Letting your dog die naturally versus putting them down (yorkie, cleaning, infection)

[brokencrayola]

In concept, the idea of letting a dog die naturally sounds fine, except for instances where they are in pain. It certainly isn't fair to allow a dog, or any animal, to needlessly suffer.

[Skydive Outlaw]

I had a 14 year old Australian Shepard that passed away in 2002. It would not "die naturally" and the most human thing that I could do was have her put to sleep. I spent the last day with her and took her in late at night after about 11pm at a vet office that was open 24 hours for emergencies. She had been going tot hat office for the previous 3 years.

And when I say she would not die naturally. She wouldn't - and her quality of life towards the end was absolutely horrible. In some way, I kept her alive the entire final year more for myself and despite the fact that she was sleeping almost 18 hours a day did not matter to me. But not all dogs die naturally.

In the last two years of her life:

Her kidneys stopped working efficiently and I had to give her pills that made them contract more and cause her to drink water.

She developed fluid on her lungs and had to be on medication for that or she would pass out occasionally.

Dental problems that caused pain in her back teeth (and abcesses), that included extractions that she should not have made it through after being put under for oral surgery.

Her eye sight was going bad and she was walking into things.

And finally she developed a brain tumor that caused her to start having seizures. Sometimes she would be standing up and just fall into a wall or anything near her and start convulsing, and lose bladder control, then come out of it and go to sleep. I can't count the number of nights that happened while she was sleeping next to me and it would wake me up, and her having lost bladder control in my bed. I didn't care though.

But eventually, enough was enough and I had to put MY selfish wants above trying to keep her alive in the state she was in. I had her since she was a puppy and most of my best life memories were with that dog. She witnessed women in my life come and go, grew up with me and I coudn't stand to see her that way anymore.

And, finally putting her down was a hard thing to go through, but the vet gave her a shot first that just put her to sleep but was not fatal and let me hold her in a room for about 20 minutes as she fell asleep from it and then once she was asleep, gave her the lethal injection. Sometimes it is just time for a life force to move on and transcend to the next level of existence.

[Padgett2]

My little one had breast cancer. We covered the furniture with sheets so that she could still lie with us on the couches.

But one day, she looked at me and I knew she was trying to ask me why I was letting her hurt so. Why didn't I do something to make it better. She trusted me. That's when I decided it was time. I told her, and I think she understood.

We had another on that was elderly and started to die on a Sunday Night. I sat up with her until she died.

I don't know which was worse. But I wouldn't have let her just die if the vet's office was open.

[pablito228]

Hello

We've been having a Hard time with Pablito, our chihuahua, his case is very complicated, neurological is the worst illness, cushings, diabetes, among others, now he is at home after so many medications, hospitals MRI etc, everybody keeps telling is to put him asleep but we can't do that, he has no pain, his motion is bad, almost can't walk, he barks and just when he sleeps he is fine... He still eats very good and drinks water but that makes the decision even worse for the two of us, we just can't kill him, at the same time we have been through a lot with him but I guess age decides everything but we wish he could die naturally but I guess we are not that lucky, we don't sleep, we look like ghosts, he gives us short hopes, then, next day he goes down again and can't walk, it is so hard for all of us... Don't know how to take that decision, I wish I could give him so sedative and that his hearth stops, I really wish that I'm can't find an exit to this suffering... this is the toughest thing we have been through, he went with us to every single place we went, trips, overseas trips, everywhere and it's hard to do it. Good luck to all of you because this is killing us and we also need the Luck.

[trudiee troost]

Our dog was 13 years old, had a great life until her last day. She fell over having what looked like a heart attack. We arrived at the dr. and they wanted us either to spend several thousand dollars to find out what was wrong or put her down. I opted for neither. She cam home, laid by the fire, ate and drank. The family came over to say goodbye and her tail waged. We covered with blanket when we went to bed and low and behold she came up the stairs to our bedroom where she always slept and nuzzle my hand. I sat with her and said kind words to her. At three in the morning she had another attack, emptied her bowels, I knew this was it. I held her and stroked her and she passed away about 5 to 10 minutes later. I feel like it was much kinder for her to die in the arms of my husband and I who loved her so much rather then have her poked and
die thinking we had left her with strangers. The vet said it would hurt her but I wish when my time comes I could die in the arms of those that love me and have it take 5 or 10 minutes. I think this might not be for everyone but for us it was right. We loved Baby as if she was a child..a true friend who showed unconditional love. We will miss her so. Trudiee

[TinaMcG]

We lost both of our heart dogs in the last two months of last year. As gutting as the second loss was, and it was hell, the first one was worse because our Hallie died 12 hours after surgery, at 10pm, and we weren't with her. She was in a 24-hour hospital with great caregivers, but she just couldn't go on. The second loss was Jimmy, two days after Christmas, and when the vet showed us his x-rays of bone cancer of the spine, there was no question what we had to do.

Jimmy had a debilitating case of arthritis, as well as a gum/mouth disease called CUPS. He neededmost of his teeth removed to control the disease, and though my husband really wanted to get it done, I didn't think our 14-year old boy could withstand the surgery OR the recovery time afterwards. He was on three pain meds and God knows how many supplements for his joints and mouth. His breath could clear a room, and it broke our hearts because we knew that smell meant he was in pain. He could hardly walk, so we were having him do underwater treadmill and cold laser therapy.

I was stunned, but a tiny bit relieved when the vet said Jimmy had bone cancer. It was clear for a couple of months that he just did not want any of this. He wanted to be with Hallie. I knew it and couldn't say anything to my husband, who loved that dog more than his own kids, I think.

So we held him as he left this world and we saw it as the most loving thing we had ever done for him. He knew we were there, and we talked to him, and the ONLY brightness that appeared in his eyes as the vet prepared the injection was when I told him he was going to see Hallie. I will cherish that moment always.

[sskink]

If I had the option to put ours to sleep I would've done it in a heartbeat, and in fact that was our plan. Our golden had hemangiosarcoma. He'd been operated on to remove his cancerous spleen and part of a liver lobe removed. We were told eight weeks was reasonable, but if saw more bloating from internal bleeding, it would come soon after that.

So we knew he was going to go soon, but not as suddenly as he did. It was six weeks after the operation. He was still mobile, still pooping solidly, still eating/drinking the day he passed. We thought we had at least another few days. But he went late on a Sunday night and likely would've died in the car even if we tried to get him to a vet - the closest one that was open was 45 minutes away.

The rapid decline was pretty awful. We tried to comfort him, but he was gasping for breath for a good 20 minutes and it was obvious he was in agony. Then he used up whatever energy he had to stand up one more time, give me a look, then collapsed into a table. His tongue hanging out and he was completely unresponsive. He was gone for all intents and purposes, but there was another 20 minutes of death throes. At that point you just want it to stop. It's a memory I wish I didn't have. I would choose the needle over that every time.

[TinaMcG]

Sskink, I am so awfully sorry you and your boy went through that. It is such a difficult decision. When our Hallie was diagnosed with a splenic mass and the vets all thought it was likely cancer, we refused to believe it because our other dog had had a splenectomy just six months earlier and it was just a hematoma. He rebounded beautifully after that surgery. She had her spleen removed, but before it could be biopsied, she died (she was also battling pneumonia, which couldn't be completely controlled until her spleen came out). My husband and I had no idea what we would have done if she had recovered from the surgery and pneumonia only to succumb to hemangiosarcoma a short time later. Looking back, though, I think we would have opted to make the heartbreaking decision to let her go. She endured so much her last week on this earth. We couldn't have put her through any more.

[denverian]

I think it really depends on the individual dog's health at the end of their lives. We put our MinPin down 5 months ago and it was the most difficult thing I've ever gone through. But she had so many things going wrong at once (arthritis, diabetes, Cushings, and we had her on pills to try and shrink a tumor on her kidney) but she quit eating the day before we put her down, could hardly move around, was drinking and peeing so much, and then we could no longer give her insulin due to the lack of eating. The final morning, we knew it was time. She was beginning to suffer.

But our neighbor had a dog that was very old and obviously at the end of her life, but nothing specific other than bad arthritis. Their dog passed while they slept one night.

I was there with our dog to her last breath. It was quite peaceful and over fast, so I don't think the acutal process caused her any great suffering. And I was there with her to comfort her every second, talking to her. It still makes me sad to think about I think about her every day....

[gouligann]

If only our beloved pets could all die peacefully in their sleep. Unfortunately, it rarely happens that a dog just gets old and stays happy and healthy until it dies.

We've never had the fortune of this happening. Through the years, we've had to put 4 of our fur-babies down because they were suffering and we would not let them suffer any more.

My husband and I witnessed a very selfish act of dog owners prolonging their suffering dog's life one time when we were teenagers. We were both sickened by it, and we vowed we would never allow that to happen to any animal of ours. This dog was kept alive because the owners just didn't want to say goodbye. We all love our pets, but we have to love them enough to end their suffering too.