The right thing to do.

[dogone]

My user name is Dogone and my pup buddy is a pure breed Dalmation. And his name of course is pepper.


I joined this pet owners forum just so I could get out what I feel to people who would understand.



Dalmations are a large breed dog and with them come blindness, dephness, and arthritus with age.

My guy has had cataracs and hip problems for years. He's a whole 13 years old.

Only within 3 or 4 days ago my dogs legs or perhaps hips have deteriated to a horrible extent. It blew me away because it has happened so quickly. We have tile in my house and patio so hes slipping all over the place and he stumbles drunkenly on carpet too. His hind legs just flale and buckle and he gos down where he is and it breaks my heart.


Ive prepared myself mentally to do the right thing for my guy whome I love so much and euthanize him.

Theres nothing I would want more now in the world for my pep to stand up strong and give me another good 5 years but I know thats not whats gonna happen.

It will be very hard but im old enough to except his passing and I know its the greatest thing I could ever do for him right now. The only thing is my parents are delusional about the problem. My Mom thinks hes just slipping on the tile "Like he always has" and my dad fears taking him to the Veterinarian because he thinks they will say they need to put him down.

I will do everything I can to convince them to do the right thing.

So i guess ill be taking him for one last ride. Ill cook him a steak with all the fixens. sadly a walk is out of the question. but im going to make the last days of his life the best I possibly can to portray my love for him before I have to let him go.

these days coming will be hard, he was my first dog. MY DOG. My best friend.

[palehorse]

Originally Posted by dogone

my dad fears taking him to the Veterinarian because he thinks they will say they need to put him down..

I think you *need* a Veterinarian to tell you to put him down. The reason I say this, after a long fight with lymphoma cancer, when the Veterinarian told me there was nothing more to do, and that the kindest thing was... etc etc.

Having the Veterinarian tell you it needs to be done *helps* ease the pain and alleviates some of the irrational guilt we *all* feel regardless of the circumstances, when putting a pet to sleep.

It was the hardest decision I ever had to make, and if I did *not* have the Veterinarian's recommendation I know it would have been three times as hard.

Perhaps there is some sort of joint inflammation treatment. Maybe he developed a bone spur, or something easily fixed...

Do not wait until after your friend is deceased to ask these questions, ask them NOW. You don't want to be haunted with "what if's" hindsight for the rest of your life...

Take it to the Veterinarian, weigh the options. Never "shoot" your pet, or in anyway put it down yourself. A Veterinarian knows the most humane way. (my Dad used to shoot our pets when I was a child when they needed to be put down, you don't want that kind of memory in your head).

Good luck, and take care.

[palehorse]

BTW one more thing. Large breed dogs RARELY live to be 13 years old. This is like the 90s for him in human terms. The bigger the dog, the shorter the average life span.

Dog Years

Check out this conversion chart that you will see in most Veterinarian's offices. (link above).

As you can see, the heavier the dog, the shorter the average life.

This kinda miffed me because my little 15 LB schnauzer only lived 9 years. But cancer is a whole different thing...

Here is some interesting trivia:

Worlds oldest dog..... The oldest dog that has been reliably documented was an Australian cattle-dog named Bluey. He was put to sleep at the age of 29 years and 5 months!