When should I put my old dog down? Pain? QOL?

[MissingOne]

Sadly my vet suggested i put my last dog down only after i was no longer able to pay the bills. Following a three month 7000$ bunch of bills. Make sure you get a second opinion. I unfortunately did not.

kauffman is right; for big decisions, it's useful to consult more than one veterinarian. Some are very mercenary, as described by kauffman. However, many others sincerely want to do the best thing for the animal. Even among the sincere ones, there will be different opinions. Our dog had a serious injury in the spring of 2012. We ended up consulting three vets, all of whom gave us what we felt was honest advice, but each one had a different slant. In the end, after a lot of research, we made our own decision and went with a vet who supported our decision, even though her clinic is in another town half a day's drive away. It worked out well, but the decision-making was difficult.

 

[vancity_cowboy]

i had an animal that was struck by a careless driver and suffered a broken bone in its spinal column

vet 1 recommended surgery that i wasn't willing to afford. vet 2 recommended surgery that was even more expensive

i took the animal home, nursed it as well as i could, and after two short weeks it was up and starting to crawl around on it's own. now 13 years later it's still doing fine

don't necessarily trust pet vets AT ALL... they're totally different from vets for commercial animals

 

[Aleister Crowley]

like has been said , baby aspirin a couple times a day , and i have been hearing of people feeding marijuana cookies to them to make the happy and get rid of pain.

 

[cutekimmie]

im sorry your going through this.. i will repeat what others have said see a vet get multiple opinions.. a few years ago my cat (16) was just not herself anymore.. i took her to the vet as she progressivly got worse over the next week.. she couldnt control bodily functions i would wash her and we had a daily visit to the vet for an iv of pain killers and medications in hopes of curing her liver disease( the vet reccomended this) but it was the holidays and so there were 3 days i was unable to help her coming up so christmas eve she looked at me and i just knew she was ready she did not make it long enough for the vet to arrive YOU WILL KNOW WHEN.... theres no mistaking when its time
and before anyone says it i had 3 vets tell me she had reasonable chances with treatment but it was not helping we tried it for a few weeks but she was not improving just staying comfortable...

 

[wigglee]

my yellow lab is 14 and slowing down. He has trouble jumping into the hatchback and makes a choking sound every few hours. I went to the vet and they did nothing except rip me off for $500, and most of that was routine stuff like heartworm . Time to find a new vet. He is an awesome dog and we have been through alot together... it will be hard to say goodbye.

 

[HunkyBill]

i had an animal that was struck by a careless driver and suffered a broken bone in its spinal column

vet 1 recommended surgery that i wasn't willing to afford. vet 2 recommended surgery that was even more expensive

i took the animal home, nursed it as well as i could, and after two short weeks it was up and starting to crawl around on it's own. now 13 years later it's still doing fine

don't necessarily trust pet vets AT ALL... they're totally different from vets for commercial animals

+1. Be very leary of the influx of indo-canadian vets right now. Some of gotten into hot water with the BC Veterinary College. For the College to do anything, you've got to be really nasty.

I prefer not to get meds (long term) from vet's their markup is insane. Marketplace did an expose on vets a few years ago. I've had tonnes of experience and many (not all) want to gouge the shit out of you for everything in the name of science. For example, German Shepherds are prone to hip dysplasia. Unless your German Shepherd is less than 10 years old, that's when it likely will kick in. At that point, there is nothing that can be done. Part of the "protocol" is to have the client pay for all sorts of tests including blood work and x-rays. The vet will typically suggest surgery which won't do a thing. The torture and suffering will likely give your dog a heart attack if they should survive the surgery.

What people also tend to forget, like with human doctors and their patients, pets for the most part, are also a lab rats in the eyes of veterinarians. They will try this and that, and log the event for statistical purposes.