quote:

Originally posted by Perfomer:
I have had to put several pets down in the last 5 yrs . When a pet looses the ability to have a good life then it is time to let them go . I think nothing is worse than looking into a Pets eyes and seeing the pain . The Pet doesnt understand why it cann't run or that you have to carry it out to use the bathroom . We as humans are selfish to make them hurt instead of doing the right thing and making the pain go away . The money you spend to extend your Pets life for a few months only extends the pain they feel .

Well put. And the money we spend in the name of helping them, in reality is us not having to face losing a very loyal friend.

Our pup was young and after surviving being run over by a 3000 lb car I figured the 10 lb dog deserved a fighting chance. You wouldn’t know it today what happened to him as he has no limps or anything just a tighter grip on my heart.
It’s hard to say what you are willing to do until you are put on the spot and it’s a tough spot to be put on.

Do not beat yourself up you made the best decision you could a the time. Do not start now to overthink it and feel guilty. You can not bring them back and it was not a decision you took lightly.
Forget about the decision to do it and just remember the good times.

Now you have a choice to tell yourself you did the right thing (you did) or to beat yourself up about it forever.

First...it's nice to see the majority of the posts on this subject would and have spent the cash to keep thier furry kids alive and healthy.

Second....there is no amount of money I would not spend on my animals. And for what it's worth I have no children and no desire to have any. I also recommend pet insurance...it has saved me a ton throughout the years. I do agree also that there will come a point in a pet owners life when they may be keeping the pet for themselves and ignoring the quality of life.....that's the time to let go.

Our dogs are part of our family. We love them and know they will pass on before we do. Its the only time they break our hearts.
We would pay what it takes, but part of our job is to make the tough decisions and put them down if they are suffering.

My Dad would never have spent a dime on a vet other than for a spay service, or to have one put down. Me, I spent a little on my last one, but would never have spent big to prolong his life. Maybe if he was injured at a young age, and could have a perfect outcome, no limit, but to simply prolong his life, to make me feel better, no way. I could have kept Willie going for a while with medications that gave him a very few hours a day of relief, but he wasn't enjoying it.
In the end, you have to be the friend to them that they were to you, and let them go with compassion and dignity. The dog can never understand what those vet visits and procedures are all about.
It was harder for me to put my dog down than my Dad, but Dad was able tell me he was "done", I felt like my dog was telling me the same thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Goob:
It was harder for me to put my dog down than my Dad, but Dad was able tell me he was "done", I felt like my dog was telling me the same thing.

My father asked me if I could "put him down" when his time comes. He doesn't want to go through anything like I did. It isn't legal though, at least not here in NJ. It's a shame, we should be able to treat people humanely, let them make the decision, as long as they are of sound mind, or let them make an Advanced Directive and let us follow it! I have one, just in case, so my wife doesn't have to hear crap from my family when my time is up.

SS427, my heart goes out to you and your wife.
I absolutely understand spending to restore a good quality of life to a beloved pet.
I also agree that there certainly can be a point where a decision needs to be made, and you need to factor in the likelihood of a good comfortable recovery, your means, the pets' life expectancy, etc. I would guess most pups are pretty-well used up by 12-15 years, and I find no fault with your difficult decision. It pains me that medical costs have gotten so insanely high, (for humans first, now for animals). I do think that your vet should be ashamed charging that much for euthanasia, that seems ridiculous to me.
Now for my $.02 on the advice: Just hug your wife if that happens again. Sometimes no words are the best words. If she wants to talk about it, and brings up conversation, she is most likely feeling guilty for not spending that $5K for MAYBE one more year. Again, as men I know sometimes our best attempts to soothe and comfort, actually end up pushing the wrong button and make things worse. So a hug, and acknowledgement of her pain, (with as few words as possible), is probably your best bet.
Even if she doesn't wake you crying, you know this is going to be on her mind a lot, for months, so occasionally sneak an arm around the shoulder, a squeeze to let her know that you care and feel her pain will help her (and you) to deal with the grief.
No room for guilt in this deal, you both gave that pup a good life, and much love. And sounds like he returned that in kind. Best wishes.

thats a hard call, personally if it was an older pet i would have tried to do pay as much as i could but im not sure where i would say enough is enough. my older dog i paid a couple grand a few times to remove fat lumps and never cared, and he lived pretty long until 1 day he just layed down and kinda drifted off and passed on his couch.

our current wiemaranar was about 1 yr old when he got really sick, was not eating anything, after about the 4th day we took him in to have an x-ray and he had something lodged into his intestine, here it was a small peice of corn cob we think he ate a month or 2 before but it laid in his stomach, cost us about 4k but he was just 1 ...hes 3-1/2 now and couldnt imagine a day without him