It's just a dog.

[Buster Highmen]

My condolences, CE

[BigDaddy]

Sorry to hear CE. It is the saddest of sad days. Stay strong, and remember the love and great times together. Be grateful for that.

[Cono Este]

Thanks everyone. They gave him a cortisone shot and some heavy meds, maybe he’s a little high too. But his rear end is like a trailer with flat tires.

I adopted him the month of my divorce, but you might say he rescued me. He went everywhere with me, sometimes people probably think I took crazy pills, but he has been my brother.




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[Harry]

I know the feeling Cono. My girl Daisy got me through some rough patches too. Dogs and humans have a special bond. Absolutely unconditional love.

[PNWbrit]

It's a month today that I lost my fur brother.

Not a day has gone past when I've not sobbed or had to fight back the sobbing.

Do the right thing for him. He will let you know the day when he's ready, you might not be. Trust him.

[neufox47]

Thanks everyone. They gave him a cortisone shot and some heavy meds, maybe he’s a little high too. But his rear end is like a trailer with flat tires.

I adopted him the month of my divorce, but you might say he rescued me. He went everywhere with me, sometimes people probably think I took crazy pills, but he has been my brother.




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Is it just the hind legs or more issues? Is one of the rear end carts / dog wheel chair an option? My grandmas dog had a good extra 18 months thanks to one of those things. I remember the first time we put her in it and when she realized she could walk around again she started wagging her tail and barking, she was very happy about it.

Sorry for you and your pup.

[Cono Este]

Vet says carts are for small dogs.

He’s fucking tired. Amazing how you don’t give a shit about anything else in times like this.

Vibes PNW. I have to finish a lot of work the next 6 weeks, but when all this shits over I may just take off for a while.


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[plugboots]

We put our old dog in a cart all the time.

[liv2ski]

When Kava got really sick I would take him around the hood in a wagon. Help him out to do his bizness and then back in the wagon. That lasted a few weeks until he passed.
PNWbrit, I couldn't mention his name for years without getting choked up, so hang in there.
Cono, wishing you and your pup the very best.

[Cono Este]

Well, I thought that was it yesterday. He wouldn’t get up. I began making preparations and then someone mentioned maybe the vet over medicated him. He’s on steroids and gabapentin. Apparently the gapabpentin made him want to throw the towel in, because after stopping it he was back on his feet, albeit wobbly.

If it was a weekday, I might have robbed him of some life.

I’m also ordering a lot of useless shit off the internet to distract myself.


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[ACH]

Well, I thought that was it yesterday. He wouldn’t get up. I began making preparations and then someone mentioned maybe the vet over medicated him. He’s on steroids and gabapentin. Apparently the gapabpentin made him want to throw the towel in, because after stopping it he was back on his feet, albeit wobbly.

If it was a weekday, I might have robbed him of some life.

I’m also ordering a lot of useless shit off the internet to distract myself.

I hope that is good news...
Keep us posted.

[Supermoon]

Damn Cono. Vibes. Hoping for the best for you and your pup.

[PNWbrit]

^ nailed it. It's those moments of the day that were his by routine that really hurt the most.

[Cono Este]

Took him off the gabapentin. He was going to kill himself. Another stupid doctor. Be careful.

Doing my monthly accounting today I must have fucked up 5 times before I got it right on the calculator.

Just hanging with him, that’s all they want.

Better days.






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[happytimefunbox]

Sorry cono man these are tough times.

My 13 yo lab is really struggling with bad hips. Anyone have recommendations on otc or easily aquired meds? Is there a cbd that is good?

[ACH]

Cono, he's a good looking boy...
Assume Aussie? We have a particular fondness for the breed in our household.
Thanks for posting about gabapentin, we'll keep that on our watch list as our boy gets older (13 years young at the end of the month).

[Cono Este]

Yes, big Aussie.

My sister is going through the same with her lab, and had the same experience with gabapentin. My dog was walking into walls and it made his hips worse.

Try it, but don’t freak out like i did if starts to try and hang himself from the curtain cords, just stop giving it to him.


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[Harry]

Huh, my girl Daisy was on Gabapentin for her final 6-9 months, and she did real well on it. No problems. Seemed to help her quite a bit.

[irul&ublo]

My dog has been on Gabepentin for about a year. I haven’t observed the issues described. Watch your dog with any meds

[ExPowderSnob]

I don't mean this to be cold-hearted, but it can be very cruel to go to great lengths to keep our 4 legged furbuckets alive when they are past their time. It can be way too easy to put our own needs and feelings in front of our dog's, and in the end, that can be more cruel then anything else.

While we may be content with an old crippled dog laying at our feet, the dog may not be. They can hide pain and suffering much better than we will ever realize. The first priority MUST be the dog's quality of life, not our own resistance to death being a part of the circle of life. No one would ever argue how much pain we can feel with loss, especially with a pack member who shared our lives over the last decade, but it can pale in comparison to what an old dog can live through when their time on earth has come to an end.

We shouldn't look at euthanasia as a means to an end, but rather a gift to give to an old friend. A gift that frees them from paralyzing arthritis, day in and day out aching and pain, and ultimately a life that our indoor wolves shouldn't have to experience.

Dogs, despite our best efforts to domesticate and train them as companions, are still wild beasts at heart. Wild beasts that need to run, and play, and chase, and swim and howl at the moon. When they lose the ability to do that, when they can't walk, much less run, when they are sore and aching just from napping in the living room, when it takes all the energy they have to just make it into the kitchen for breakfast, it is not fair to them to go to long lengths to prolong their lives. It's actually quite selfish. When we do that, we procrastinate the pain we will feel with their loss and exchange it for physical pain they feel everyday. We shouldn't burden them with out own weaknesses when they are already sick and old. I can't think of much that would be be more cruel than that.

[PNWbrit]

^ Well said.

[Cono Este]

My experience is that when a dog goes downhill, it happens fast.

I’ve gone back and forth all week between what to do, in the end I’ve decided to go by the vets advice and take myself out of the picture.


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[ACH]

We shouldn't look at euthanasia as a means to an end, but rather a gift to give to an old friend. A gift that frees them from paralyzing arthritis, day in and day out aching and pain, and ultimately a life that our indoor wolves shouldn't have to experience.

Fully agree...
While our little girl didn't suffer from a lot of what you mention above, when we discovered she was living with pain (from kidney disease), that was enough.

[Supermoon]

My experience is that when a dog goes downhill, it happens fast.

I’ve gone back and forth all week between what to do, in the end I’ve decided to go by the vets advice and take myself out of the picture.


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That’s a tough decision to make, but I think it’s a good way to proceed if you trust your vet.

[PNWbrit]

That’s a tough decision to make, but I think it’s a good way to proceed if you trust your vet.

During conversations with my vet over the past year and a bit when we had first decided to not put Gus through further surgery then monitoring his health and quality of life up until putting him down a month ago... he always stressed to me that he believed that waiting until the vet decides was too late for most situations. That the vet would likely try treatment and rely on his ability and skills as a care giver, healer too much in most cases.

Just a thought.

I'd be interested to hear Hutash's views on the subject.