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Since I swear she understands english, that may be the cause of her perking up today
Thank you again!
I think they sometimes understand english too. Especially when it really matters. When my ChiChi was ready to go, and I let her linger far too long, she finally rallied for a few hours and I asked her what I needed to do. Ok, more like I was begging her but you get the drift. And she came to me and put her paw on my face and rubbed her head against mine and in that moment I heard her tell me she had to leave. Not long after she went back into her listless state and I made the hardest call I ever had to make. The next day she went home to the Lord and while I still miss her so much it hurts I am glad I heard her and am also glad to have the greatest vet and veteranarian staff on the planet to help both the Cheechers and myself.
And dammnit, you all have me crying as well. Stop that!!
Won't some pharmacutecial company please please please make some sort of pill that can extend the life of our pets? Their time here is just not long enough and it's not fair. I always say if I make it to heaven that me and God are gonna have a serious chat about their short lives.
Molly is our 13 year old lab who is in declining health. She sleeps most of the day now, and is interacting with us less and less. Her hearing is about 75% gone. She has the cough of a dog with lung/ heart issues (not all the time but occasionally) and has been having issues with pooping in her sleep a couple times a week- not every day thank goodness. Her hind end is giving out on her, she falls occasionally, and she has stiffness in her joints and difficulty getting up at times.
The problem that we have is that she is on Proin for spay incontinence (she has been on this most of her life- basically since before it was available), and unfortunately she can not tolerate any other medication to help with ANY of her other issues. We have tried pain medication, medication to help with the cough etc...my cabinet is full of prescriptions that we can't give her because EVERYTHING causes vomiting and diarrea- either because of the Proin, or because she is just that sensitive to medication.
Everyone says "what is her quality of life" and I have to say it is still pretty good- we are trying to give her her dignity as she is declining (not fussing at her when she makes a mess etc). She is alert and happy the majority of the time. I just do not know if she is hurting and uncomfortable. I know she hates it when she makes a mess (she ducks her head and lays her ears own when she sees me cleaning it up) If she was human I would say she is embarrassed.
Sorry to ramble...we have consulted our long time vet and friend and she says we'll know when it's time. Molly is just so stoic that I am afraid I won't know, and I will be one of those owners who lets things go on longer than they should. The whole thing is tearing me up. She is my baby- our first "kid" who we got when we were engaged. She has been our faithful friend and I feel like a traitor even THINKING about putting her down.
I don't think we are going to have a catastrophic event that will signal that she is ready. I am afraid we will just have to make the call and I will always wonder if it was too soon or too late...
My point is...how will we know? Thanks for reading this far...any insight would be much appreciated.
I've always figured that if they no longer have any interest in 2 out of 3 of their favorite things it was time to let them go. A few months ago we had to make that decision for our cat. She had kidney failure though. She spent the weekend in the ER vets office trying agressive therapy, but she just kept getting worse and the vet told us she would never be well enough to come home. She had to be force fed and wouldn't even move when she had to void, just peed where she laid. We made the decision when her 4th round of tests showed her kidneys just kept getting worse.
If you ask a person what time it is they look at the clock. If you ask a dog what time it is they will say, "NOW, NOW, NOW"!
I don't have anything to add to the wonderful previous posts except to say your dog is lucky to have such a wonderful family. Enjoy your NOW with your sweet girl, Mom. Hugs to you and Molly.
We are going through the exact same thing now with our Ben. He is 20-maybe older.
A year ago March he was diagnosed with a tumor growing from his liver into his abdomen. The vet felt it was too risky to do a biopsy so we just prepared ourselves for the worst.
A year ago Memorial Day, after going out in the morning he just laid down and went to sleep. He wouldn't eat or drink and was just passed out. We thought that was it. We couldn't wake him up for anything. We prepared his bed on the couch and waited and watched all day. Wow what a bad day that was. Right before bedtime, my husband carried him outside and helped him stand up. He woke up a little and did his business. He came in and had some water and a little food. Then he started to walk around a bit. Shocked my husband, me, the other dog and the cat. We just stared at him in wonder.
He has since been on four vacations with us. He does wear a diaper when we are at work. And three years ago he was diagnosed with "doggy dementia" but Anipryl helped that greatly.
So quality of life is a tough one. He still tries to get to the door to go out. He wants his treats when he comes in. He still has a great appetite. He likes to be held, I think it makes him feel safe.
It's a daily struggle. We don't freak out too much any more when he has a bad day. We have learned. We watch and worry. But I believe we will know when the time comes. Hopefully he will just go to sleep at home with us. If not, we are prepared to ease any pain he has and let him go.
It's tough. You will know in your heart. Good luck.
OK. Now Ya'll have ME crying...as if I don't do that enough around her LOL.
You are all so wonderful...sharing your personal stories...offering encouragement and support. I can't thank you all enough, REALLY.
So now for a Molly Update...
Last night we took a walk. OK well is was really short- like maybe a block. We've been trying to do this the past several weeks to help to stimulate her to poop outside, and it seems to be helping in that area.
I didn't leash Molly because even when she was a spry young thing she wouldn't wander off (don't tell the leash police). I can't remember when I needed to leash her other than if other folks were out walking...Anyway, halfway thru the walk she apparently thought it would be GREAT to make a dash for it...whatever it may be to a 13 year old grannie dog. I actually had to catch her and leash her up so she wouldn't take off. All I could think was where does she think she's going?!?
Walked her again tonight and she was dragging her rear paws and was breathing heavily about a quarter of the way through. It made me realize that our days really are numbered because walks are on my list of things she enjoys doing...
Anyway...thank you all again. For now we are waiting and watching and loving our big goofball of a doggie girl...I am atempting to add her picture...
Bearsmom your Molly is beautiful. Must be a thing about Mollys as my Molly is quite the cutie too.
Hang in there and know you are doing what is best for your girl.
All our love and hopes from me and my Molly to you and yours.
My black lab had lymphoma. I chose to have him treated. He was mostly out of remission but hung on for 8 months. Had one very bad day but snapped back for a month or so. Then a second bad day he did not get better. The veterinary oncologist recommended humane euthanasia. April 12th. I miss him so much. Fighting the disease was one thing, but I would not let him suffer further. He was a rescue who was lame most of his life, one leg an inch shorter than the other.
Molly is a very sweet looking girl. Bless you for taking such good care of her.
Last edited by HarryLou; 06-03-2010 at 08:37 PM..
Reason: left out a word
Molly is a sweet looking girl. Your story about her being unleashed and making a dash for it... where ever it may be made me laugh. Old dogs can be so determined and our days with them can be true gifts. My Jazz is 14 and so far is still very alert and active. No one has been brave enough to tell her she is old as she is the Queen. Enjoy your days with Molly . I hope she has many good ones left.
While I feel sad that the lives of our dogs and cats is so short I have to admit that I believe that our pets are here to help us through certain periods of our lives. I also will say that I look at the short life span this way...if my dog or cat lived as long as I did I would have missed knowing so many great dogs and Cats. My life has been full of them and each and everyone has been so special in its own way that to me the real sadness is not having them for such a short time but rather would be to never have known each and everyone of them.
One does not replace another as they are such individuals and being such they each have taught me something and left paw prints on my heart that will never wash away.So yeah the real sadness would to have not known each one.
If it makes anyone feel better when I was deciding to put Dash down last year ( nasal cancer) I contacted a pet communicator that I had used years ago with Jazz. That time it was a fund raiser for a local agility club. That woman only asked me her name and age and how long I had her then she told me all sorts of things that only Jazz and I knew...made me go from huge skeptic to a believer ( though there are alot of fakes out there and they tend to ask you questions then sort of use that info to feed back to you).
When I called her about Dash she only asked his name , breed , age and how long I had him and then she started telling me what she was picking up on and without me even saying yes or no she zoomed in on the fact that she thought he had cancer and that he was terribly afraid of having a huge nose bleed . She told me that he said he was ready to leave and that I had done all I could and he did not even want to go anyplace or see anyone as we had done that ( and yes we had done that!). She said he had already told the other dogs and they understood he was leaving and that they would have to help me.She also said that someone had come for him twice already but he was not ready to leave either time.But now he was ready but was willing wait until I was ready.
Then what she said blew me away as she said he claimed that he had lived with me twice already in my life time and that I should not worry as he said he would come back to me again and she added he said to tell you not to worry as he knows where you live. I had always called him my navigator as he loved to stand between the front seats in the car and he seemed to know where we were going by what he was seeing..if I had to take a detour he would look at me like " this is not how we get there" That info made me laugh.
I felt she may be right as I adopted him from the local human society at 1 yr and from that moment we left the place he was super bonded to me. I was able to take him to a large park that allows off leash dogs that very next day and he stayed right with me and came everytime I called him. Others pointed out that if I was around he never took his eyes off me. I always knew he was meant to be with me that he was my dog from the moment I saw him so yeah maybe we did have a past together! Kind of comforting to think he may be back some day as yet another pet.
When we did go to the vet he sat in the front seat and just looked out the window instead of being in his usual spot. It was like he was drinking in the views one last time so he remembered them well. He was so calm and layed down when I asked him too and did not fight the vet at all..amazed everyone as it was like he understood why we were there and that yes he was ready. It was all so peaceful and feeling that yes he was ready took a huge burden off of me and I was at peace with it .
We tend to worry that our animals will be hurt , angry or even betrayed that we are ending their life but I think often they are ready to move on and it is our last act of love to them to let them go.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Oh, Anita... Molly is so beautiful. (And, personally, I love that she walks with you without a leash.)
I hope you had a good laugh about Molly's sprint/dash on your walk. I did. It sounds like she's got a lot of spunk for an old broad, even if she was sluggish on yesterday's walk.
Hugs to you. Kisses and scratches to Molly.
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