Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

[Meggie1129]

I cannot believe I am asking this on an online forum, but I am hoping maybe I can get a little bit more perspective on what is best for my dog and not be clouded by my sadness.

My dog Dobler will be twelve next week and has been diabetic for slightly over two years. We have had a good amount of insulin adjustments, but he has been steady and in really great health for quite some time now, up until two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, he started occasionally vomiting his food over a period of a few days, becoming a little bit more picky. He went two days and was fine, then vomited again so we took him in to vet. They ran bloodwork which was okay, determined he had a UTI and bacterial infection, put him on a few different antibiotics. He was okay over the weekend until that Sunday night. We have a sitter come and feed him/give him his insulin shot if we are out so he stays regulated. We came home about two hours later, and he seemed okay until he basically crumbled in our basement and couldn't move. He had thrown up his food shortly after he received his shot and went into diabetic shock. He started having a seizure, we brought him to emergency vet while smearing corn syrup on his gums, etc. Another seizure in car, when we got to vet he was comatose.

We thought we were saying our goodbyes that night and told vet we did not want him to suffer, but he pulled through and by the next day we were able to bring him home. The only problem was he did not want to eat. We tried some of the canned food that the vets had given him (he is on special diabetic dry food), he ate that for one meal but then would only eat chicken breast. That lasted a few days, and he stopped eating all together for 36 hours.

We of course brought him back to the vet. Our concern is the insulin regulation if he cannot eat. They did an abdominal x-ray, could not find anything conclusive but the organs were slightly shifted so they suspect that there could be a mass there. We will not do anything more invasive or treatment wise for him, so we decided not to go ahead with an ultrasound to see if there was anything more inconclusive.

So basically, for the past week, we have just been feeding him whatever he will eat. Lots of ground beef. He actually gobbled up some ground beef and our leftover pasta the other day! He is on an appetite inducer for a week, which we just finished yesterday.

The vet has been okay with us just feeding him to get him to eat, he had lost almost ten pounds and still needs his insulin. We have tried incorporating canned food, his dry, other dry, etc. with not much success. He seemed to be doing okay though, so she said to wait until he finished the appetite pills and then we would re-evaluate.

Well, he threw up on Wednesday night, but definitely still continued to eat his food. The past three mornings he threw up again, and will not eat much of anything. I guess I just do not know when is the time to let him go. I don't want him to suffer, but for now he is still walking around, snuggling, etc. He is definitely laying around a lot more but that is also a side effect of the medicine (which he is done with). I would go ahead and pay anything, but I want him to have a good quality of life. But if there is still some life left in him, I don't want to let him go yet, know what I mean? We made an appt for tomorrow to bring him in, and decided to celebrate his birthday early today. He ate a few pieces of bacon and we took him to the woods with our other dog and kids this morning and he ran and played like a puppy. You wouldn't have known anything was wrong with him.

But then I have to remember that he has been vomiting since Wednesday again and hardly eating for weeks. I don't want to prolong his life selfishly, but I also don't want to potentially keep him alive and have him start seizing, everything failing, and have him truly suffering.

My husband is wonderful and is supportive of doing whatever we can for him so long as his quality of life is good or it will actually make a difference. After $2000 the past few weeks, he didn't want to shell out another $500 for the ultrasound if it wouldn't affect our treatment of him.

Man. . . .My mind is just everywhere right now. I thought we were saying goodbye to him twice the past few weeks already and thought I was ready, and I have been so thankful for this extra time with him, but I just don't know what to do.

[farrwf]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

Has he completed the antibiotic regimen? What's the status of his UTI?

[Ricksma]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

This is so heartbreaking for you. My heart goes out to you, I know exactly how you feel. We try so hard to make their lives better, and when things start to go sideways, we search our hearts for the right answer, when really there isn't one. You have to do what you think is best, and this is how I feel about this horrible situation....when I have to make this horrible decision, I would rather be a week early than 1 minute too late. Do what your heart says...it will not steer you wrong. I am so sorry I didn't see this earlier today. I know you are suffering. Hugs.

[jesse girl]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

pancreatitis comes to mind. my jesse almost passed from it .

now its possible the antibiotics can make it worst if that is also contributing to stomach upset .

your pup still wants to eat thats a good sign . how are the stools

[Ricksma]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

How is he acting? Is he behaving as though his abdomen is hurting? Is it just loss of appetite, or is something else going on?

[Judi]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

I'm so sorry. If the vet thinks the throwing up is from a mass I'd be thinking what you are thinking. Like Jessegirl suggests though, make sure they ruled out pancreatitis. My Jenny vomited when she had that and didn't want to eat or drink.

We do all understand and feel for you. Whatever you do you are doing from love and your dog knows that. hugs

[sibhus]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

really sorry to hear what your going through. I actually went through something similar before my dog was diagnosed with diabetes as pancreatitis is common with this ailment.

It is very hard to see pancreatitis on bloodwork unless they run a special panel, usually ultrasounds will reveal it. My only recommendation would be to see if you can get your dog on SQ or IV fluids for 2 days to see if his pancreas heals and can eat again, as this was the case with my dog.

[sherryandfred]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

I just put my Fred down and he was much sicker I want to think there is something going on like maybe the meds making him sick because he wasn't eating enough? Or the UTI or pancreatitis that would for sure make them sick? How is his stool? My Fred would give me such a heard time to eat if he got sick...only you can make that choice if it's time and trust me you will know....I do hope it's just him sick with belly problems and he comes out of it...please keep us posted...best of luck we are praying for you...

[k9diabetes]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

While you may wind up choosing not to treat whatever is found, the ultrasound would help you answer your question. In your place, I would have the ultrasound done as soon as possible. There is a big difference between, say, bad colitis and a very large and obviously painful tumor. It would affect my decision.

I am sorry you are in this place with him...

Natalie

[amydunn19]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

It does sound like pancreatitis to me, too. If they go back to "real" food too fast, they will be sick. Did the vet test for pancreatitis? You might get that test done because he may be in pain from it as well. When Maggie had it in the past, I would have sworn she was near death or giving up because it is painful. But after recovery, she had a lot more life in her.

[Meggie1129]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

It is so much more difficult to make this decision because we did have a good day with him today. He seemed happy and instead of totally laying around all day, was up, or when laying would keep his head up. Even ate almost a whole can of tuna! He eats twice a day, and usually the vomiting this time around is right when he wakes in the morning, mostly bile. His bowel movements are pure liquid. They have tested for pancreatitis, which came back negative. I feel like I am selfishly making this decision for me, I cannot get out of my head the fact that maybe we can get more good days with him, that it will be my fault if we put him down before it is truly his end. But I am so fearful of him having more seizures, of suffering.

He is off of the appetite inducers for a few days now, and they took him off the antibiotics after he stopped eating last week, so for over a week now. He had been on them about 7 days.

[jesse girl]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

another thought is EPI

there are other members who have this condition where the body does not provide digestive enzymes to digest food anymore or very limited

i actually thought this as a possibility for my jesse at one time and never new of the disorder .

the solution is fairly simple by providing digestive enzymes to help food to be digested

maybe some other members with this condition can provide more info

many times diabetes is just a result of something else that has occurred or occurring with the pancreas or other digestive issues . thats why we see so many problems that can occur with diabetes that is digestive in nature

[amydunn19]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

I feel like I am selfishly making this decision for me, I cannot get out of my head the fact that maybe we can get more good days with him, that it will be my fault if we put him down before it is truly his end. But I am so fearful of him having more seizures, of suffering.

I think this is why you maybe should get the ultrasound or get some further testing. That way, if it is something bad, at least you would know it and maybe it would make this decision easier. You won't be second guessing that maybe he just had a bad week and then take on the self doubt that maybe you did act too quickly. You have to do what makes you feel better about it and at peace with it.

Also, I would look into EPI.

[Nan's Pups]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

I am not there with you to witness the complete situation, but let me tell you something in my decades of experiences of rescuing dogs. 6 times, more than one vet suggested me to put a dog down (6 different dogs). I went along with once, refused 5 times. And among those 5 times, I brought everyone of them back to life.

Illness will definitely discomfort your dog, but is he suffering or not? Or he's just sailing through to try to get better? I am not saying you should not consider the vet's opinion, but it's a one time only decision. If you make a mistake, there's no turning back. There are times, some people criticize me as 'selfish' to not to put a dog down, I replied to them 'I am not God, I don't play God. If God hasn't taken him, there's a reason for it, I am not either.' That's just my belief. I am not saying I am right. I can be wrong in every ways, but I take that step with extreme caution.

Also, let's not forget vets are, even if they are good vets and they are your friends, rarely taking care of your dog with love. They are more like, treating your dog as a professional, an expert, a guide. They've seen too many animals get sick, get worse, have to be put to sleep, they get numb even if they don't want to be. They understand it is a tough decision, but they will most likely not thinking in the same channel as you will.

I am not trying to change your decision or anything, I am just trying to help. If indeed it's time to go, there's no better option for your beloved pup. Again, the decision is tough, good or bad, can affect the rest of our lives.

[peggy0]

Re: Please help me, is it time to put my beloved dog to rest?

I would do the ultrasound so you know what you are dealing with. Then you can make an informative decision