Pets...what do you have?

[xSilverPhinx]

My beautiful German Shepard (female, 13 years old):

For some reason it opens in a small screen, the 'full screen' button works, though.

You can notice her hind legs are already atrophied, especially in the second video.  Her situation has worsened considerably since these were filmed, she can barely maintain enough muscle tension in her shoulders to stay in that position (she keeps falling to her side), and she is no longer urinating without somebody pressing her underbelly. I bought a child's mattress for her but she has bed wounds on both sides.

The vet comes by this afternoon, and while part of me does not want to hear she should be put down, an even bigger part of me doesn't want to see her suffer anymore.

[hermes2015]

The vet comes by this afternoon, and while part of me does not want to hear she should be put down, an even bigger part of me doesn't want to see her suffer anymore.

So sorry to hear that, but I agree with you that one does not want to see them suffer. Some pets are like one's children. I certainly love my little Lulu as much as any human child.

[Dave]

Slver, you suffer the inevitable dortow of oet owners, I have watched two good friends go through this four times each.

I only ever had one cat, Oppy, a real rogue, but had to give him up in moving. My late sister took him in, along with her other three cats and a real dope of a dog. Oppy never quite managed to get the idea that Rose's old queen cat was the family boss, no matter how many times she beat him up.

He died of kidney failure in the end, purring and seeking strokes and scratches to the last. I was not there but the kids told me all about it.

I know a little of the sorrow.

[Sandra Craft]

The vet comes by this afternoon, and while part of me does not want to hear she should be put down, an even bigger part of me doesn't want to see her suffer anymore.

I'm so sorry you're both going thru this.  As much as you don't want them to suffer, it's so painful to lose them. 

[Tank]

...

The vet comes by this afternoon, and while part of me does not want to hear she should be put down, an even bigger part of me doesn't want to see her suffer anymore.

[Biggus Dickus]

The vet comes by this afternoon, and while part of me does not want to hear she should be put down, an even bigger part of me doesn't want to see her suffer anymore.

I'm so sorry you're both going thru this.  As much as you don't want them to suffer, it's so painful to lose them.

Yes very sorry to hear this xSP,...hugs if you want them.

[Icarus]

Me too xSP.  I am a dog guy who has lost several of them over the years.  I am not a bit ashamed when I cry openly about my best friends demise. I know that you also have to do what you have to do. I am sorry.

[xSilverPhinx]

The vet had a look at her and said that while she is deteriorating physically and her bed sores are causing her some discomfort he thinks euthanasia is still not necessary. Her instinct is still to survive, since she's still eating and drinking water. She's still lucid and alert, her eyes were darting all over when the vet was examining her - she would look at us, then at him, then at us, as if to ask 'what the hell is going on? Who is this human?'

I'm in a dilemma. Like I said before I don't want to put her down, but on the other hand don't want to see her suffer either. The vet recommended euthanasia only when she stopped eating and drinking, but I don't know.

Her bed sores are mostly what are worrying me, they very quickly became open wounds on both sides of her hip where the head of her femur is located, even though we turn her over frequently and she's always lying on a mattress, never on the floor. We bought a veterinary cocktail of insecticide/antisepsis/epithelial growth stimulator/fly repellent, but one of her wounds became infested with maggots anyway. We gave her a pill to purge the maggots and continued to apply the medication and now the wounds are finally healing. The vet said that they will always cause her pain though, since she's losing the muscle and fat that previously cushioned that area, being left with only skin over bone.     

She still has some fight left in her though, maybe I should respect that? Go along with what the vet said and only euthanise her when she finally enters the stage when she resigns herself to death and stops eating and drinking?

It's like a part of my brain orders me not to have her killed. To not allow it. It brings back memories of when I found her in a run-down pet store, a three month old poorly treated, traumatised, puppy, still floppy-eared and covered in her own poop, in a cage along with two other pups. My mother bargained with the vendor and bought what looked like the healthiest  - the most playful - of the three.

Flash forward to when I moved south. She was around 1.5 years old at the time. I left her for 3 months in a pet hotel/farmhouse while looking for a home before driving 2.200 km back up with my mother and sister to get her. We were not impressed with the way airlines treated live cargo and so decided to go through with what many called an absurdity. She refused to leave the car on the drive back down and slept all through the trip like she hadn't slept in years (it probably helped that we traveled all through the night so that she she didn't overheat ). 

She is family, and will leave a gaping hole in my life when she is gone.



(Sorry for the extensive text, and if you read all of it, thank you for your time.)

[Sandra Craft]

It's very hard to decide between quality of life vs. quantity of life, esp. when you have to make the decision for someone who can't tell you what they'd want.  All I can go with is the fairly useless advice to follow your instincts.  No matter what you do, it's going to be painful and you'll be second-guessing yourself afterwards.

[xSilverPhinx]

It's very hard to decide between quality of life vs. quantity of life, esp. when you have to make the decision for someone who can't tell you what they'd want.  All I can go with is the fairly useless advice to follow your instincts. No matter what you do, it's going to be painful and you'll be second-guessing yourself afterwards.

That's what I feared, and I believe you're right.

* Edited to make sense.

[hermes2015]

It's very hard to decide between quality of life vs. quantity of life, esp. when you have to make the decision for someone who can't tell you what they'd want.  All I can go with is the fairly useless advice to follow your instincts. No matter what you do, it's going to be painful and you'll be second-guessing yourself afterwards.

That's what I feared, but I believe you're right.

I can only only agree with that and really, really feel for you during this very trying time.

[Tank]

...

She still has some fight left in her though, maybe I should respect that? Go along with what the vet said and only euthanise her when she finally enters the stage when she resigns herself to death and stops eating and drinking?
...

You'll know when it's time. It won't be logical it'll be emotional. But you will know when they have to leave.

[xSilverPhinx]

It's very hard to decide between quality of life vs. quantity of life, esp. when you have to make the decision for someone who can't tell you what they'd want.  All I can go with is the fairly useless advice to follow your instincts. No matter what you do, it's going to be painful and you'll be second-guessing yourself afterwards.

That's what I feared, but I believe you're right.

I can only only agree with that and really, really feel for you during this very trying time.

Thanks Hermes. You have a gorgeous parrot by the way...and that intelligent eye! 

[xSilverPhinx]

...

She still has some fight left in her though, maybe I should respect that? Go along with what the vet said and only euthanise her when she finally enters the stage when she resigns herself to death and stops eating and drinking?
...

You'll know when it's time. It won't be logical it'll be emotional. But you will know when they have to leave.

Maybe that's why my mind is split.

[Magdalena]

... All I can go with is the fairly useless advice to follow your instincts...

I'm sorry to hear you're going through this, xSilverPhinx.