My husband and I have a soon-to-be 15 year old dog with significant mobility and incontinence issues. As of late, he cannot get up unassisted about 90% of the time, even on carpet (most of our house is hardwood, but we do have several rugs that he tends to lay on). Our boy has also been dealing with incontinence issues, both fecal and urinary. The hard thing is my dogs body is so strangely shaped that no diapers work for him, and we’d rather not have to pick out dried poo from his fur. Luckily we just discovered belly bands for the urinary incontinence and it’s been working well (he constantly dribbles pee). Sadly we’ve been woken up quite a few times in the middle of the night to our boy stuck in his own poo (which isn’t making keeping up with our 6 week old son any easier).
I guess what I’m getting at is, how do we know it’s the right time to say goodbye? He has been “my” dog (I’m currently 28 and adopted my boy when I was 14, so to say we’ve been through it all together is an understatement), but I almost feel like, as painful and utterly devastating as it will be, I’m more ready than my husband is to say goodbye. I know my boy is in pain. I know he’s suffering.
My dog will slowly walk and trip, fall, etc. to get to a toy, and he is eating as we’re mostly feeding him chicken and high quality wet food, eggs, etc. still wants treats. So, my husband doesn’t agree that it’s time. But other than those few points, I know he’s in pain and his quality of life has diminished. This decision is putting a rift between my husband and I during what is already a stressful time - as I mentioned, we have a six week old (human) son. Am I being selfish? Is my husband being selfish?
Side note: Our boy is on prednisone and tramadol.
Thanks for any advice or insight.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/cfzepr/seeking_advice_regarding_elderly_dog_when_is_the/
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