Please help me about my loved old dog ..

[Selfraisings]

our old girl . Bichon.. is nearly 15 .
she waa the happiest of dogs . Last year she has eye ulcer and needed it taking off.
this year.. now same thing .. same surgery.
vet says it not healing… eye drops for the last few weeks, 2 more weeks .. if ot doesnt work .. vet says reapeat of surgery ( small amount not healed)
she has to be sedated for this.
the next day she will be sick and wobbly again
she also has start of demwntia.
she often stands in room.. tail down , staring.. if we break this by touching her she comes round , sometimes being alert sometimes starught back .
took her to hee fave pub today .. sruggles to settle
norm its her joy
sc home this weekend .. shw was like a puppy!
vet advises her dementia will progress.. it cd be quick it cd be slow.

am find it so so painful .. feel like am loosing her . Almost like want to let her go now to soare her future .. or is ot me .. a swld protection .. to avoid the loss??
anyone been through this ?? Been crying in pub ..

I said no more procedures .. vet says this small ..likely to work .. she has up n down days.. am so upset ..

My dog developed dementia and it was really hard. It did deteriorate quite quickly and my only regret was that we weren't braver in making the decision earlier. She had a huge seizure in the end which is when we decided to let her go. She was 17. Never had a day's illness in her life.

We ended up filling in a quality of life questionnaire to see if she was having more good days than bad. She was at the beginning but they got fewer fairly quickly. She wasn't in pain but cognitively she was toast. That helped us put it in perspective. It's so difficult when you live with them.

I am sorry it is hard and nobody can tell you what to do.

Thank u x

It's so blooming hard, isn't it? Have you talked to your vet about meds like Vivitonin or Aktivait? They can really help some dogs with dementia/cognitive decline.

Yes , she says limited benefits in her view x
our girl does not like going out anymore . Toll her to fabe pub , wer she spent many happy hrs snooze , she cdnt settle x

OP, I think you already know what you need to do here.

Be brave, be strong for your little girl, and make the call.

Better a week to early, than a minute too late.

I let my much loved cat go earlier this year. He was declining and i didn't want to wait for an emergency to force my hand. I arranged for the vet to come to the house and do it. It was very peaceful and i knew as soon as he was gone that id done the right thing. Animals have no concept of tomorrow. They've given you years of happiness - i felt a dignified end was something i could give my lovely boy at the last.

Yeah he could have struggled on a few more months but overall, he was only going to get worse.

Limth that was ny feeling today.
She is happy in the home , but no longer likes going for walks bar the occasional sniff
we carry her to her fave spots or sometimes she walks
dc sayshe is fit and u cant put down a fit dog
my fear .. my absolute fear, is i am humanising her condition, in that she is resally ok and am projecting . My equal fear is am i considering letting her go because i cant cope / am not resilinant enough? And want itover ?
she eats / enjoyd food. Sleeping beside me

As in am i think she suffer cos she no longer likes hee fave old pub , but seems happy at home , rest or sleep and can eat x

Her issue is dementia early
plus she has a ulcer on her eye
she had procedue last week
under sedation .. tranqs not anestetic.. makes her wobbly cple of day
s .. had to go vet y day for check up .. said its not healed … but nealy.. eye drops to try sort it .otherwise a second , less invasive procedure. Tranq again.
is a dog happy just sleep / rest all time? Eat drink ok .. with time awake .. tail down. .. either unsure wer she is .. vet says she is either upset ot just unsure .. when i touch her , her tail pops back up !

Go with your gut, you know your girl inside out.

It's also okay to think about your own feelings here too. She will get worse. If you're not able to cope with that, if you're dreading that, it's okay to make the call now.

FWIW, it doesn't sound like she has much quality of life. I absolutely wouldn't be putting her through another procedure given how much it knocks her about. Your DC are totally incorrect - she's not fit at all.

I think you know what you need to do. You're keeping her going for your benefit not hers. I know it's a tough decision, have been through it myself 💐

It's time. Let her go now. It's the last kind thing we can do for our animals

I'm so sorry OP, I lost my beautiful boy recently and know the long grief that comes from watching them decline.

In your position I don't think I would put her through another sedation. Make her as comfortable as you can for as long as you can with medication and, when she's no longer finding joy in each day, let her go.

Its not anesthetic . Its a tranq to allow her ro allow vet to de braid / scrape remaining bit of eye ulcer off x

It's time. It's always a difficult call to make when they're still capable of having the occasional good day, but you have to look at everything in the round. The day I made the decision with my darling girl was SO hard and I cried buckets in the vets. My husband said I was howling. But once I'd got home, pulled myself together and thought rationally about it, I regetted every day she lived when I knew she was in pain with arthritis, or confused or distressed or had no appetite, no energy and no joy left in her. If I'd been braver and more clear headed about it, I probably should have done it sooner.

You constantly ask yourself 'Is this the right thing for the dog, or is it just easier and less stressful for me, to have it over with? Am I doing it out of convenience and is there more I could be doing to help her?'

Then one day you wake up and look at the dog and you just know it's the right thing for the dog.

My boy dog who was nearly 14 had a recurrent open absess type thing that wouldn't heal. He was operated on twice, had so many antibiotics and it kept coming back. The constant dressings and stitches were stressful for him. When we finally seemed to have that under control he developed another one somewhere else...

Luckily he went downhill really quickly after that, so the decision was swift. I'm glad we didn't drag him through more pointless treatment.

I wish you a happy and peaceful last few days, or weeks, whatever it may be, with your precious girl. x

It doesn't matter. You've said that she's woozy and wobbly after sedation and tranquilizers. Why put her through that?

I agree with @RadishAndTwiglet

Read back everything you've said on this thread, OP:
She has dementia
She's often got her tail down
She sleeps all the time
She doesn't want to go out any more
She needs a sedation that'll knock her sick
Under sedation, she'll have a vet scraping at her eyeball

How does all that sound? Like a great life? Like a good life? Like a life you'd want to keep limping along for months even without the inevitable decline?

Imagine a friend was telling you all this about her dog. What would you be thinking or saying to her?

Had to make the decision on mine the week before Christmas . He was nearly 19. Argued with myself
as he was walking around with dementia and riddled with cancer . Going blind deaf but still eating going for walks and keeping everyone in their place. As soon as he passed on my knees . I knew I had done the right thing. Good luck and hugs.