Death's Head wrote:The scan results show that the dog has a tumour in his liver and spleen, not something that can be operated on (because it has spread and the vet believes there would be a chance of it coming back even if the dog survived the op).
So now the dog is on borrowed time, anything between a week and a year with two end options, one his quality of life simply deteriorates and it is time to put him down and two where the tumour explodes and he is put down or dies within 24 hours of it happening.
The only thing I can take some comfort in is that the dog is unware, ignorance is indeed bliss.
strawberry floating hell man. Huge sympathies. Must be horrendous.
Last week I was on leave, originally planning to go on a driving holiday to Scotland with the dog, but on the vet's advice, changed plans and just stayed at home. Sadly the old guy could just not get a break in life, his arthritis seemed to accelerate and where he was walking but very slowly, his back legs basically gave up on him (he had already been robbed of stair access and laying in my home office whilst I worked). This sadly meant he could not get up unaided and whilst this was bad, a day or so later once he was up he couldn't get down easily (I think he was in pain whilst trying to sit) and would sometimes end up falling.
On Saturday and Sunday he was losing his appetite again and had limited movement. It was nice weather though so we managed to get him outside and we could see although becoming increasingly disabled, he was still very alert and taking an interest in what was going on around him. We just spent the days with him, comforting him the best we could. On Sunday night his excrement had basically become liquid and blood was present. On Monday it was the same but I had called the vet and requested a home visit so they could assess him. The vet is not keen on giving advice about levels of pain but on discussing the situation, believed that he was really in the end stage of his life and it was a matter of when he should be euthanized. We discussed this and although my son wanted to keep him an extra day, his quality of life was very poor and although he was doing his best not to show it, he was clearly in considerable pain.
At 3pm on Monday, Raja went to sleep for the last time with us.
Difficult times and lots of times where I need to collect myself up before I can go about my every day business. It is probably difficult for non pet owners to understand the impact, but the death of a pet really is no different from a family member, because that is what they become. I still have a fairly large sense of guilt from having to decide to end his life when maybe he didn't want to go and all of the times when he wanted to play and because I wanted to do something else, left him alone, thinking there would be another time.
My condolences, DH. Rest assured that he loved his life with you and try not to feel bad about not always playing with him when he wanted to, life just gets in the way sometimes.
Death's Head wrote:...It is probably difficult for non pet owners to understand the impact, but the death of a pet really is no different from a family member, because that is what they become...
I'm sorry for your loss, Deaths. I understand that feeling and I agree with your point about pets being family. I can imagine that things are real tough right now but I hope that, in time, you'll look back fondly on happier memories.
Death's Head wrote:I still have a fairly large sense of guilt from having to decide to end his life when maybe he didn't want to go and all of the times when he wanted to play and because I wanted to do something else, left him alone, thinking there would be another time.
Buckled at this mate. Genuinely gutted for you. Hopefully you can take some comfort in knowing that he loved his family, and couldn’t have asked for a better life with you guys. RIP Raja.
On the subject of pets being a part of the family, I never understood it really until we got Loki. A girl I used to work with took time off when her 1 year old dog died (daft bastard belted it out of an open upstairs window). I scoffed at it then, but I sure as hell wouldn’t now.
I come to this thread a lot when I'm down to see all of your beautiful pets. I've never had a pet myself, but when my nan's dog died I was upset for days. Pets are family, and losing one hurts so much.
Our neighbour is always on a local Facebook ( ) group and has been seen on there asking if anyone knows of dog walkers that are available 4 days a week. They don't have a pet currently, but I do wonder why you'd get a dog if you already know you're going to be leaving it on its own all day for most of the week
Do you want a yappy needy dog with separation anxiety? Because that's how you get a yappy needy dog with separation anxiety.
Ad7 wrote:Our neighbour is always on a local Facebook ( ) group and has been seen on there asking if anyone knows of dog walkers that are available 4 days a week. They don't have a pet currently, but I do wonder why you'd get a dog if you already know you're going to be leaving it on its own all day for most of the week
Do you want a yappy needy dog with separation anxiety? Because that's how you get a yappy needy dog with separation anxiety.
Trouble is that basically means any working family can't have a dog
Ad7 wrote:Our neighbour is always on a local Facebook ( ) group and has been seen on there asking if anyone knows of dog walkers that are available 4 days a week. They don't have a pet currently, but I do wonder why you'd get a dog if you already know you're going to be leaving it on its own all day for most of the week
Do you want a yappy needy dog with separation anxiety? Because that's how you get a yappy needy dog with separation anxiety.
Trouble is that basically means any working family can't have a dog
We’d love to have a dog, but as we both work we decided it just wasn’t fair to get one.
Patch looks like a proper fat boi in that second picture Pepsi needs some love too, though. It's a shame black cats still aren't as popular as other colours