Terrible decision day-

[SCW]

Today I have to decide how much money my dog's life is worth. With enough money I can save his life, but probably not at nearly the same quality.

My Airedale 'The Knucklehead' is now 6 years old and seems to have slipped a disc in his hips last night, he's not responding to treatment overnight at the vet. The vet told me he's never seen a dog in that much pain, and if you know terriers you know that for pain to even manifest, it's a lot of pain. So he's on an IV with some steroids to help the swelling, but even if they get the swelling down it's only a short term fix, and there's now way I'm going to be able to pay the $1100 for an MRI plus the cost of a surgical fix, that again will only help, not fix the problem.

So here I sit, waiting for their office to call me back with an estimate of cost to keep going with what's not working. I'm getting a little emotional just thinking about where I'm going to bury him, he's a mountain dog first and last, but there is so much snow around I think I'll find a nice spot of desert where we have done some coyote calling together and try to chip a hole for him.

This sucks.

 

[x2elite]

Man this is a really tough situation..... been there done that. Its a hard decision, but you know him best. My dog was very active, and just knowing that he was never going to be able to be that active again broke my heart.

 

[SCW]

Just got the call. I'm sitting at $1,800 right now and another $600 to keep this up for another 24 hours. So far it's not working so I have to decide if I'm going to keep trying or give up. Unfortunately, the scale is tipping to giving up because the long term prognosis is really not very good regardless.

This still sucks.

 

[FordGuy]

I can feel your pain. What a tough decision. We had a young Australian Shepard that developed a blood disease, it was my sons dog, spent a couple thousand and she was not getting better, my 10 year old son tells me Dad don't worry, I have plenty of money saved please lets keep trying to save her, At that point I was Screwed, $6,500.00 latter we had to put her down, which my son did sitting on the floor with the vet, holding her in his arms till she was gone. I never cried so much in my life watching him hold his dog while she was put to sleep. We do love our Dogs. Good luck with your Decision.

 

[98XJSport]

Worst decision in the world. But knowing every active dog Ive owned it would kill me more to "save" them only to have them live a life of suffering, not being able to run, romp and play like they were born to do. Its taking away what they are, thier nature.

 

[90Blue_XJ]

I also lost a favorite dog a few years back. A Chow-Chow that was my constant companion. She was with me about ten years and I loved her dearly. It broke myheart when she passed away. I have her burried in my yard and there is a beautiful rose bush growing over her now. Every time I look at that rose bush it brings back the fond memories of her and how we played together. I will forever miss her and I'm sure that you will miss "Knucklehead" too, but it is for her comfort that you have her put down. If you love her as much as I loved mine then you can't let her suffer. Even if you were Donald Trump the fact that she is suffering is enough to turn the tide. Best of luck with the most difficult of decisions.

 

[Bubba Dolphin]

My Lab has hip displacia(?) and I have been quoted $6-10K for the surgery, depending on which doctor I go to. I've also been told that due to his age(4.5yo) that the surgery may not work and he will be in the same place as before, and I'd be out a serious amount of money. So, I decided to place him on some medication to alleviate his pain and I also limit his extreme physical exertion to about once a week. He still gets plenty of exercise during the week, but we have stopped doing our 2-3/week trips.

As long as he can get up to take a crap, I will do what I can to make him comfortable.

Good luck with whatever you decision is.

Regards,
Jon

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

I feel your pain regarding this. One of my hunting dogs (A Britney) was getting pretty bad over the last year. I kept thinking that every hunting trip would be his last. Well, he made it through this last season and I thought that if he would make it through this harsh winter, then we would have one more season before I would "retire" him from the hunting. He was all but deaf and had hip displacia, but was always there to be loaded up in the truck no matter whether we were going hunting or just out to check cattle. Over the past few weeks I had not been loading him up to check cattle with me b/c it was just too cold for him to ride on the flatbed. Last weekend when it finally warmed up a bit I went out to his kennel to let him ride along with me to run around the farm for the day, and he had passed away over night. It sucks b/c he is the dog that my son has grown up with and that I have hunted with for more then 10 years, but I am glad that he passed in his sleep rather then me having to make a decission of putting him to sleep. Best of luck with your decission.

 

[Darky]

We had a mutt (lab/terrier/husky). Got her when I was 5 or 6, had her 12 yrs. She was a very active dog, running and playing and jumping. Then her hip went out. We held on for a week, but she wasn't herself. She'd try to drag herself around but it wasn't good for her, so we had to put her down. It was tough and there wasn't a dry eye in the room, not even the vet, but I still believe it to be the right thing to do for her.

 

[RichP]

Don't be selfish, do whats good for the dog not you, the surgery will not last long term and the dog will be in pain from now on. Time to let go, it's hard, we had to let our westie go after 12 years and man it's tough.

 

[SCW]

Well, it's pretty much a done-deal at this point. I'm headed to the vet to get him and bring him home for his last goodbyes, then he and I will take one last trip to the desert this afternoon.

Yuck.

 

[RichP]

I'm sorry.

 

[97XJ Jeeper]

Now that right there is mans best friend. Very hard thing to do. I feel for ya man.
:angel:

 

[RTicUL8]

.

 

[HaleYes]

A man whom I respect once told me: "The right decision is often the hardest decision."

I went through very similar circumstances 6 months ago with my Lab. Not fun at all.

Hang in there man.

 

[SCW]

Well, maybe a glimmer of hope. He's standing again but only for a few seconds at a time. The vets think that there is a possibility that we can get the immediate inflamation under control and get him on his feet to a limited degree, and just deal with pain management for the remainder of his life.

I'm going to give it a shot. His running, hiking, hunting rough-housing is completely over, very suddenly, but he can live out his life crapping in the yard and wishing he could play.

Or, he could take a turn for the worse and I take him to the desert later in the week. I've shot my own dog before but this time it's completely different. This damn dog can read my mind (and ignore everything I'm thinking) and I'm really having a hard time with this. One day at a time for now I guess.

 

[Stumpalump]

Good luck with the little beast. I'd keep him around even if he's not 100% phisically. You will allways love the dog just as much even if he can't jump as high or run as fast. He will let you know if he gets sick and tired of being sick and tired but as long as he is still fighting then do all you can do to help him.

 

[BruceB83]

I can feel your pain. What a tough decision. We had a young Australian Shepard that developed a blood disease, it was my sons dog, spent a couple thousand and she was not getting better, my 10 year old son tells me Dad don't worry, I have plenty of money saved please lets keep trying to save her, At that point I was Screwed, $6,500.00 latter we had to put her down, which my son did sitting on the floor with the vet, holding her in his arms till she was gone. I never cried so much in my life watching him hold his dog while she was put to sleep. We do love our Dogs. Good luck with your Decision.

Damn...that almost made me tear up and I don't have any kids.

This sucks man. You seem to be very close to this dog, just look into his eyes...that will tell you what is right and what he wants. Good luck with it.

 

[WB9YZU]

SCW, Sorry to hear about you difficulties.

If you decide to put your dog down, let the Vet do it. Less personal issues that way and it's 100% guaranteed not to feel anymore than a pinprick.

Ron

 

[Darky]

x2
my dog tensed for a split second when the needle went in and then she just relaxed and fell asleep