Help!!Advice needed

[Brewster]

Hi,
we have two dogs one of which is a bernese mountain dog. she is 9 years old and in reasonable health at the moment apart from having epilepsy and severe arthritis.
over the years she has had to have countless ops and X-rays and what not.
she is on tramadol and previcox for her pain and the vet gave me some ' last resort' pain meds that he said may or may not help her in her bad moments.
i have been giving these last ones more and more lately.
she gets very growly and snarly at my other dog (an 11 year old spaniel) to the point where they have had fights.
I can't totally trust the bernese around my children (5 and 2) and i really don't want her to be in so much pain that her life is awful you know.
she still loves cuddles with me and we go for walks in the woods most days so she has a nice life but i am getting more and more concerned about her pain and if it is getting to 'that time'.

any advice/ anyone else been in a similar situation?

vey said it is time when she can't get up to go out to the loo or doesn't bother to get up for her food…to me that seems way too late.

That also seems far to late IMO, my old lab had severe arthritis and dispute being able to do a gentle 20 min walk twice a day he was in pain and we had exhausted all medication. My vet was of the same opinion as me in that if my dog was in pain and not enjoying life then sooner rather than later was best for the dog. I'm sorry you are in this situation, but you know your dog and you will know when the time is right. I have never regretted the decision on my dog ever, he was 10 when I let him go.

When our old boy fell over & didn't try to stand up we went to see the vet for the last time. We had shared so much together it was horrible to leave without him but he was no longer himself. Afterwards I wondered if I had kept him going too long, he had really needed the tramadol & although he liked leaving the house he didn't really enjoy the walks. We missed him horribly & I think he would like one of the two dogs we have now a lot but he had lost most of his pleasure in life. I hope that by letting him go I treated him with kindness to the end.

I am sorry you are reaching that part of your journey with your dog.

The vet doesn't know your dog - you do, if she is on pain meds stronger than tramadol then she must be in a lot of pain, poor old thing.

Has she always been snappy around the other dog? if she is snappy now then this could be an indication of her levels of discomfort.

I believe in letting animals die with dignity, BEFORE they are at deaths door. When i worked in a vets it was always harder to see people extending their dogs' lives when they had clearly lost the quality of life that animals need.

The best bit of advice i heard was what my boss used to say - you listen to your gut.

Don't listen to your heart - how would you ever let them go?
Don't listen to your head - you'll rationalise too much "he had a good day today..." when it would have been the only good day in the week.

When you get that "feeling" in the pit of your stomach, you'll know.

If she were my dog, i think i would be at the stage you are at just now, maybe give her a few more weeks then reassess things? if there is any down turn in the meantime then bring your decision forward.

Its the shittiest thing in the world, but really the kindest thing we can do for them.

thank you everyone.
this is the hardest thing ever.
these are my first two dogs and my husband is pretty much leaving the decisions up to me.
it is sooo difficult cos i feel like i know what is right but then she comes and wiggles around on the floor by me for a belly rub and a cuddle….
then i figure if she does that she must be ok and happy you know!

my two dogs have a difficult relationship - they love each other and look out for each other but do annoy each other too and that is when you get the growling.
but usually the growling only happens when the bernese is in pain and it is happening more often now and now we also get the snarling which is new.

i feel so mean doing it before she is totally decrepied or at deaths door you know but it would be sooo mean to leave it to that stage too.

be so much easier if she was very obviously ill you know
x