Strange topic this and it’s probably kids stuff really. Still had me surprisingly at sixes. Well it is for me to come on here and write this!
I’ve just come back from a trip away. My pet dog suffers an incurable degeneration of the spine. He’s took a turn for the worse whilst I’ve been away and I’ve just come back from North America and China to the news and reality that it would be beyond humane to keep him. Edit: should add the descision has been made, I know what’s right and wrong. It’s the rest that’s a little bit of a bugger.
This is going to sound soft but he was my friend. I know God forbid he’s not a human and all. Spend my entire working life taking actions to prevent loss of human life I have no connection with or feel anything about and this is rocked me a little, don’t mind admitting. It’s his innocence and quiet loyality that gets me. Now I sound like a right 2at!
I’m not sure where im going with this other than have you had the misfortune to put down a good friend (that sounds wrong!)?
Internet has one use and that is it can be cathartic in talking about things to strangers. I think it says a lot of what I feel about this site and it’s community that given that I’ve long since ceased to be a driver and am aircrew I feel absolutely no desire or trust to post such a comment on pprune.org.
It’s a fact of life that we are all going to die, animal or human, if it’s gonna put him outa pain it’s a no brainer , also if it’s at the stage where it would be cruel or even selfish to keep him alive then you have no choice
Hi Freight dog
Don’t envy you the decision.
only THING I CAN SAY IS MY MUM HAD A DOG WITH A SIMILAR PROBLEM YEARS AGO, VET DID AN OPERATION AND WE HAD THE DOG AT HOME STRTCHERED OUT FOR A MONTH TO SEE IF HE WOULD FIX, HE DIDN’T! IT WAS HOORIBLE TO WATCH, I KNOW IF MINE WAS SUFFERING I WOULD HAVE HIM PUT DOWN, WITH SOME TEARS. I WISH WE COULD CHOOSE THE SAME WAY OURSELVES .
I’ve just arrived back and a bit jet lagged. Having some beers doesn’t help, but it does in some respects. Balls to it. It’s our last night together. Knew something weren’t right as he normally is up and darting to see me. Apparantly he normally senses I’m coming back from a trip and gets restless and starts whining etc . Sounds like tripe but that’s what he does apparantly. He’s an anxious old boy bless him.
I’ve got a special blanket I stole from one of the bunk sleeping cabins on one of the freighters and kept as a momento. It’s a lovely thing, embroidered with company logo in bold red and black and worth a tidy penny for spotters on eBay. Donated it to him for his last evening to put under his head . The bugger will be covered in white hairs tomorrow but what’s the point of it if it isn’t used by a proper freight “dog”
I feel for you mate. Hardest and worst decision you’ll ever have to make
Ive had to make that decision for my dogs and I don’t mind admitting I cried for them all. I still well up when I think of Tammy who we had to put to sleep last February. She was only 5 and took ill on Sunday and by Tuesday there was nothing they could do
Its one of the toughest decisions you ever need to make but the best way to think of it that you have made the sacrifice for him. He was in pain and you took it away and took it on yourself. All I can say to you is the pain will ease eventually and you’ll remember all the good times and his traits that made him special
The-Snowman:
I feel for you mate. Hardest and worst decision you’ll ever have to make
Ive had to make that decision for my dogs and I don’t mind admitting I cried for them all. I still well up when I think of Tammy who we had to put to sleep last February. She was only 5 and took ill on Sunday and by Tuesday there was nothing they could do
Its one of the toughest decisions you ever need to make but the best way to think of it that you have made the sacrifice for him. He was in pain and you took it away and took it on yourself. All I can say to you is the pain will ease eventually and you’ll remember all the good times and his traits that made him special
Thanks mate. The suddenness with which you lost Tammy must have been terrible. Appreciate the words. I’m crap with sharing my feelings in real life (according to the misses!)
We’ve (me and the wife) have been in the same boat three times now and I bawled me eyes out every time. The most depressing bit is that we’ve got it all coming again in the not too distant future. Our old boy, a staffy/ridgeback cross is on his last legs before he starts suffering, just does a lot of laying about. He always surprises people when we say he’s 15 years old, but he’s still a pup at heart.
Why do us soft buggers get so attached to them ? I suppose it’s what you said in you op Freight Dog “innocence and quiet loyalty.”
Hard as it is, you know you’re doing the right thing mate.
Sorry to hear, I dread the day I really do. If you don’t have/haven’t had dogs you can just won’t understand the bond. Cherish every moment, and spoil him rotten.
Hey nothing wrong with getting emotional over the loss of a dog…They are not just a dog they are your family members and your best pal. I lost my dog few years ago now and i was heartbroken it was exactly the same has losing a member of the family…I really feel for you or anyone who,s going through this
You have our sympathies here, a sad day when it comes but part of caring for such a friend, who can’t tell you how much pain they’re in, is having their best interests at heart and the guts to do the right thing for them when you need to.
We’ve had to do it before, won’t go into the details, but if you can be there at the end so the last thing your friend does is looks into your eyes and be with his best mate then you’ve done all you can and he won’t know a thing about it.
If people could be as loyal unquestioning and undemanding as a dog towards their friends, family, lovers even, then this world would be a far better place.
Give them a home love food companionship a bed to lie on and take them out and about with you when you can they will never leave your side…well apart from looking for and chasing rabbits cats squirrels etc you name it when they forget you for a while just as they should.
Know how you feel,mine was put to sleep two weeks ago today.
You get to know the signs that their time has come when they are not their old self and struggling,no quality of life,can`t let them suffer in silence
Someone said to me years ago that your dog gives unreserved love. On its last day and moment you owe it to be there. I have had to say goodbye to three and it’s heartbreaking. To be fair the process is very good and they don’t suffer. If only we could do it to suffering humans but that’s another story.
Chin up
Sorry to hear this fella,pets are like family members and it bloody hurts when you lose them!
Our cat who we had for 12 years had to be put down because of illness and I had to sign her “death warrant” at the vets while olive (the cat) was on the table in front of me purring like mad because she was happy to see me as she had been kept in the vets overnight,I had to literally go in that morning to sign a form for her to be put down and to do that while she was stood in front of me was an awful experience but she had a major problem with her blood cells which meant she was twice her normal size and if they didn’t put her down then she would of died a very slow and painful death basically slowly suffocating to death as she got bigger and bigger.
Sometimes you have to do what’s right but that doesn’t make it any easier.
I have had to have two canine members of my family put to sleep within the last three years and it is a truly heart wrenching decision, but I see it as a last act of kindness when an animal is in obvious pain and the quality of their life has degenerated to a point of no return. I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I let them suffer because I don’t want to say goodbye.
Dogs have a closeness to humans, like no other animal and I am guessing your hound wouldn’t have wanted to change a thing and has a good and happy life with you. If the vet is positive with their diagnosis, then you know you have to do the decent thing, however painful that may be.
I’ve seen plenty of ‘tough’ guys in tears over having to have their dog put to sleep, known some bottle it and leave it to the missus to do as well.
Dogs give you so much for very little input, often think they are better form of life than humans.
I have 5 dogs, I think it’s a bit easier when you come home and the rest are there, the house doesn’t have the empty feel when there isn’t the patter of nails on the floor and the wag of a tail.
If you’ve taken care of him for all these years, then it’s the last caring thing you can do now and if it’s a timing issue that you are concerned about, I use the ‘guideline’ of better a week too early than a day to late. It’s horrible seeing them suffer.
I really do sympathise with you, this is a dreadful heartbreaking decision to have to make but it will be the right one. I have been bowled over by the surprising strength of my emotion and the unpredictability of what or how often something triggers that sudden prickling feeling. I think it is the fact that our pets depend upon us completely and trust us unconditionally that makes the bond, they seem to become a sort of adopted child. This is absolutely exactly the moment when I had to do the same thing 9 weeks ago. I was then right now on the phone asking the vet to call to put our little cat to sleep, because it had become clear that she had now crossed a line which meant that she could no longer enjoy her life. It was the right decision even though my wife and I have both been at times tortured by the feeling that we murdered Bubble. We didn’t… and as time goes by we know that to be the truth, that it was the kindest thing we could have possibly done, and that IS really the lasting emotion, almost one of pride of having done something special for her I suppose.
What has been difficult in the last week has been seeing an appeal to re-home a very, very similar looking cat, which had been found in a shed mourning its dead kittens after having been attacked by a dog and as a consequence losing an eye. The decision that this was simply too soon and likely to be unfair on the poor cat was not easy.
Whether any of this helps I don’t know, but I do know that the understanding of other people certainly can do.
We’re on our third black lab at home now. Unfortunately with black labs they become fairly prone to all sorts of cancers as they get older. We’re more prepared for it now but it’s still one of the most difficult decisions you’ll make.
But just remember, if your pooch is suffering in any way, and it won’t get better, then the kindest thing to do is send them off to sleep. It’s never easy and it never gets easier to say goodbye but it’s sometimes the kindest thing to do rather than out them through some really intense operations.
chicane:
Lost count of the number of cats, dogs and other pets I’ve had to have PTS, never gets any easier, you have my sympathy.
Same here and you are right, it never gets easier. Years ago we had to have both our cat and the mother in laws dog put down in the same evening and I had to take both of them to the surgery, very hard even though they had both had long lives. Our old lad is 16 now and struggling at times with walking but doesn’t appear to be in any pain, when he is unable to go out to ‘do his business’ then it will be time for him to go. Though it will cost more I will try and get the vet to come and do it here, less traumatic for him as he has always dreaded going anywhere near the surgery.
Edited to add that during its final year a dog ages very rapidly which can be disconcerting for the owner as in the space of a few month’s they can go from healthy to poorly without us realising it.
. Sounds like tripe but that’s what he does apparantly. He’s an anxious old boy bless him.