Our Pyrenees may have to be put to sleep.....

[GSMP]

This really hurts and we had to talk to the kids last night. Our Great Pyrenees, Zeus, is getting old. He is 11.5.

 

He is having some hip problems and is starting to loose bowel control. I don't want to see him suffer and we are just not sure when this is going to happen.

 

The boys didn't take it well which was no surprise. Zeus has grown up with them.

 

He is on glucosamine. He is having a difficult time with stairs and parts of the floor that are not carpeted.

 

How long do I prolong this? Am I going to know when the time is right? he isn't quite there yet I don't believe. He still gets around okay and chases the UPS truck once or twice around the yard. But then he has to come in and rest.

 

He is sleeping more......Do you just know when.....? I really don't want to have to do this....I would rather him just pass in his sleep. I don't want to see him suffering.

[nakitty]

First...:grouphug: That is sooo hard. I guess, for me, it is time when they appear to be in pain that you cannot fix... It is so hard on the family when the time comes...but, our dear friends spend their entire lives being loyal to their family.... it is the loving thing to do to help them out of their misery...:grouphug:

[battlemaiden]

This really hurts and we had to talk to the kids last night. Our Great Pyrenees, Zeus, is getting old. He is 11.5.

 

He is having some hip problems and is starting to loose bowel control. I don't want to see him suffer and we are just not sure when this is going to happen.

 

The boys didn't take it well which was no surprise. Zeus has grown up with them.

 

He is on glucosamine. He is having a difficult time with stairs and parts of the floor that are not carpeted.

 

How long do I prolong this? Am I going to know when the time is right? he isn't quite there yet I don't believe. He still gets around okay and chases the UPS truck once or twice around the yard. But then he has to come in and rest.

 

He is sleeping more......Do you just know when.....? I really don't want to have to do this....I would rather him just pass in his sleep. I don't want to see him suffering.

 

I am so sorry. It is so hard isn't it?

 

I could have written the same thing. Our Alaskan Malamute recently took a sudden turn for the worse. It happened in a two week span that his hips really started to get wobbly and he was having trouble with some bowel stuff.

 

It turns out for us that it isn't hip dysplasia or arthritis it is spinal cord compression- or neurological degeneration. It is getting worse slowly. Not that he seems to be in pain, and we have him on daily Rimadyl to keep him comfortable if he does have any unassociated joint pain.

 

About the decision? I am in the boat with you. I just don't know. He isn't himself anymore, but he doesn't seem to be bad enough yet. :confused::confused::confused: I always thought he would get sick or his organs would shut down and it would be obvious. Wrong.

 

I'm so sorry about Zeus. It won't be easy no matter what.

 

Jo

[Soph the vet]

Hi Ginger,

Couple of thoughts for you as I have many geriatric patients. If it is truly arthritis there are potent non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (like Rimadyl or Deramaxx) that you can try to see if your dog can get around less painfully. These drugs can be hard on the liver but as with any med you want to use as low a dose as infrequently as possible. The added pain med can really make the quality of life for your dog a lot better even if it is only in the short run.

As for the defecation issue, if he is having loose stools or accidents that is one thing, might be diet related or some kind of inflammatory bowel dissease. But if he is truly incontinent, like he has no control over his bowel movements then that is really hard to treat. It is often at that point that many owners will euthanize their pet.

You are the only one who really knows when it is time, the vet can never make the decision for you but may offer medical evidence of suffering if that is what an owner needs.

I'll pray that you'll have wisdom to know when it is time and that your boys will be accepting of the inevitable. Sometimes kids need more time than we do to process, talk, ask questions, etc. I don't know how old they are but if they are not teens yet, I would advise not bringing them when it is time.

Soph

[Gretchen in NJ]

This is such a difficult time for you and your family. I am glad you told your children. I still have a bad memmory about not saying good-bye to my dog.

 

I was leaving to go back to college and Heidi whimpered for me to pet her. She couldn't get up to come to me. My hands were full with a laundry basket. I told her that I would see her next weekend.

 

My parents had plans to put her to sleep that week and didn't tell me.

 

That happened 20 years ago and I still cry when I remember it. I am crying now. I should have come back to pet her. She was a great dog. I love that dog.

[GSMP]

Thank you so much for all the hugs and kind words.

 

Thank you Soph for the advice....the boys are 11 and soon to be 13. The 11 year old is the one who is taking it the hardest.

[Jen500]

I feel for you. I had certain criteria with my old doggie to help me decide when enough was enough. For her, it was eating, mobility, and whether she still enjoyed some of favorite things like going outside. I was able to have a vet come to the house at the end so I could hold her...that was just how I needed to do it. Good luck, and I hope you can try some of Soph the Vet's ideas. I was able to keep my girl an extra year because of some holistic therapies.

[elegantlion]

:grouphug: I am sorry you are having to deal that it. It is so hard. :grouphug:

[Jann in TX]

With Kira (our first dog) we really feel that we kept her around too long. She was in pain and could barely move (even with daily meds). I cried a bit after the vet put her down...but mostly I felt relief for her.

 

Sisko was even harder. He was one of the BEST DOGS IN THE WORLD. His hips were starting to slip out more and more and he was very uncomfortable. His appetite increased--but he was loosing weight fast. Once he started loosing bowel control we knew it was time...we did hold out a few weeks longer than we wanted to because we were about to go on a vacation--and did not want to leave our puppy alone to grieve. I cried like a baby in the vets office before the procedure. I held him during--talking softly to him. After I was still a bit emotional--but again like with Kira--I felt relief.

 

Our older puppy--and our newer puppy are close in age like Sisko and Kira were...we know we will probably face loosing them both at the same time--but the love they give us when we have them is worth it.

 

----

As far as 'advice'...we talked with our vet about specific signs to look for. We made an actual list...loss of bowels was one of the last items. Dogs do not show pain like we do. They try their best to mask it as it is a sign of weakness.

 

Hug your furry baby and take pictures. Look back at all of the good times you had together.

[autumndivona]

We also went through this twice in '07. First, my 12-year-old cat, Tremor, had bone cancer. He actually died quite suddenly in the vet's office in March, and I took it really badly.

 

Our 12-year-old Black Lab-Great Dane mix, Cody, had lymphoma. He had been on glucosamine for about 3 years. He was pretty darn big, so the hips hurting was just one of those things. But when the diagnosis for cancer came up in October, we decided to let him go. We made him as comfortable as possible until November, when one day he had so much trouble even standing, that we knew it was "time".

 

It was tough. My husband still can't accept it to this day, even though I let him make the choice. He still feels conflicted. But, ultimately, we both felt it was the most humane thing to do.

 

I feel for you and the decision you must make. Our son is only 5, and was hardly grieved by either loss. But I understand that your children grew up with the family pet. Even when we are old enough to understand why it is right to put a friend quietly to sleep, it still does not make it any easier.

 

You and your family (including the four-legged family member) are in my thoughts.

[Mom2GirlsTX]

We went through this recently, it is really hard I know. I'm very sorry that he is fairing so badly. :grouphug:

[Mom to Aly]

I am soooo sorry! Your vet may be able to give you a good idea of the type/amount of pain your dog is in.

 

As for when you have to do it--we had to put a cat, MY cat, to sleep 3 years ago. We'd had 14 and this one was the love of my life, my true soul mate in a cat. He was put to sleep on his birthday, which just seemed even worse to me. They say they don't know, but when it was time, he turned to me, his eyes wide, and hung on to me, claws dug in, and he was never like that (he'd been at the vet all day with a catheter in and hadn't acted like that at all). He was supposed to go right to sleep, but he hung on for several minutes, and I was just a wreck, through it and for so long after.

 

I'm saying this, because, if you have the option, DON'T DO IT AT THE VET!!! There are many vets who will come to your home (wish I'd known this then). They specialize in this, and are wonderful--I found one for a friend who had to put her 14 yo dog to sleep last year--she said it was a totally diff experience. They let their dog curl up in her bed, the vet stayed for a while, petted her so that she wasn't scared of him, they all gathered around her, the whole fam, he gave her the shot, and they all got to be with her while she went to sleep, in her own bed. This was the second dog they had to put to sleep in 5 years, and they said it was so different, they couldn't believe it. The kids weren't nearly as traumatized, nor the parents.

 

If you can find this, when it is time, I'd say this is the way to go, with your kids there or not. It will be hard for you parents as well, you know.

[EKS]

I am so sorry. We had a Pyr who we had to put down when he was almost nine about five years ago. It was a horrible decision. In our case, our dog had had back surgery for a herniated disc a few years before and walked with a limp. I few days before he died his limp got much worse, to the point where he could barely get around. We tried cortisone and some other things but it didn't work and he lost almost all the muscle mass in his rear leg over the course of a week. He seemed depressed. At that point we knew it was time.

:grouphug: