Did the same with my wife's senior cat and also thought it was low-stress on him - he hated going to the vet. It also seemed to help to give our other cat some closure. She spent a lot of time sniffing him after he passed - better then him simply not returning from the vet.
That does sound like the way to go, coming to the house. On the sniffing thing, when my 1 dog died in 20 seconds walking in the park, I carried her to the truck and home. The wife was frantic, but our other dog, her friend and companion, kept sniffing her, pawing at her like "wake up Cheyenne", then looking at us.....it was heart wrenching and something I didn't expect.....I'll never forget that.
This thread being bumped is timely. My GSP is 13 years old, has heart disease (I'm told), and his hips are failing him. It's expected at his age, but overall he's doing very well. He's still been goofy and playful and stubborn as a 2x4. Suddenly in the last couple of weeks he's started pooping in the house. I originally thought it was senility or defiance, but I'm beginning to believe he's just having control issues. His breath is really bad, and he's drinking water incessantly. He won't lay down for any period of time, just paces around. Today he couldn't get up off the floor on his own. I always told myself that when it was time, I'd take him for a walk in the woods, give him a big fatty steak and take care of him old yeller style. He hates the vet, and I don't want that to be his last memory. A 9mm is fast and painless, and I genuinely believe the best for the dog as he'd never know it was coming. Now that it's getting close I'm realizing that I don't think I have the stomach for it. Not sure what I will do when it's time.
Call a mobile vet and schedule and plan his exit. It's hard but it's better than what you had planned.
This ^ and don't put off making the decision if he's going down hill quick. It's not going to be easy no matter what and his quality of life is going down fast.
Thanks. He actually had some blood sugar issues when he was a pup. I'm taking him to the vet Monday, I'll look into it. It's just hard, because all day he's been an old codger, and five minutes ago he came bounding into my office and threw his big flat basketball up on my desk. Such a knucklehead.
unless you grew up having to put farm animals down, i think you would be haunted by that for the rest of you life. i know i would be.
If his breath is suddenly bad, he may have Ketoacidosis. You are smelling the ketones in his blood due to low insulin. If his breath smells like acetone, I wouldn't wait.
8yrs ago.. Living here in the NC mtns, I'm pretty isolated. I had to do this once late on a Sun evening. A stray pup we'd taken in 6 months prior. He seemed almost gone(my vet later said it sounded like an ac-cute internal infection). None responsive.. Before that he was laying(couldn't get up without falling back over) while racked in pain. Then seemed like he was almost already dead. So I had to do it. I cried like a baby when I put a 9mmn round in his ear, then immed. one in his heart. Something you've grown to love, and now your using the ultimate violence against. Plus, on one side your 2nd guessing whether you did it too soon..(maybe he'll be better in a few days?)...then on the other side, did you wait too long, while he was in such intense pain suffering.. No win situation. I still think about it to this day.
This is the most depressing thread I've ever read. My sincere condolences to all that have posted here.
Seems you really care for the stupid cat. I understand, we had one that we only needed to watch for a couple of weeks. 15 years later she hurt so bad, could not get up. Took her in and petted her when she got the shot. Closed her eyes and passed. I cried like a baby. There are two types of people, ones who care for animals and end up with them being part of the family. And those who would chain a dog to a tree and leave it to starve to death like the boxer we now have. Doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out which sort you are. Since you seem to be the caring sort, you don't want her to suffer. It's a matter of time. Give her a nice meal, carry her in or have the vet come out and afterwards have a good cry. Our boxer has hip dysplasia, so we watch his food to keep the weight down. It will happen and I will be a little boy again, but I love dogs. What's the difference between your wife (or girl friend) and a dog. The later you come home, the happier the dog is to see you.
Just lost my siberian husky about a month ago. He was such an amazing, happy, playful dog. As much a puppy in his last days as ever. Still loved to be carried. He had diabetes his last couple years although we suspected he may have dealt with it to some degree his whole life. He was always pretty thin but we just thought that was how he was naturally built. Once we got his diabetes figured out, he put on a little weight and looked healthier than ever. Died in his sleep one night. We knew he was sick but he often had complications with his diabetes such as UTIs but they were generally a quick fix and he was back to 100% quickly. I still question my decisions leading up to his death but not really sure what else I could've done. We couldn't take him to a vet. It traumatized him to be left there overnight without us and left him in a depressed mood for days even after coming home. We had a mobile vet and that worked great but unfortunately he couldn't get to us in time to either help or put him down before any unnecessary suffering.
Imo it can't get much better then that, really. ..considering. The trick of course, is making sure they're not suffering up to that point. That white heeler mix I posted pics of on the previous page, had already cost me a fortune 2 yrs prior, when she was bitten twice(2 diff occasions being 2 months apart) by a Copperhead. Both times on the nose. Just the anti venom shot alone is $300. Had a 2nd dog bitten during one of those episodes. I think we spent $1250 combined. Finally killed 2 Copperheads living under our back porch.
Had to do some searching for this thread. After we lost Max 3 1/2 years ago, we took in another senior Yellow Lab. He was an owner surrender that thankfully was given to a very good rescue. We were his 3rd Foster in 2 weeks. The others said he was resource guarding. Withing 10 minutes of having him, we could tell he was in a lot of pain. Got him into their vet and found he had a fully torn ACL and one partially torn one. After 2 successful surgeries and 8 months of calm, he was raring to go. Over the last year, he lost a lot of muscle, especially in his hind quarters. Well, 3 weekends ago he took a sudden turn on Saturday night. We got him through Sunday fairly comfortably and I arranged a mobile vet to come out on Monday. He hated car rides, and the vet was fantastic. She has a tough job, but says its rewarding. RIP Gordo. Grumpy Old Man #2
The person that figures out how to get dogs to live to 40 human years will be the richest person in the world. Sorry for you loss but good on ya for taking him in!