WWYD when to say goodbye to beloved dog

[Witsendneedhelp]

Please be gentle as this is very distressing and I just want to do the right thing, and apologies for the long post. Our little 10 year old small dog has Cushings disease and it is horrifically stressful for all involved. She is on medication which has not helped and has frequent vets appointments and blood tests. I have heard that some small dogs do not respond well to treatment for cushings. As per the symptoms of cushings, she is constantly thirsty no matter how much water we give her and constantly ravenously hungry. No matter how much she is fed she begs for more, and as soon as we leave the kitchen she will pull down the bin and rummage through its contents for food. If the door of the food cupboards are left slightly ajar she will pull out anything she can find, she’s ripped open packets of chia seeds, breakfast cereals, etc. she will also jump up on the kitchen table after we have finished dinner and left the room on the off chance that one of the kids has left scraps behind.

Overnight she urinates constantly , and we have massive puddles to clean up every morning. We let her out all the time, but she will often pee within minutes of coming back into the house. She also has diarrhoea regularly and poos all over the kitchen floor. This has been going on for a long time but we just clean up as it happens, but things have escalated recently. She had a poo accident in the kitchen, and when my husband went to get stuff to clean it up and came back he discovered that she had eaten it. She has never done this before and it is so upsetting, knowing that she is in such a constant state of hunger that she would do this (if that is the reason). I’ve heard some dogs with cushings a can do this. Today we have hit a new low, after dinner we left the kitchen table and she jumped up on the table looking for scraps (even though the table was clear) and she pooed on the table while she was up there. I wish I was making this up as it is too horrific but unfortunately it’s real.

My husband thinks it’s time to get her out to sleep, but she is not in pain or distress so to speak. We love her and I feel guilty contemplating pts but this situation is impacting her quality of life dreadfully, and ours. She is currently on Trilocur liquid, she was on Vetoryl before this and had no improvement in symptoms but she became depressed and lethargic on it.

As loving dog owners what would you do in this situation?

Very gently the last act of love you can do is to let her go. Now. It’s time. When my lovely old English reached his time we had our vet come to our house so he was warm, comfy and surrounded with love.

For yours and your dogs sake, PTS. Better a week too early than a day too late.

Do what you need to do for her.

Thank you so much for your compassionate replies, it means so much. My gut tells me this, and I’ve always been a believer that it’s better to pts a week too early rather than a day too late. It’s just that she seems happy at times but she can’t have any quality of life with these accidents, the hunger and the thirst. Thank you

Let her go. It’s tough. But let her go

I do feel for you. My sister’s little dog had Cushings and when it became obvious medication was not controlling it, she made the decision to euthanise. Your current situation is stressful for you, and by your own admission your little dog’s quality of life is suffering. The last act of kindness you can do for her is to let her go, giving her a peaceful and dignified end. My thoughts are with you all.

My dog has addisons (the opposite of Cushings). I think that as you've tried multiple things, she's having so many accidents and you don't think her quality of life is great, then it's time. You can get online quality of life questionnaires which might help. My dog's getting old, he's still happy 90% of the time but I need to have a sit down and decide on some lines in the sand now while emotions aren't in play for me. I am with you that it's the last great kindness we can do for them and also subscribe to the better a bit too early than slightly late. You want them to go when there's still good days, not wait until there's none.

We Will do the right thing. She’s been a wonderful dog and deserves to meet a dignified end surrounded by those who love her. Our vet is amazing and I know he will come to our house to put her to sleep. Thank you for all your support. My husband and I knew we had to do this but it was good to know that our decision is the right one.

Sending you thoughts and hugs, it sounds like it's time to let your wee doggie go. She's not got much quality of life from the sounds of things.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to the thread, it was hard to face back after saying goodbye to our little girl. She was pts shortly after the last update. It was such a peaceful, dignified passing and we were able to shower her with love and treats before the end. We have a little engraved box with her ashes on a shelf in our kitchen above where her bed used to be. I know it’s an old thread but just wanted to get back to you and thank you for all your kind, wise words. It really did help at a difficult time xx

Thank you for sharing this. I was thinking of you the other day when reminiscing with my sister about her min pin 🌈 and her last day of being given all her favourite things. 💔💔

I’m sorry about your pup. It’s so hard. We had to make the same choice recently, as the treatment needed would require a lot of time at the vet and he was a mummy’s boy. He wouldn’t have liked it. So we let him go but it was hard and unexpected.

And of course they are everywhere aren't they? Checking the room before you leave, making sure we aren’t out too long, looking to see where he’s settled down… just a constant awareness of something missing.

@Witsendneedhelp 🩷🩷🩷

Sending you thoughts and a handhold. It's not easy making that decision.

@PrizedPickledPopcorn I’m so sorry that you found yourself in this situation also. You’ve hit the nail on the head, so much of your life before revolved around taking care of them. With the cushing’s disease she was always so thirsty so last thing at night and first thing in the morning (and sometimes in the middle of the night!) I’d be checking her water bowl to make sure she had enough. It felt weird the first night without her not having to get up to check on her, a niggling feeling like I’d forgotten to do something important. You made the right choice, your boy would have been so distressed being away from you so much. I hope you’re doing ok 💐

@Frenchfemme I’m so sorry about Min Pin and thanks so much for thinking of me ❤️ the only consolation about making the hard decision to pts is that you can be with them all the time at the end and shower them with treats and all their favourite things. Our little girl had steak for her last meal and enjoyed it so much ❤️

I completely empathise with your situation. I had my 12 year old dog put to sleep in July as a result of Cushings. It's a nasty, insidious disease. My dog would be so hungry that she would eat chewing gum from the floor out on walks. She swallowed a plastic bag that had a smidge of food on it. And many other grim things I won't mention.
It was horrendously stressful to try and manage - she couldn't settle.
In the end her legs gave up, she was getting weaker but she deteriorated overnight.
I miss her terribly but Cushings turned her into a dog I no longer recognised.