Decide When to Put Your Dog to Sleep - Putting a Dog Down
84Elderly Dogs
It is one of the hardest decisions that pet owners can make- when is the right time to put your dog (or other pet) to sleep. Because our dogs become part of the family, when they start to age and show signs of age, it can be very hard to decide when it is time to let them go.
If you have an elderly dog, you are probably taking all precautions already to caring for your older dog, but if you need a little help, you can check out Caring for an Elderly and Aging Dog for more tips for caring for an elderly dog.
It is a very hard decision to make, especially since out dogs become part of the family. We play with them, exercise them, train them, feed them, and in many cases sleep with them. Face it, we spend A LOT of time with our dogs, so when the time comes when you notice that you older dog just doesn’t have the same spunk as he used to, it may be time to start thinking about the one subject that no dog owner wants to touch until the last minute…
Euthanasia…
Thinking about putting your dog to sleep
If you think about your dog’s wants and wellbeing, ask yourself what does he want?
The answer is actually pretty simple. Your dog wants fun, love, attention, and good health… That means no pain or suffering… Which is pretty much what we want ourselves.
When your dog's quality of life suffers, then you should start thinking about what you're going to do.
There is no set time or limit or one-for-all decision that everyone can make as to when to put the dog to sleep. It is by individual situation and opinion as to when that time is. So, I cannot tell you that today is the day that you put your 13 year old dog to sleep just because he’s 13 because what if he still runs around and barks at strangers and begs to be pet and loved on? Now, that doesn’t sound like a dog that is ready to be put down.
But, we all know when it is time. It is just something that we do not want to have to face when it is that time.
How is it done?
Euthanasia is a very simple and pain free process. You can opt to have your dog put to sleep at the vet, or in many cases, the vet will be willing to come to your home to do it in your dog’s surroundings.
Most vet’s give the dog a shot of barbiturate, or another sedative, to relax the dog and put him unconscious, and then the vet or vet tech will give the dog another shot to actually put the dog to sleep and to stop his heart.
Not all dogs react the same. You will find that dogs with poor circulation may take a little long for the drugs to take into effect, and with some dogs, it may take a little longer for the muscle twitches to stop. In these cases, do not be alarmed or upset thinking that you have made the wrong choice. You dog is not fighting to stay alive, he is already fully unconscious.
Help Dealing with the Grief
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Dealing with the grief of putting your dog to sleep
When dealing with the grief of losing a pet, there are many different means of coping. A few tips can include the following:
- If you know that your older dog is going to need to be put to sleep in the near future, go ahead and get another puppy. This will help you with the emotional pain when your older dog is gone.
- Go ahead and make plans, as to when you will put your dog to sleep (if you know that he is getting worse), where you will put your dog to sleep (the vet or at home), and what you will do with his body (leave at the vet, bury, cremation, etc). This will help with the coping process, having everything pre-planned
- Have someone go with you when you take the dog to the vet, or have someone with you when the vet comes to your home, so that you have someone that you can be with during and after the process.
- And, when the vet or vet tech is preparing your dog, just be with him. Hold him, stroke him, talk to him. This will help you and it will calm him.
If you want more tips, you can check out this hub about Dealing With The Loss of A Pet
Putting Your Dog Down
Many people want to let God take over and decide when is the right time to let the dog pass on, but if you think about it, we have already pretended to be God by preventing all sorts of “natural” diseases and illnesses with regular shots, pills, and other medications. So is it fair to let out beloved pets live in possible pain and agony while we wait for God to take over?
I am not saying that everyone should go out and put their dog to sleep at the first sign of old age, but I believe that there is a point in every dog’s life that if he is suffering, it’s time to let him go.
You don’t want to keep the dog alive and in pain for your own benefit and selfishness. You want to think of what lifestyle your dog is currently having. If he is not happy, sick, and suffering, I’m sorry to be blunt, but it’s time…
If it helps, consider at-home euthanasia.
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I adopted my mixed begal 8 yrs. Ago. He was extremely friendly w people esp. Kids. Loved to play w/ other dogs. In feb. 2012 I noticed he had lumps on his neck and legs. The vet. Said they were cancerous tumors. He continued to play, eat until 2 days ago. He got sick fast. The tumors spread to his lungs. My vet and the assist. were very compassionate. we put him to sleep. I have been very sad and crying on and off. But after reading some of these testimonies... I'm starting to heal.
My wife and I had to put our dog to sleep. When the Vet was about to inject her he asked us not to look in her eyes. I never asked him why and it is bothering me why he said this?
My dog Sam is 15 this year and has lost all his energy sleeps for about 22 hours a day, hardly eats and is losing weight.
He has cataracts and is partially deaf.He looks so sad all the time and has diarrhoea most days. But I can't contemplate life without him but feel he has had enough and not sure if sumptoms are serious enough to let him go, please give your help
We have an appt. to put our beloved Pepper down tomorrow, but we are struggling with the decision. She is 15y.o., deaf, blind, basically just sleeps, doesn't eat much if nothing unless we put alittle peanut butter in the bowl and isn't interested in her "treats". She does drink, doesn't bark, had problems getting up and walking, I can see she does NOT enjoy going for walks and the biggest problem is we live on the 2nd floor and her bowel seems to be "lazy" that she can't hold it and it becomes "explosive" and smelly and messy to clean up in the condo hallways. But other times she looks for her ball went we come home when she realizes that we just got home which could be up to 10-15 minutes. Are we doing the right thing?
I have just put my 17 year old dachshund down tonight. It was the most awful experience for me as she fought it, and actually started crying tears from her eyes, there was mucous dripping from her nose and she was dripping saliva from her mouth, and this was whilst she was on the vets table, before she received any injections. She wanted to bite me whilst being held. So you may ask me why did I put her down, well she was blind and deaf, she had lost control of her bladder, and struggled to walk. If there is another occasion that I have to do this, I would try and buy a sedative to give to my dog, as I would not be able to to see my other dachshund who is 16 years, go through a similar experience. It was if my 17 year old friend/child knew what I was doing, and I think this incident must have been one of the most traumatic experiences in her life.
Dawn, I think if your dog is whining and looking at you, panting etc ... he's telling you something but you're not listening. It's time. Don't be cruel by putting your own feelings first.
We have a beloved Golden retriever who has been apart of our family for 15 years. He is the best dog anyone could ever ask for. He has lived a great life of playing ball, catching the frisbee and hanging with his sister, cousins and friends.
His has never been sick, except for the occasional stomach bug. Here over the past few years he has gotten much slower and about a year ago we took him to the vet because he was whinning, anxious, panting and pacing. At this visit we learned he a UTI and arthritis which was causing some nerve damage to his back legs. He was treated for the UTI and we were given some pain/antinflamtory meds which helped. A few days ago he could barely walk and couldn't hunch down to poop. I felt so sorry for him, I hated to see him this way. We were given additional pain meds which seem to be helping, he has been able to poop and isn't limping . He is still winning while he's laying down and panting pretty hard too. We arent sure what to do. He wags his tail when we're with him and he's still eating and drinking. He is so restless and we don't want him to suffer. He whines and gets up and just looks at us like he wants us to do something to help him. What do we do?
I thought for sure he would feel better if he could just poop but there must be something else going on for him to whine and pace like he is. Again what do we do?
We had our dog for 17 years. He was a Border Collie mix. He was a very good dog and never bit anyone. We also had his sister but she passed away two years ago. We had to put him to sleep because he was in a lot of pain. He was having trouble with his hips, back legs, etc. and could not walk. If he went on his side he would cry in pain. We decided that it was time to keep him from suffering. He was a very good dog and we will miss him. We knew it was time when he started to have trouble walking, climbing stairs, moving. We will miss him. He was a companion and friend.
I'm not handling this very well. Every time i look at her i swear she knows where I'm taking her, i feel like I'm letting her down. No mater how many stories i read i feel like I'm giving up on her just because she old and needs lots of care.
AT 2.50 TODAY IVE GOT AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE VET. I HAVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 12 AND HALF YEAR OLD RED BOXER NAMED TANGO. SHE'S BEEN FANTASTIC FOR THE HOLE OF THAT 12 YEARS. I'M SO DREADING TAKING HER, SINCE CHRISTMAS SHE'S LOST A LOT OF WEIGHT, SHES BEEN BEST FRIENDS TO MY KIDS, EVEN WHEN MY GRANSON CAME ALONG SHE LOVED HIM. I KNOW THE VETS GOING TO TELL ME ITS KINDER TO LET HER GO BUT I HAD TO LET MY STAFFI GO MANY YEARS AGO AND I CANS STILL REMEMBER THE LOOK ON HER FACE WHEN THEY PUT THE NEEDLE IN. I STILL FEEL SO GUILTY TAKING HER LIFE AND I'M GOINING TO HAVE TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.
Danielle, it's up to Grandma, not you
We had our dog for 6 years and he was a stray when we got him. We always assumed he was old. Never took him to the vet as he was an outside dog for years... He is aging and we brought him inside for the last couple of years and his belly had gotten huge and he couldn't pee, he would just drip drip drip. He started throwing up water- we took him to the Vet thinking a UTI with some meds and ended up with horrible news. He had stones in his bladder and in his urethra and it was completely blocked. He needed immediate surgery! They couldn't even get a catheter in him. Poor guy. I wish I would have taken him in sooner, I had no idea he was in pain, since he never cries or whines! The surgery was going to be almost $2000 and even if I did it, they said the stones could come back and he had to be on Precription Diet dog food and filtered water the rest of his life. Then they found out he had a new onset case of heartworms. This was devastating to us. We ended up putting him down. I stayed in the room with him during the whole thing and he had no idea what was going on. I feel awful and have cried since yesterday. Having control over his life is maybe what is so hard, and I am filled with regret over not having him treated sooner and not having him on heartworm preventatives. As pet owners, we need to all assume responsibility for these little guys. I never had enough money to treat him or take him in, yet I have a large car payment and a nice home. I COULD HAVE FIGURED SOMETHING OUT. Now he is gone and I regret not being better to him, especially in his final days. Poor thing. My heart goes out to all of you that have lost your pet.
i had my 12 year old black lab put to sleep two days ago now and I am really struggling to comes to terms with it. I am wondering whether I made the right decision. He was pooing and weeing in the house, and he would stare into space. He was also starting to get nervous and start shaking for no reason. i know his back legs were going and he would slightly drag them, and he would lay down slowly, so i believe his back was going too. I ask myself should i have put up up with the mess in the house? Am I selfish to have him out to sleep. On his last day i came down to poo on his bed, he was also wetting his bed although only a small bit. i have another dog too and i think he knew something wasn't right. I just hoped that i made the right decision as ultimately he would have got worse and it was better to do it now than to see him really suffer. it is very heart breaking and i have lost a dear friend, he will forever be in my heart.
we have a 13 year old Sheppered/lab mix (DINGO) and 2 weeks ago she was dx with an enlarged heart and and enlarged liver. Not to mention she has really bad arthritis in her back and her hind legs. She has had a ruff start to her life as she came to us for a kill shelter and we took her in and gave her a great home to live in. She has watched my two girls come home from the hospital and be their best bud. It is really hard to make this decession as she is my baby. She is on a antiflamatory, and a blood pressure medication. The meds are helping a little with the arthrits but she still falls, and she pants like she was just out running due to the C.H.F. As far as walks she can only go a block then she can not breath so even that has been cut back. I know it is time it is just so hard.
On the 14th march 2012 we had our Tommy jack russel terrier put to sleep it was the hardest thing ever. I miss and love him so much my heart just breaks for him every day since . But in my mind i know it was the right thing to do he had a tumor to the liver they found that out a year ago but he was just going down at first slowly but then fast. He would hide his face go under my kitchen units or hide his face in his bed blanket. He wouls sleep on his back all the time.... never done that before , he stopped sleeping in his normal place on my settee, we ended up buying him a new bed he took to it staright away with his blanket and quilt but for some reason we believe he was just uncomftable with his tumor he would sleep in the most silly places.... on top of my ironing basket, in my shoe cupboard on top of the shoes really crazy places. It was for comfort, he would beg for food even though he had food in his bowl 1 minute he wanted then he didnt want, his bones was pertruding from his spine and collor bone his tail hair was shredding. Yes we think this was his time to go he was 13 but91 in dog years. we found great comfort in that poem on site and printed it out to read every day ... here it goes,
TIME TO LET ME GO MY FRIEND BECAUSE MY LIFE NO ONE CAN MEND. ITS BETTER TO LET ME GO THIS WAY THAN WATCH ME SUFFER NIGHT AND DAY.I'M HAPPY TO GO MY TIME HAS COME MY QUALITY OF LIFE IS NO LONGER FUN .IV BEEN SO ILL SO ITS NOT A BAD THING TO LET ME GO FOREVER RESTING.STAY WITH ME TILL I DRIFT AWAY FAST ASLEEP FOR EVER I PRAY TO RELIEVE ME FROM SUFFERING AND PAIN NEVER TO BE ILL AGAIN. I KNOW YOUR MISS ME BEING THERE BUT ALL THOSE MEMORIES YOU WILL SHARE. THANK YOU FOR BEING MY BEST FRIEND AND ALL MY NEEDS YOU DID TEND. TRY NOT TO BE SAD TRY NOT TO CRY NOW IS THE TIME TO SAY GOODBYE .XXXXXXXX
Keep reading this and it will help you like it has helped me. when ever i'm down i read this. R.I.P TOMMY CONNIFF..1999 to 2012 love you so much xxxxxxxxx
HI we have a 13year old lab and he is livley eats sleeps jumps but his legs are starrting to go the back ones he is on tramodol for pain twice a day and he gets loxicom as well he got antiflantry injection last week he gets other one tonight think hes getting worse .He jumps to go his wee walk to do his bussnes but knakerd when comes back .Dont no what to do its hard
In my case, I am somewhat eager to have my elderly dog put down.He was adopted 5 years ago and is now 11. We wanted a friend for our other dog we raised as a pup, and we wanted to help out people who were moving to a place where they could no longer keep him. This dog came to us set in his ways and we have been cleaning up his accidents regularly, since he came to us and increasingly as he ages. He would rather pee on a nice floor than outside and he would rather poo on our paved driveway and deck than on ... God forbid...ground. We are more than ready to let him go. I know if I call a vet they will find every expensive medicine available for me to try to fix him first. What should I do?
We're dealing with the passing of our beloved Cody...a fun loving, well mannered, lovable Boxer. He's at Stage 5 Lymphoma. He's been at that stage since his prognosis in early January. We were faced with the decision of Chemo (months up to a year) or Steroids (weeks/months). But given the options we opted to go the steroid route. That added what's now a little under 2.5 months with him. He's been generally the same Cody we've always known him to be...but the lymph nodes swelled back up to giant size in the past couple of days and his bowels aren't the same...appears he's not fully digesting his food and losing control of his bowels and bladder. We have an appointment with the Vet in 3 hours and I don't know for sure if this is a visit or a good-bye. I'm torn. I've never loved a dog as much as I have Cody. He's my child. My friend. He's had a great life and my life is so much richer having him in my life for the past 6 years. He's not appearing to be suffering but he's lost all of his energy in just a few days. We took him to a favorite park along the Potomac River with a full view of downtown DC. Flowers blooming. Cool breeze. Bright sunshine. It was a great day...a simple but absolutely wonderful day. I'm coming to terms with what I need to do and the decision I need to get my other half to support. I've got to turn it over to God and not try and control the situation. My thoughts and prayers to all of you.
We made our appointment today to have our Vizsla put down and I am really struggling with it. He was diagnosed with kidney failure a month ago and within the past few days has stopped eating, he is so thin and his bone have begun to really protrude. The doctor said he will not recover from kidney failure. His problems are internal and although he spent all day yesterday just laying in one of two spots he doesn't seem to be suffering. We never had any problems with his health until a month ago and things just progressed so quickly. I keep reminding myself, would I really feel better if he was acting out in pain or appearing to suffer more, when you compare the two options I hope that putting him down before he reaches that point is the right answer.
Terry 11 days ago
I have been putting off the decision to put my 16 year old dalmatian down for several months now. His brothers and sister died at 12 years old - each one was so difficult for me to do. I miss each one very much - They were and still are my family. Benjamin, born deaf, now has cataracts in both eyes, his body is filled with tumors (benign, he has tumors in his ears that leak constantly which makes keeping them clean difficult, he no longer wants to hop into bed or go for car rides because he is having difficulty in his joints, he is losing control and has accidents often in the house, he stares into space (senility, I think, falls down the stairs at least once a week BUT, he smiles at me when I come home, still follows me everywhere, he eats and drinks well and even tried to play the other day. He is skin and bones even though he gets plenty of food and treats - I know the tumors are taking all the nutrients. I know the right thing to do is to put him down but I am having such a hard time - Telling myself he is only old. I pray to God every night for a peaceful end but I know that I will have to make this decision. I plan on taking him tomorrow. IT JUST IS SO HARD - I have been crying for weeks now.