shepherd

Question
Hello, I have a 15 year old german shepherd and I'm having trouble deciding
if it's time to put him down. He is all skin and bones, with absolutely no
muscle mass. Our vet gave us medication for him to gain weight but it had no
effect, you can see almost every bone in his body. He also has hip dysplasia,
deafness,an increase in the number of lymph nodes/ tumors, weak control of
his bladder and memory loss. He will urinate when he sleeps and poop while
he walks. If we change something in house he gets confused and leaves. He
also forgets what he is doing. We couldn't of asked for a better dog and we
don't want to put him down after being such an amazing member of our
family but he seems to be at the end of his life. He still has his bursts of
energy and youth so it is heartbreaking to think that we could end his life
when he still has some left in him.
Thanks for your time

Answer
Jessica -

Determining whether or not to mechanize is one of the toughest things a pet owner has to wrestle with.  

I try to use a couple of parameters to determine if euthanasia is warranted:

Is the animal responding to you?  Is he a interacting member of the family?

Is the animal eating and drinking?  Is he able to go outside and use the bathroom?(they don't like to have to urinate and defecate on themselves anymore than we do?)

Is the animal separating himself from the family? Often, when animals are very sick, they will separate themselves from the normal family in what I perceive as a way for them to say  - "Look, it's time for me to go." Other animals in the family seem to see it this way, too because they will leave the sick animal alone; they seem to respect his illness.

Are you able to control his pain?  If the pain appears to be uncontrollable, then I would consider it time for the animal to be euthanized.  I perceived constant pain as a form of suffering, and we euthanized to relieve uncontrollable suffering.

Hope this was helpful - on a personal note - I had the same concern with my dog and it was still very difficult for me to decide when to euthanize him - sometimes you have to trust your gut - and think of your dog. When you euthanize him, be strong enough to be there with him when it is done - I have put many animals to sleep in my career and often the owners will leave their pet with me.  I try to make the transition as peaceful as possible, but almost always the animal seems to be looking for the owner to return. A kind hand and a kind word of assurance from the owner makes the entire procedure seem easier if the owner is there with their cat or dog when it is euthanized.  Wouldn't you think that the last voice they hear or the last touch they feel would be their owner's and not their doctors'?

Good Luck - I know you will make the right decision at the right time.

Charlotte Sherrell, DVM