When is it time to let a young dog go?

[Bloominginmyfifties]

A family member has a 3 year old rescue cockapoo. He's always had slippy knees but in the last few months it seems his hips are actually the problem.
Google tells us hip dysplasia is common in this breed but the only way to tell definitely is nearly £900 worth of xray.
Insurance won't cover so it's a lot of money and it feels like if his hips are causing pain then an actual diagnosis is neither here nor there. He's on painkillers but the question really is how bad do you let the discomfort get before it's kinder to let him go. He's always been extremely active and there is no way he would cope with being a sedentary dog. Surgery isn't really an option either as would cost thousands with no insurance and he would find the restrictions incredibly difficult. Quality of life over quantity always but he's so young.
Before pain relief he's gone for us a few times when we've had to move him and you can see how tense he is when he's worried he's going to be touched in that area. He's also wet himself a few times when he's moved and the pain has caught him out.
His owner doesn't want to give up on him but also desperately doesn't want him to suffer because they aren't ready to lose him.
Is it best to carry on with pain relief until it can't be increased further and he's still showing signs of pain?

Why are you not listening to what everyone is saying?

Stop trying to justify it. Stop doubling down.

Let's be honest, OP. This isn't your friend. It's you.

Stop being so selfish, killing the dog is not in it's best interest - we don't just kill our pets because we can't afford them. Whilst the situation is sad, ultimately, if you cannot afford you pet then it is your duty as an owner to give it a better life. Dogs have come back from worst odds than this.

If you came here hoping we would all tell you you're doing the right thing, you came to the wrong place. No one is going to help you defend the indefensible.

Yes, there is help. It's called doing the right thing and signing your dog over to a charity who can provide him with the care he needs

Can the PDSA or Blue Cross offer help?

Well no, but she knew that? I don’t think anyone believes there is an “NHS” for dogs.
I’ve been a single, self supporting woman, I supported my dogs. At times, at massive detriment to my own standard of living. But my dogs, my responsibility.

Um, well, insurance usual won't pay out for a pre-existing condition.

No anyone can and just neglect them it seems. And don’t forget children too.

How is she neglecting the dog?

No I think rather than saddle yourself with potentially £10k debt she needs to be able to say taking everything into account, the dog is highly unlikely to have a quality of life that makes the massive debt and probably having to stop working to look after him for a time worthwhile. I have pets, I love them dearly but i wouldn't sacrifice my home for them I don't think. Luckily I've never been put in that position

"She" doesn't need to saddle herself with 10k of debt - she can sign the dog over to a charity.

This.

Oh yeah, dead easy.

I think you know that this isn’t true. When my beloved cat was poorly the vet suggested considering putting her to sleep at exactly the right time. Whilst we had been doing expensive treatments and investigations she still had a good quality of life, the second she didn’t the vet said it may be time. Vets have a duty of care to these animals and I have never met one who wouldn’t suggest considering euthanasia when it is appropriate.

I have a feeling that you are the ‘friend’ and what is actually happening is that you don’t want anyone else to have your dog and so you’re unwilling to give them up to get adequate care. As others have said, lots of rescues would take a dog with health issues and get them appropriately treated. Some may even support with vet costs, but that would require more than a quick google.

Hip displasia is treatable and dogs can go on to have long and relatively healthy lives. It is expensive to treat but this is part of being a responsible owner. £900 in the scheme of things is a reasonable amount for this treatment to cost (though the surgery will obviously be much more).

I am interested to know why your ‘friend’ doesn’t have appropriate insurance? You note they have it but that is now excludes all of these conditions. They must have a very poor policy in this case as any insurance I’ve known has continued to cover existing conditions as long as the policy is continued. If this person has changed providers (thus excluding conditions) then they’re very silly indeed, knowing that these things are long term and require lots of treatment.

In all, as others have said, it sounds like this person is irresponsible and should be considering re-homing and not euthanasia at this stage

It is, actually. Spaniel Aid take on cases like this all the time, and they're not the only ones.

There aren't enough spaces for healthy dogs that would be simple to rehome

My 18 month old dog was recently extremely unwell. I took him to the general vet but they couldn’t treat him so referred him to the specialist vet hospital. I do have insurance but the specialist hospital quoted me £8000 for investigation & treatment. Unfortunately, they didn’t deal with my insurer so I had to pay & put it on a credit card before I could claim it back. Fortunately, he recovered quickly, responded to treatment and it ‘only’ cost about £1800. However, had it have been that it would have cost £8-10000, I absolutely couldn’t have afforded it & I would have had to have him euthanised. It isn’t quite as simple as taking out loans, doing anything to facilitate the cost to investigate etc because sometimes it simply isn’t possible. It’s a hard decision but sometimes it’s the only option.

Neglect their responsibility to be able to (as many posters have pointed out) support their medical needs and yes it can be thousands of pounds or / and investigate charity advice and support.

It is actually. 1/5 of the dogs on Spaniel Aid at the moment have serious health issues.

OP and her 'friend' just can't be arsed to be decent people. That's the issue here.

My mum has a rescue Cocker from Spaniel Aid - she's got more problems than Trump and an attitude to rival Putin, but she's 7 years into our family and still fighting fit and happy. Dogs in the right home will flourish.

Stop lying.

I have literally proven you wrong. 1/5 of the dogs on Spaniels Aid website have health issues just as serious, if not moreso.

You and your "friend" haven't even tried, you just want everyone to tell you to put the poor dog to sleep.

You won't get that here.

I will also add that not all pet insurance is the same. Cheapo options aren’t worth the paper they’re written on as this case clear points out.

To be fair, if she had got a decent insurance policy it would still be covered. I pay huge amounts for PetPlan Lifetime insurance with £12,000 cover for my labradors. One of them has only claimed £300 in her almost 3 years, for gastroenteritis. One of them claimed over £10,000 for abdominal surgeries in her first 18 months. She's still covered for digestive issues despite being a greedy gannet scavenger with a sadly sensitive stomach.

Not always as easy as that when it's a rescue on its 4th home with a pre-existing condition insurers won't pay out for. You should be able to afford a dog if you take one on, but you shouldn't be expected to have unlimited resources or to exhaust every single kind of surgery or treatment, particularly when it sounds like there isn't much hope for successful treatment to improve matters for the dog.

So it’s not really about the life of the dog it’s about feckless owners who have neither sufficient insurance or the money to have him treated. Shameful .

I pay more for the dog than to insure my house, with a well rated traditional insurance company but it still had exclusions I was caught out by.

You don't know this though. No one knows any sort of treatment won't work. Why? Because OPs 'friend' hasn't even had scans which are the least she should be doing before deciding to kill the dog on the basis of some illness they have diagnosed (as Per the OP) via...GOOGLE.

Surely you cannot actually be supporting OP when her and her 'friend' (OP) have not actually seen a vet for a proper diagnosis on this and have instead self-diagnosed the dog as 'beyond help' from a quick google!?