putting down your pet.

[Crazed98Camaro]

Well, probably by noon today, my dog will no longer be with us.

My baby is a 14 going on 15 yr old Siberian Huskey. I've had her for as long as I can remember. Shes gone through the good and the bad with me.
A few weeks ago, we could see that her health was deteriating. Fast. :( She couldn't get up quick, go up the stairs, and would sleep alot.
Today, I get back from applebees, and its raining really hard.
I hear a slight wimper, then a bark from my dog. She is stuck underneath our deck, not able to get out.
As i get down and crawl to her, I gradually pull her out, pick her up and bring her to our shed.
I was cleaning her, and ended up finding a sh*t load of maggots and larva on her rear end. I mean a crap load. I had to step back and say, Holy Sh*t.
I try to clean them out, and they just keep coming, more and more.

Eventually, me and my dad bring her to an emergency animal hospital about 30 mins away. There we were debating putting her down (which the doctor and me and my dad agree on) or attempting to fix whatever she has (mother and sisters agree)

We decided to give her some pain meds, bring her home, and do it tommarow morning. :cry:
The whole time we were there, she was looking me straight in the eye, giving me the sadest look. It is acutally making me physically sick to watch her go through this.
She is in so much pain, i can't begin to believe it. Imagine, maggots eating at your raw skin.

Im just asking if you thought we did the right choice, and if you have had any similar times in your life.


Here she is, about a year ago.

[UDLOSE98]

Re: putting down your pet.

i have a dog, i can imagine the feeling of her getting fatally ill, but the choice is clear and it sounds like youve made it

[V6Bob]

Re: putting down your pet.

When I was in this situation, the Vet explained some options, and pointed out they'd be expensive. I told her "Money doesn't matter. But when you tell me that the treatment is doing nothing and he's going to just be miserable, that's different."

We tried treatment, since there was not a lot of obvious distress. After a week it was clear to me that it wasn't working (the cat was sitting motionless all day, uninterested in food or water) and I was resolved to bring him in the next day to end his misery.

Such a good cat. The next morning I found he'd saved me from having to do it.

[huggercamaro99]

Re: putting down your pet.

That sucks man.

My family had a german shepard that we had to put down after only about 2 years old. Its sucks really bad, because he was the best. But you have to do whats best for the dog.

[flyfrito_SS]

Re: putting down your pet.

It's tough, but it sounds like the right thing to do.

[ZO6vette037]

Re: putting down your pet.

Sorry man. I know the feeling. My dalmation had to be put down due to kidney failure. The bad thing was, I was in Iraq at the time so my family back home had to do it while I was away. Also while I was gone our other german shepard got a flesh eating virus. She lost 40% of her skin but she survived.

[Crazed98Camaro]

Re: putting down your pet.

thanks for all the support guys.
my mom finally complied, and let us take her in after seeing how much pain she was in.
I think it was best to do.
God, she was a great dog.

[Shirl]

Re: putting down your pet.

Sorry about your loss. I'm curious though, why were there maggots? Was there some type of internal infection? The only time I've seen that is when there is dead tissue... sorry again. It's heartbreaking.

[SpeedingFirebird]

Re: putting down your pet.

There was another thread about this a few months ago, but I'll briefly share my story again.

We had a Samoyed Husky about the same age. He had bad arthritis - so painful that on cold days he would stay inside cry when we tried to put him out. Making the decision to put him down was hard. Helping the vet do it because the tech wasn't strong enough to put him down was even harder. He stared me right in the eyes the whole time. It was very hard to deal with.

Putting down the family pet is hard and heartbreaking.

[StrtRacer98]

Re: putting down your pet.

You made the right choice, no matter how much it hurts you and your family emotionally, think of the pain the dog is enduring physically...

It's hard to put an animal to sleep but if you love it as much as most people love their animals, then its the only way.

[stevethepirate]

Re: putting down your pet.

sorry to hear that! its never easy.

a few years ago we had to put down my 17 year old dog... she was a mutt that my parents got from the spca for $6, and lived 17 years with NO health problems. it got to the point where she couldnt see, and couldnt stand up, but her heart just wouldnt stop naturally. This was when we lived in italy, and they dont believe in euthanasia over there. i dont know if its illegal, but normally they refuse to do it. finally we took her to the vet, and they obliged just because of how sad it was.

[Crazed98Camaro]

Re: putting down your pet.

Sorry about your loss. I'm curious though, why were there maggots? Was there some type of internal infection? The only time I've seen that is when there is dead tissue... sorry again. It's heartbreaking.

Thanks for the condolences.

She had a urnial infection for a while, and couldn't really control when she wanted to go.
When she would get up from lying down for a while, you could see that she had peed there.
The constant urine made a unrine burn on her back and began to do its ways with the tissue.
The whole time, flys were around her like crazy. I walked out one morning to find literally a "hive" of flys on her butt.
I guess they just layed there eggs there or something.

[Shirl]

Re: putting down your pet.

OMG. That's freakin horrible. The poor thing. That's why I don't mess with **** like that... as soon as I know my baby is sick, he goes straight to the vet. One time he had a bone lodged inside his stomach that caused an infection. I knew he was sick by the way he was acting, so I took him for immediate x-rays and had him treated. $1200 dollars later :eek: he was all good again. That was a few years ago. He's now 11 years old.

[t-topV6]

Re: putting down your pet.

wow man that sucks... especially when youve had them for so long...

[Niko97RS]

Re: putting down your pet.

i dont even kno what to say. when you are close with a pet, its like losing a family member and no one wants to pull the plug ya know :(