This is a very difficult time for my family and I. I bought this border collie/shepard mix for $35 at the SPCA my sophomore year of college in 2001. She has moved 8 times with me (3 states), been through a divorce, trained with me for a half marathon, been with my wife now for 5 years, been with my son now for 2 years, among a million other things. i was really hoping she would get to meet our daughter being born in August, but the cancer just occurred and is spreading at a ridiculously rapid rate. it really doesn't make sense to me as i don't remember life without her, and never really thought about life after her. i am not naïve to think she would live forever, but it really never crossed my mind. she is almost 16 years old; i get it, im really lucky, but it doesn't make this any easier. we have been together for 15 Christmas'. I know i am rambling, but i think i need to. She really is an angel, she has a tumor growing protruding the skin out of her hip and she now cannot get up (when last week she moving around normally with no tumor). the crazy thing is, she is still eating, drinking, smiling, barking at the neighbors, not going to the bathroom in the house (which is silly because we are gone for 9 hours at work). it just all seems surreal.
we talked to our vet about the process in December, just in case, so we didn't have to make decisions in this particular state of mind. my question is, how is the experience, obviously neither is good, of taking the dog to the vet or having a person come to your house to do it. any other advice would be great.
thanks in advance.
interesting to hear you can do this at home- i never knew that was an option.
good luck to you. i hope you can find some peace knowing that you gave your dog an excellent life filled with love, which is all any dog (or anyone) can ask for...
My last dog I had to put down... I brought my boy, my 15 year old Samoyed to our vet. They have a really comfortable room set up for just that purpose, that they allow you to stay in with your dog(pet) while they do it and for as long as you want/need afterwards. I felt that was much easier because I had them cremate him afterwards.
For me it was much easier than my girl chloe... she had actually died in my living room and I had to bring her to the vet after she expired. That was much harder on us.
interesting to hear you can do this at home- i never knew that was an option.
good luck to you. i hope you can find some peace knowing that you gave your dog an excellent life filled with love, which is all any dog (or anyone) can ask for...
Me too. My boy is just about 12 on the nose. He's still pretty healthy and vibrant but I do notice little things/reminders that he's getting older and won't be around forever.
I try to just cherish every day I have with him healthy and happy because I know how devastated I'm going to be when his day comes.
Anyway- best of luck BronxBombers. The bond we have with our dogs is a truly special one and one that can't even be put into words. I feel for you. Hope everything works out.
When we own a dog, we completely remove nature from the equation. We feed it, shelter it, protect it from predators and give medical aid. Without us, the pet would have passed away years ago from other causes.
Because we did this we are burdened with determining the time of its passing/ putting her to sleep.
I will not lie, putting my dog down after 15 years was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my adult life. Take the advise of others here, stay with her during the process at home or at the vet. Stay strong for your family reassuring them you did the best for the dog. Then go into another room alone and cry your eyes out. I know I did.
That said, we considered having him put to sleep at our house, but thought better of it because of our kids; we didn't want them to be traumatized/stigmatized by witnessing it, nor did my wife want to conjure bad memories around whatever space in the home we would have decided to have it performed in. We also didn't want to endure seeing him being carried out once deceased. Ultimately, we really felt we made the right decision to have it done at our vet, surrounded by the technicians that he came to love and who loved him during all the years we worked with them. It wasn't easy at all, but being able to leave him after the procedure made it just a bit easier to handle.
He passed away a year ago Thanksgiving. There hasn't been a day that goes by that I don't think of him. Be as strong as you can, but surround him with the love you've no doubt given him through his life - which he was lucky to spend with you. Good luck.
What made it esaier for us was a couple of points a vet made.
1) Animals (dogs) do not fear death.
2) When their life has deteriorated, Let them go.
It helped, but didn't make it easy. The other thing we did was get us another dog as soon as possible. That helped a lot
We have always had it done at the vet. I've never considered having it done at home.
Like others have said, if you can handle it emotionally, be with the pet. I usually make sure they can see my face, I talk to them, and pet them as the drugs are being administered. I try not to cry because I don't want their last image to be of me upset.
Again, I'm sorry that you are at this point. Sounds like you have given your dog a wonderful life.
It is a tough decision nevertheless. My heart goes out to you. Be with her at the end for you as much as her.
Let me clarify, I went to the Vet and petted my dog when he was put to sleep. He looked at me and knew I was there ( I think he knew what was going on too). I preferred to do it at the Vet, not at home. I wanted to remember the fun times at home rather than remember that there is the room we had to put her to sleep.
I chose to have it done at the vets office at the end of the day, I didn't want him to pass away at my house, that was just a personal preference. I wanted all of my memories of him at my house to be great ones, not him passing away there.
I went into the room and held him the entire time and was holding him when he took his last breath, it was incredibly difficult but something I needed to do.
It hurts like hell, but you are doing the right thing. My dog had congestive heart failure and he was coughing all night every night and having trouble walking out to the bathroom. We switched up medicines multiple times and eventually none of them helped. I woke up one day and just knew it was time to do it.
Sorry to hear you have to go through this but you're doing the right thing. Let the dog go in peace, don't put him through any more suffering.
When I came home from the vets, he knew something was wrong. He was pacing the house for hours. When the sun went down, he howled at the back door for 2 straight hours. That broke my heart more than anything. It took him a couple weeks to stop howling at the back door at night
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I wanted good memories at home, not the memory of putting her down.
Let me clarify, I went to the Vet and petted my dog when he was put to sleep. He looked at me and knew I was there ( I think he knew what was going on too). I preferred to do it at the Vet, not at home. I wanted to remember the fun times at home rather than remember that there is the room we had to put her to sleep.
I did the same for my boy Bruno. On quality of life, I (selfishly) waited too long with him. I just couldn't bring myself to do it... He couldn't really stand on his own, I had to help him get up, etc. He was completely out of it by the time I took him in. While there I stayed with him and hugged and pet him the whole time. There was a specific moment, I believe when they gave him the painkiller/sedative (before the sleeping concoction) where he became lucid again for a moment, and he looked at me and was able to see me hugging/petting him while he left. As hard as it was, I am very grateful that he was able to know that I was there comforting him at the end. Geezus. I am sitting here with a tear running down my face.
When we had the dog, we had a Christmas ornament with her name still on it. Even 20 years later, I won't let my parents not put the ornament on the tree. When my own family stops traveling home for Christmas and we start putting up our own tree regularly, I'll take the ornament from my parents.
Anyway, back to the story. It's 2005, and my wife and I just had our first child. We have two cats, but we started keeping them in the basement. After a few months, we decide that we're neglecting the cats, so I take them to the Baltimore SPCA. Afterwards, I do some research. When you drop off a pet to the SPCA, they do a screening within the hour. If the animal passes the screening, the animal stays until it is adopted. If it fails the screening, it's put down almost immediately. Only about 30% of the animals the SPCA takes in pass their screening, which means that 70 percent of the animals are murdered about an hour after you leave. I wish I had known that before I dropped the cats off, because I'm pretty sure they wouldn't pass a screening.
Let's go back to 1987. My mother told this story to my wife, but not to me. When they brought my dog to the SPCA, they told them that they would check back in a week, and if no one had adopted the dog, they would take him back. A week later, they called back. My dog has been put down.
You obviously got a special animal from them 15 years ago, and always cherish those memories. But fuck the SPCA. Don't ever take a pet there.
I have a 16 year old dog too (17 in May and faltering with benign tumors and eyesight and hearing issues) and am thinking it would be better at home for the dog. I feel like it would add to the trauma going to the vet as he is not a big fan of going to the doctor.
I chose to have it done at the vets office at the end of the day, I didn't want him to pass away at my house, that was just a personal preference. I wanted all of my memories of him at my house to be great ones, not him passing away there.
I went into the room and held him the entire time and was holding him when he took his last breath, it was incredibly difficult but something I needed to do.
It hurts like hell, but you are doing the right thing. My dog had congestive heart failure and he was coughing all night every night and having trouble walking out to the bathroom. We switched up medicines multiple times and eventually none of them helped. I woke up one day and just knew it was time to do it.
Sorry to hear you have to go through this but you're doing the right thing. Let the dog go in peace, don't put him through any more suffering.
Mook-your first paragraph does make me wonder though if my choice would be right particularly in respect of my 11 year old daughter. Would rather all her memories be good.
I'd also recommend doing it at the vets. I personally couldn't think of my dog passing at home and having that mental image in my house. It's ingrained in your memory for awhile.
I've told this story a number of times several years ago, but we had to put down our 4 year old American Bulldog, Meatball. We believe he had cancer although masses were never found (his calcium levels were up, urinating in the house and stopped eating). After a month of testing, research and horribly strong medicine, we couldn't go on any further and gave in. Knowing we made the right decision and we did all we could softened the blow, but it was still very painful. He was supposed to be the dog our future family grew up with.
My wife and I were trying for kids, and we wanted a dog for them to grow up with, so we got another American Bulldog a month after Meatball passed. We named him Champ for the Giants '11 Super Bowl run. Shortly after we brought Champ home, we found out we were having my daughter. Her birthday is a week before Champ's and they're a year apart (she's 4 and he's 5 now). Champ's a good dog, but a lot bigger than Meatball (40 LB difference) and their personalities are completely different. Meatball played gently but required a lot of TLC. Champ is bruiser who enjoys his alone time. Once the kids go to sleep, he usually looks for some coddling from my wife and I for 10 minutes, then retires to bed as well.
We had it done in the Vets office which helped a bunch IMO