Help! Pet people...
 

Okay I know there are likely better places to pose this question, but it's one of those 'I know' the answer, I just 'don't like,' the answer and would rather not subject myself to guilt-tripping ignorant masses out on the net.

My parents have a 13 year old Rottweiler/lab mix they got from the pound 12 years ago. She was scheduled to be put down the same night my mom and I adopted her, and technically wasn't for adoption. Not because of aggression or illness, but she had her three strikes. Yes three homes in one year as a puppy. But she ended up being just the sweetest, and best trained dog my parents have ever owned. Who indirectly saved my nephew from a horrible dog bite injury.

When we got her we carefully explained to my nieces and nephew about the hooking of her teeth, if she got her mouth around you 'do not pull away!' Either wait, or push inward and then remove your arm. Explaining pit bulls were the same and dobies. Barely a week later my nephew was bitten by an overly rambunctious pit bull, though the bite was deep and the doctors were sure surgery would be necessary, and set my sister up for all the horrors of mass tissue damage, nerve damage and possible lose of use of his six year old limb, once they put him under, he required only a few stitches and a shot of antibiotics. The doctors couldn't believe it, and when I first saw my nephew after the bite the little boy that he was, beamed a smile and said "I did just what you said! It still hurt though!"

So naturally my parents little rescue became a shining hero! Which makes this so much harder. For the past year her little skin lesions have been growing, in all probability they are cancerous. Six months ago she began urinating in the house, and last night by dint of my being over their house when she had another 'accident' I discovered blood clots in her urine. And on pointing it out to my father discovered that had been going on for about six months, and her one time occurrence of missing a few meals had also become a bit more regular.

She also isn't acting like herself anymore, until last year she was near beside herself in her "welcome!" Especially when I would come to visit. She couldn't get close enough, couldn't be pet enough, couldn't decide between giving me kisses and giving me hugs or just climbing in my back pocket, it would take her at least 30 minutes to calm down her ecstasy and then she was still stuck like glue to me.

But lately she'll sleep through my showing up, and even if she is awake, she'll slowly come over, try to do a bit of a dance, maybe offer a lick and then go lay down again. Sometimes offering little grumbly songs (taught to her by our old husky) to call me over to her since she still wants to be pet and make her greeting. It's like she's saying "sissy, I'm having a bad day, come spoil me, hold my paw and make me feel better, I still love you".

But now I can't let my parents delude themselves that she's 'just getting on in age' blood clots in urine is a serious matter, combine with the skin, age and behaviors of late she is a much sicker 'puppy' than they realize. Or at least much sicker than my father will allow himself to admit. There are treatments for cancer in dogs I realize, but their costs range from minimal to outrageous, I would love to say money is no object when it comes to the health of man or beast, but let's face it, it is.

Then there's still the 'cost' to the animal undergoing treatments, which can likewise range from minimally invasive to aggressively invasive. And at 13 years of age, as a large breed dog what do those 'costs' really buy? Six months? A year? She's already to the age where she could quite probably have a heart attack or massive stroke, her cardiovascular system just can't keep trucking forever it will (probably already is) start breaking down, she's already past her life expectancy even though she's had no previous health concerns short of a broken paw following a particularly rambunctious greeting one day.

But I know my mother is looking to me to decide her 'fate'. That the dog must go to the vet I will not, and cannot budge on, but what will be the fate I really can't say until we go. If she is lucky it will be treatable with minimal cost both financial and for the dog. If that isn't an option to treat her, I imagine I'll be forced to recommend she be out down, but fear I might be swayed in opting for a pain medication bandaid for her. Since she does still eat some, she isn't showing any signs of aggression and really 'loves' her people still.

But is it really in her best interest to be doped up for what little time likely remains to her life? I know if she is to be put down, now probably is the best time, horrible though it may sound, but I still think it's best while she is still 'here' before she is put through much more suffering, before she looses anymore of 'herself'. But when I think of my father... He can't let pets go, and just this past Friday his cat got hit by a car in front of the house. Now I'm to take his dog away too?

Can somebody euthanize me instead?

I hate to ask, but what would y'all do? I mean she's 'the baby', 'the Hero', and 'the Saved!' She's been a great dog, and prior to her failing health 'accidents' hasn't had any other incident of 'bad whittle puppiness' she doesn't chew and destroy things, has gotten off her leash a few times but returns after a bit of fun, stays out of the trash, loved the cat, and my dad's bird, was even instant friends with the existing husky when we got her. (The husky I think gave my dad unrealistic life expectancies in large dogs, making it to 20+ years). I don't want her to suffer to just to make my dad 'keep the faith' that she'll outlive him a bit longer, but I don't want my dad to fall into the depths of despair that all his little buddies are doomed to die.

Even more so since his stroke, he requires animal companionship. And I hate that because the rotty doesn't have a 'voice' she might be put up as the sacrifice, and even more so to know that with such a great dog, she'll likely do so willingly. I guess that's the real crux of the question, do I let her 'willingly' sacrifice herself for his happiness, and wait till either nature takes its course or her 'willingness' seems to ebb, or do I sacrifice my father?

Sorry for the long and somewhat depressing post. I'm just at a loss right now, though writing it out I think I'm further in 'knowing the answer' little much as I might 'like' the answer. Since it goes against my general principles, and defies what I generally believe to be right. Since as of now, I think the poor thing will be made the sacrifice, we'll do all we can to ease her pain short of euthanizing her. And hopefully she can hang in there just a bit longer, until the renovations are done at my parents house and my dad has finished grieving the loss of his cat and my mom and I can hopefully find another hard luck case to bolster my dad's confidence in his ability to 'save' animals from a cruel fate.

If she's still "happy being a dog", (meaning not in pain), you could probably leave her alone.

If she's urinating blood, that sounds like she has kidney problems. Did they take her to the vet to see if they could get that treated? Kidney problems can be painful.

I've never been actually involved in putting any of our dogs down. I was too young for the first dog that we had, and didn't feel that it was my decision for our second dog.

My last dog, TinyMonsters, when he died, everything was out of my hands. It happened so quickly and somewhat subtly, and we didn't realize what was going on right away (he was poisoned by a neighbor). One day he was fine, the next day he was a lot clingy. The third day we realized he was really sick, took him to the vet, and the vet tried to save him. But Tiny still died. There really wasn't any talk of putting him down. We wanted to save him, thought we could. Didn't realize until after he died that he might have been poisoned. (the vet checked for all the usual suspected poisons. Didn't find any. He thought that Tiny was poisoned tho)

If Tiny had needed to be put down, that probably would have been my decision. He was our family pet, but he really was my dog. (I raised, trained, and was his major caregiver and "alpha dog" to him.) I don't know if I could have done that for him. Kind of glad that I didn't have to.

Yeah it's hard to say if she's in pain though, she doesn't 'cry' just kind of mopes, but tries to still act 'usual' though she really isn't being her normal self. We had another dog who ripped our hearts out, she had bladder stones so bad you could easily feel them, but my parents hadn't noticed right away, the day before we took her to the vet the dog had my cousin using her as a pillow all night on what had to be one painful! belly.

The vet snapped at my mother for letting them get that bad... "Oh you couldn't tell?!" All while the little girl was lapping at the vets face, wagging her tail and just having a grand old time while the vet was feeling her belly. To the point the vet shamefacedly admitted.. Okay no real signs I guess... But still...

Unfortunately we had to make the choice to put her down about a few years later, special diets, constant medications to fix bladder stones, then skin condition, treat the skin, stones again, treat the stones, the skin again... It was a nightmarish time for the poor girl, one I hope to spare this one. Especially since my mom texted me this morning, she went downhill some since last night, it's not looking good at all for the baby

Ahhhhhh, that decision is always hard, but sometimes,
for the sake of the dog's comfort, must be done.

So sorry..:hug:

I would see if there is a simple solution to the bloody urine. We all know what a urinary tract infection can do to us, how it makes us feel. It maybe simple. But I agree, you have to think of the dog. If there is a serious illness I think you already now in your heart what the best answer is. But let the vet looks first. Let us know what happened. I think almost all of us here are animal people

Well as usual pets can drive their parents to distraction, the poor thing went from bad, to worse, to OMG! To fine, perky happy puppy once more. We're taking her to the vet tomorrow still. My father is still having a fit accusing my mom and me of being 'baby killers' but he'll chill out eventually, since it seems like she might only be getting her boosters, and quick check up, just to be sure she truly has as clean a bill of health as you can expect of a 14 year old rotty.

Thanks everyone for you responses and for calming me down some. She's not of an age to be out of the woods ever again, but it does seem as though she thoroughly missed the bucket this time. Will let you know how her appt goes tomorrow

i agree above

the clot could move

my dog as a kid we let her out one night when she didnt come back right away we found her outside on her side whimpering

she had a stroke we put her down

13 is a good age but you cant make a animal suffer because its like your child

i have a 18 year old cat had a good scare last month but she my kid i got her at two i couldn't loose her but id she was sick in anyway like that where its to expensive to fix

i highly recommend with the list you gave putting her to sleep

BUT there may be a option to make your mom more happy in my town a funeral home started cremating pets with all kinds of holders angles animals

my wife's mom dies and her and her 2 sisters got angels with ashes in them

its a option if it dont creep yall our to much a nice way to remember it

good luck and very sorry to here pets are the hardest choice in life

have a good one

Okay just got back from the vet, and...we still don't know for sure. Apparently my dad has been hiding any bloody messes from my mother and me thinking she would be put down if we knew. She was acting more like herself but probably because she sensed his stress.

When we got to the vet her urine sample was too bloody to get a good test from, then the ultrasound was too much blood and not enough urine to get a good enough contrast to see anything. So she is certainly one sick little girl. She behaved well through it all though, and the vet remembered me from years ago when I worked there so he cut the rate for her visit.

But she's back home now and on antibiotics for the next week, with a possible follow up if she's still showing any symptoms. Good thing my mother has this next week off, so she can keep an eye on how she's doing, since we know my father can't be trusted.

Anyone have a pet tortoise before? Might be a good idea for my dad's next pet:) should outlive him, and if not we maybe able to find a spare someplace so he doesn't notice.

Starznight, so sorry your beloved dog has so many problems. Glad you got him to the doctor though. Hope and pray that the antibiotics will work, plus Mom's loving care. Nothing beats that.

You have a picture of him?

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of her :( it's a shame cuz she's a cutey, but my folks aren't 'picture' people. Even finding photos of myself when I was a child generally entails begging from an aunt or uncle. Making it a good thing I was never kidnapped, would have been a long drive to get a picture of me that could have been up to a year old lol.

Might see if I can snag one later this week though.