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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 10:26:37 GMT
You know, the one you hope never to have to make but know deep down you will have to someday.
She's just passed her 18th birthday, and faculties have been fading for a while. But this weekend the situation has deteriorated properly, she doesn't really know where she is or how to find her way anywhere around the house or garden, and is getting distressed and stuck in doors, bushes etc. Sight and hearing almost completely gone. No wagging tail, no happy hop into the garden in the mornings. She's suffering and it's time.
Doesn't make the phone call to the vets any easier, although of course it's the right thing to do.
Friday afternoon booked, so we can prepare for a couple of days and have the weekend to sort ourselves out. Nice salmon and chicken lunch on Friday and that will be it.
In pieces here at the office. |
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 11:29:11 GMT
Sorry Al.
If its time, its time. All you can do is your best for them.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 11:31:31 GMT
It's time.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on May 2, 2017 15:17:49 GMT
Knowing you did the right thing will be some comfort, I hope. Might take more than the weekend before that feeling takes over, though.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 15:24:57 GMT
That's all there is WDB, but we've had, and will have, worse. We've been lucky to get 18 years out of a really great little pal.
Can't stop the old chin wobbling though. Gah.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 15:50:13 GMT
Al, will waiting 'till Friday help? Maybe better for all, including your dog, to move a little more quickly?
Just sayin', you'd know best of course.
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Post by Humph on May 2, 2017 21:09:59 GMT
Horrible time, but it is by the sounds of it, a kindness.
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Post by Hofmeister on May 2, 2017 21:22:27 GMT
18 is a good innings by any measure. The worse thing you can do for them and you is delay stuff, been where you are. At the end of the day if you can reflect and say "Has this hound had a fantastic time with me right up to the end" then you have 18 years of good memories.
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2017 9:03:07 GMT
Al, will waiting 'till Friday help? Maybe better for all, including your dog, to move a little more quickly? Just sayin', you'd know best of course. Yeah, it's a fair point, but we're OK keeping her comfy for a couple of days and the vet was happy with that approach, she's still quite keen on her food which is the only thing making me doubt my decision, and I think it'll be least disruptive to wait until Friday. |
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Post by Hofmeister on May 3, 2017 9:57:15 GMT
Al, will waiting 'till Friday help? Maybe better for all, including your dog, to move a little more quickly? Just sayin', you'd know best of course. Yeah, it's a fair point, but we're OK keeping her comfy for a couple of days and the vet was happy with that approach, she's still quite keen on her food which is the only thing making me doubt my decision, and I think it'll be least disruptive to wait until Friday. If the dog is comfortable and clearly not in any pain then its fine to wait till friday. Just because the dog is eating does not change the main reasons you have decided to act. When my black lab went (rear end collapsed, unable to move around) she still managed to wolf down two pork pies an hour before I took her to the vet! In fact,now is the time to treat the dog to that one thing you have denied it all these years. Chocolate. Mind if it was me, I couldnt survive the week knowing the dog is on death row, I'd have to get the deed done quickly |
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2017 10:18:04 GMT
Rear end collapse is part of the picture here. Falls over, struggles to get back up. Sometimes can't manage it unassisted. She's been on a bland diet almost her whole life, as she's had an inflamed bowel which we've had to keep in check. So a nice lunch is in order come Friday.
First time I've been through this, my only other dog was my childhood one, which went at 14, despatched by a Ford Sierra after one of her famous escape acts (lived somewhere fairly rural at the time). She was on the way out at the time so we were spared the decision. Guy who hit her was distraught, but explaining that she was going blind and doddery and wasn't long for the world helped a bit. We paid for his damage, which was minimal.
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Post by Humph on May 3, 2017 10:32:34 GMT
Will you get another dog in the near future? If so, the summer is a nice time to spend time with and train a puppy.
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2017 10:39:44 GMT
Maybe after the summer. I don't want to get anything settled in only to go away on our long holiday. Might start thinking about it in August/September but it would have to be a rescue dog, and the right rescue dog - i.e. one which we could leave at home alone for an 8-hour stretch 3 or 4 times a week. Perhaps a rescue greyhound would fit the bill, or just the right mongrel for our lives. I certainly won't be getting a puppy, it wouldn't be fair on the creature.
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Post by Hofmeister on May 3, 2017 10:41:27 GMT
Will you get another dog in the near future? If so, the summer is a nice time to spend time with and train a puppy. It is and it isnt, Puppy training takes time and patience. You cant throw them in kennels with holidays coming up, practically a new pup in summer is limiting. I waited 18 months to replace doggy. Did all the things you cant do with a dog around. But then I was lucky, I knew the dog I wanted and it took me 18 months to get her. Morally and personally, I also think its wrong to get a pup, when there are loads of dogs to rehome, but you need to be very clued up, agile and flexible to get the suitable dog that route. |
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Post by Humph on May 3, 2017 10:45:37 GMT
Oh ok, coincidentally started nattering about that very route on another thread !
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