How bad did your dog get before you had them put to sleep

[Stressedout65]

We have a 15 year old Westie & of course love her to bits. She does have a bit of arthritis but doesn't seem to be in pain & still manages to jump up onto the sofa. She's a bit deaf too. Walks are short & very slow. She sleeps most of her time too. Trouble is she's started messing in the house, even though she's given plenty of chance to go outside. Eg she was left a few hours today after a walk to do her thing. She spent the time sleeping. As soon as I was home she was let out for a good while, had a potter around the garden & did nothing. She must have been full because as soon as we took her for a bath she flooded the bathroom floor, luckily only tiles. She's soiled inside too. I know she can't help it, but the holding onto the wee until we got her to the bathroom just felt like it was done on purpose!
She had something wrong with her to do with her rear end & going to the loo, which we spent a good amount of money on at the vets. I don't think it's gone away properly as she still smells quite a bit at her rear end.
When do you say enough is enough & stop spending at the vets & putting up with clearing up her mess she's made indoors. She's too old for pet insurance & it's not worth having at this age. Her comfort & welfare is the most important thing but I don't want my carpets wrecked either if she does start going in the house more often.
On the other hand it does not feel right having her put to sleep either. She was trotting slowly around the lounge later, she'll sit with us if we're sitting together, & still loves to sit on the lawn in the sunshine if we're in the garden too. I can't bear the thought of ending her life while she's still doing this & doesn't seem to be ill or in pain.
It's just the messing in the house that will start to get to us if it starts increasing much more. I know they can't hang on as long when they get old, but to hold onto it outside & wait till she's back inside - just why?
Sorry this is a long post, but had to get it off my chest

It’s very much a personal choice. I know people who draw the line at incontinence in the house. Me? I put my dog in diapers around the house if he’s otherwise doing OK. I couldn’t put him to sleep over that.

With all of our dogs we have always said “better a week too soon than even a day too late”.

Our old boy was nearly 15. He was deaf and blind and kept walking into furniture and walls with shuddering force and shrieking in pain. That was when.

Thank you both for your comments. I feel like she will pass away naturally before Xmas, but just haven't the heart to go through with it yet, doesn't feel quite bad enough. @BritWifeInUSA I never knew there was such a thing as dog diapers. You've used these on your old dogs & they've done their business in them, like a baby, if they can't hold on?

Our old dog only needed diapers for liquid. I got washable ones. I would take them off him when he went outside and out another one on him when he came back in. He was in them for about 2 weeks before he went so far downhill that we had to let him go.

I had 3 chihuahuas and 1 was PTS. Since then i don't really care so much about the things that bugged me before. Messing in the house, excessive fur everywhere etc. The 2 i have left are elderly and i know the time will come but i know when it does i can replace my flooring or carpets but I'll never replace them.

I am in the process of making the same decision, my dog is only 12 but she's got so many things wrong with her - kidneys, heart, arthritis, cushings disease. She's struggling to go for walks now and has a hacking cough and if she gets too excited she collapses. She's also just started to become incontinent. The thing is she's otherwise happy. I bring her to work with me and have done for years but she's pooed inside at work twice now and I just cant bring her in if she does that, and I can't leave her at home all day either. It's very hard :(

My lovely collie was found to have a fast growing tumour in late middle age. She became uncomfortable very quickly. She was still enjoying life at times but it was obvious that she very soon wouldn’t be because of the speed that it was progressing. I had the vet come out to the house to do it and I know that it was the right time.

I think that the phrase “better a week too early than a day too late” is often used in this discussion and I wholeheartedly agree. You cannot explain to an animal why it is suffering, and the least a pet deserves is to be spared unbearable and pointless pain when it has no hope of recovery. I think with older animals, there comes a day when you know that it’s had enough and the discomfort, disability and indignity outweigh the joy.

I know that many people don’t like to be there when a pet is put down, but please do try. It’s the very last thing you can do for a friend who has made you the centre of their world for probably the greater part of their life. They deserve the comfort of a familiar voice and smell around them in their final moments.

We just had our 17 year old dog put down she had been soiling house for some time but she had dementia. One of the symptoms is going outside and peeing as soon as you come in. She was still eating and drinking although we could see she was getting worse and having those conversations. She got poorly with infection and the decision was taken out of our hands which I'm grateful for . You can buy nappies which we did. We didn't want to put her down just for the incontinence. Hard hard hard. Xxxx

Not trying to be nasty or anything OP but do you know there's a section called The Doghouse on MN, always lots about this subject in there.
Anyway my Golden Retriever was 14, similar to yours in that soiling in the house but in his sleep, but his hip was quite painful and somedays he struggled to stand up, for me it got to the point where I could see he wasn't happy.

Ours couldn’t walk far and kept forgetting she’d been fed but was ok at not messing in the house. She kept doing odd things like barking at the fence or a plant in the garden. Then suddenly one morning she got in the shower tray, couldn’t get out, messed everywhere and was really upset and that’s where we drew the line as if was the first time she had been distressed.
A friend currently had a 17 year old dog, it just plods round slowly nothing actually wrong with it other than old age and the dog is still happy. So no need to put it down yet.

You can also get puppy pads which absorbs any wee and poo, or buy incontinence bed sheets to cover the floor when you are out.
I think you truly know when the time is right.
Sorry you are going through this it is heartbreaking.

I would only PTS for soiling in the house if the dog was upset by it. My golden retriever would have been, toileting inside was an absolute no for him. It would have been undignified and he'd have been ashamed. My other dog, on the other hand, quite literally doesn't give a shit and will go in the house if it's raining. So soiling in the house would be no big deal to her. The inconvenience of it wouldn't factor in for me, it's just how they are with it.

I am a believer that they are better to go a week early than just a single day too late. My boy was well in himself and enjoying life but something didn't feel right and he was diagnosed with a big lump on his spleen. If left it could have ruptured at any point, so I didn't have them bring him round from the sedation for his x rays. No last day with him would have been worth the possibility of the awful death he was destined for if I didn't intervene.