I have a 15 and a half year old dog. She is the absolute light of my life, I have had her since I was just out of high school. She has a heart disease which she takes medication for twice daily. She has been on this for about 18 months. She has 'syncope episodes' ( temporary loss of consciousness caused by a fall in blood pressure) occasionally when she gets overly excited. Unfortunately, these episodes are part of her heart disease and are generally managed by the medications she is on. They still occur sometimes though. They look like a seizure and they are horrible to witness. She also now has lumps on her breasts. Because of the location, she is starting to seem uncomfortable when just laying down (since they are on her belly). Her belly is starting to get a little bloated too which I suspect is probably fluid build-up.
She went to the Vet a few months ago and they said that they could sedate her and do biopsies etc. but not only would that be expensive (we have spent thousands on our pets in the last few years) but sedating her could be dangerous with her heart issues and the fact that she is 15 and a half.
So we decided not to go down that route but to keep her at home as long as she seemed happy. She has always been a high energy dog, but now we can't walk her because she gets too excited and has the syncope episodes. The lumps on her belly are slowly getting bigger and it feels like every time you pat here there's a new small lump somewhere. She has had laboured breathing sometimes, for example this week was 2 nights in a row but then the next night she slept fine.
Over the last 18 months my partner and I have had the talk about putting her to sleep but yesterday we kind of decided it's time and that we'd do it in the next few days. She seems uncomfortable and she is anxious if we aren't with her, she frets and follows us around which she never did before. She now also sometimes flinches when you pat her and to me that says she is in pain.
Our housemate tells me this morning that she seems fine during the day (although she pretty much just sleeps until we get home from work), she still eats and goes to the toilet outside and trots around the yard and occasionally gets a small burst of energy. He thinks that she's still fine and now I'm feeling seriously guilty about making this decision. I'm trying to do the best thing for her because she's been on a steady decline for 18 months and I'm scared that I will hesitate and hold off too long on putting her to sleep and she will suffer unnecessary pain. I cannot imagine my life without her and I feel sick at the thought of putting her to sleep but I'm trying to think with my head and do the right thing for her.
Just now my partner phones me and asks if I'm sure about it and when I say she didn't want to get out of bed this morning for her meds and was dopey and stuff, his reply is 'well she just woke up'. He says 'we don't have to make this decision right now, why don't we just wait and see how she is'. So now I'm feeling even guiltier and confused and horrible. Of course I don't WANT to put her to sleep but I'm honestly scared that she will have some sort of drawn out horrible death related to the cancer she has or the heart issues she has.
Everyone says 'you will know when it is time' but I don't know! Am I being too premature? Or am I doing the kindest thing I can do for my baby? She seems uncomfortable and tired and she has lumps and heart issues and I hate that, but no she also isn't quite dragging herself to deaths door either.
Sorry this is such a long post and please don't say anything if you are going to be horrible because I'm in tears writing this. I just needed to vent and hope that someone has some sort of experience or knowledge or something that can help me make this decision.
[link] [comments]
from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/dc4ar1/how_to_know_when_it_is_the_right_time/
No comments:
Post a Comment