on the lawn sunbathing and looked sublimely serene but we know it won't be long. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of her today and one is posted in the pictures for pleasure section on here.
 
Had dogs all my life and have twice had to make the euthanasia decision. First was my beloved spaniel diagnosed with rage syndrome, quite rare and mainly in spaniels. I held her whilst the vet injected and felt her go limp, I was in bits. Second was a rescue with cancer who ended up living a good year past her expected 6-10 months, she went downhill fast and vet said it was either spend the last few days uncomfortable and in pain or euthanize so we decided to end the suffering there and then.

Not nice decisions but for the best.
 
strumstrum said:
Not nice decisions but for the best.
Click to expand...


I've only had to do it once. When my first dog died, he was fitting horribly and the vet managed to get a needle in between fits. I know he wouldn't have survived the day, but I was still in pieces
 
Dale - sorry to hear your situation but this is spot on
Bobsyeruncle said:
Sorry to hear about your old boy Dale.
It's a difficult decision, but I think you'll know yourself when the time is right.
Click to expand...

I have seen dogs on 3 or 2 legs being happy. I have had a dog with metastatic cancer.

You will know the prognosis.

Pets know not to mess in the house. If they do then likely they will feel awkward, guilty and embarrassed.

You will know when your pets behaviour changes (but others may not notice) and in the case of mine there was one day she looked up at me with the ‘I have had enough and can’t go on’. You’ll know when they are no longer coping and that’s the day for the dreaded appointment with the vet.

Best wishes for your difficult decision.

John.
 
Speak to your vet. They have the experience and hopefully can give an objective answer.
 
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated and thought provoking too. Blue is still his old self and seems happy enough, I'm quite sure he's not suffering, I would know if he was I'm sure. He still has that happy look and is interested in life as well as a bounce in his step, he gave me a look this morning that took me back to when he was a pup.

I know it's coming but maybe not quite yet.
 
When the time came with my pals(not pets) I have been there to hold their hand and to say goodbye, not easy(even now) but better than suffering, it’s about remembering the good times.
 
Last edited:
This is always a tough one and you have my absolute sympathies. I've had to make the big decision for my old dog and also an elderly horse (I now have younger versions of both, so will have to go there again at some point). They do say a day too soon is better than a day too late. If I were you, I'd pop him in to your vet and have a sensible chat about his quality of life and take it from there. He sounds to me as if he's OK for now, but take it a day at time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top