Am I just torturing my dog? ...updated

Looking for some opinions here; hopefully from people who might have been through something like this.

My 12 year old English Pointer is sick.

The Tuesday before last she was acting very lethargic, shaking, staring off into space, not acknowledging my presence. I took her to the animal hospital and they did some blood tests. They couldn't find the cause but said she was having an autoimmune reaction and her red blood cell count was low. They put her on several medications; two steroids to help with the suppress the immune system and one for infection in case the reason for the reaction was a bug bight. They also gave her pepcid for her stomach because the other medications would make her stomach upset.

The next day she was no longer lethargic to the point of staring off into space. She would get up to drink and go to the bathroom. She would eat after some coaxing and finding foods that interested her. During the day we could get her to eat about half as much as she should eat in a day. Than through out the day she would through up several times; mostly yellow bial but also some of the food she had eaten. She has been drinking enough water. She was still shaking at times and lethargic. If the first day when we took her to the hospital was a 10 on a scale of how bad she was feeling; the days following the hospital she was around a 6, 7 or 8 depending on the time of day.

This went on for several days. Some days she seemed a little better some she seemed a little worse. I had the opinion that the medicine was helping the initial problem but that its side effects were making her stomach sick.

A few days (last Friday) we took her to her regular vet. That was a good day and the regular vet made the comment that the hospital might have over reacted. He did his own blood work to check. Monday the blood work came back that hospital was right; but that her red blood cell count had improved. The vet told us to continue the treatments.

She had her good days (6 on the scale) and bad days (8 on the scale). My wife was growing concerned over her eating and throwing up so she took her to the vet yesterday to talk about it. Vet said she was looking good considering but gave us another medication for her stomach "sucralfate".

Last night and today she stopped eating all together. The vomiting has lessond and she has stopped shaking. She is still lethargic, 6 on that scale rather 8. Because she stopped eating I decided to sorta force feed her meat baby food and peanut butter (she has always been good with peanut butter). I put the food on a plastic spoon and scoop it into her top teeth; kinda like you would do a baby learning to eat for the first time. Because its all mush she thungs it and down it goes. But she is not happy about this treatment. It makes me feel like I am torturing her.

Now I'm thinking maybe I'm just being selfish. Maybe I should have her put down; her quality of life has seriously diminished these last two weeks.

But than I think that "of course she not feeling well, she's sick" and that I should give the medicine time to work before I start thinking about ending her life. I certainly wouldn't want to be put down because I had the flue and didn't feel like eating for a few days.

She is due to see her vet again in a week.



updated here
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Your dog will let you know when it's time. But give the meds a chance, most of these issues aren't overnight cures.

Sounds kind of like what we were going through with our Corgi.

Do you live in a humid climate ?

Are you feeding kibble ? How is it stored ?

We have fungus and worse getting in our dry food.

We were causing it. After tons of research I found a miracle.

I can’t say it will work with your dog. It’s worth a try.

Look up Dr. Marty, over 30 years training dogs I learned.

a reply to: DanDanDat

You are being a good doggie owner. It really is up to you. You will know in your heart when it is time....
It is never easy to make the decision to let a family member go- much love and comfort to you.

originally posted by: HalWesten
Your dog will let you know when it's time. But give the meds a chance, most of these issues aren't overnight cures.

Thanks

I tend to agree that I should give the medicine time to work. That I shouldn't think of the other option until she at least sees the vet again. But it is hard to watch her this way.

originally posted by: whyamIhere
Sounds kind of like what we were going through with our Corgi.

Do you live in a humid climate ?

Are you feeding kibble ? How is it stored ?

We have fungus and worse getting in our dry food.

We were causing it. After tons of research I found a miracle.

I can’t say it will work with your dog. It’s worth a try.

Look up Dr. Marty, over 30 years training dogs I learned.

It can get humid here; we do use the AC though so its not humid in the house. We don’t do anything fancy with storing her kibble; and now that you mentioned the fungus I'm going to go through it in the morning.

She hasn't had her kibble in about two and half three weeks. Looking back that was probably the first sign of her illness; she stopped eating her kibble. We just thought it was an old dog deciding she only wanted the wet food..

I don't think its the kibble though. I think it might be generic or a flare up of something she got 3 or 4 years ago. This is not the first time she has had immune problems. Infact the last time 3 years ago she crashed pretty hard and needed two blood transfusions. But she also recovered very fast. It was like a light switch one minute she was down for the count and the next she was stealing her sister food.

This time its a slow role. She didn't crash as hard but its taking longer to come back.

originally posted by: Onlyyouknow
a reply to: DanDanDat

You are being a good doggie owner. It really is up to you. You will know in your heart when it is time....
It is never easy to make the decision to let a family member go- much love and comfort to you.

Thank you.

a reply to: DanDanDat

Dogs can go a good handful of days without eating much when feeling sick.
But they need to drink water.

One of Our cats had cancer a few yrs back and stopped eating for close to a week.
Just a few nibbles here and there
My wife got an IV bag from the vet and kept her hydrated for 2 days.
Then the vet was able to do the surgery.

Full recovery.
Great big fat cat how.

a reply to: DanDanDat
See if the meds help.
Keep her as comfortable as possible and makes sure she gets enough water.

If the worst has to happen, you will know.
Trust me.

I hope that does not happen.
Prayers for your sweet dog to heal.

a reply to: DanDanDat

I'm with the others who say to give the meds a chance first. I had to force feed a cat once and it broke my heart, he was 19 years old and wasting away to nothing. That was after collapsing one day. I knew he was suffering and so old and I decided to let him go. It killed me to say goodbye, but he never would have made it through an operation. Lost many dear pets throughout the years. Like someone else said, you will know when or if it is time.

Your dear dog will be in my prayers. Sending good vibes.

We have a Belgian Mali, that is nearing the end of her life. This dog has literally saved our lives, on two occasions. She is beginning to hurt badly, and we see it. We started treating her with CBD about 18 months ago. It started with one or two doses a week... she now takes one daily.

The CBD has helped with her pain, but she just hasn't been herself. Best case scenario, we may have 6 more months with her.

We are preparing to let her go. We will keep her happy and comfortable, for as long as we can... we owe it to her.

That is all you can do... that, and spoil the crap out of them

oh you are doing your best and it is hard because our pets can't talk and tell us what is wrong.....did the vets give you a timeline on how long for the meds to take maximum effectiness??? Please come back and give us an update ...oh and you could look up your prescriptions doggy medicines on line just to have a little more info .......giving you a (((((HUGS))))))

we have a really old cat I think in another year she might be gone......not looking forward to t5his but I know it is coming



a reply to: madmac5150

a reply to: DanDanDat

You are being selfish... age and health against her. Just lost our 16 year old, blind, deaf, and at home in our arms....

Let her go friend

originally posted by: research100
oh you are doing your best and it is hard because our pets can't talk and tell us what is wrong.....did the vets give you a timeline on how long for the meds to take maximum effectiness??? Please come back and give us an update ...oh and you could look up your prescriptions doggy medicines on line just to have a little more info .......giving you a (((((HUGS))))))

we have a really old cat I think in another year she might be gone......not looking forward to t5his but I know it is coming



a reply to: madmac5150

She is trained for both service, and protection. That work proved to be hard on her, so she retired 5 years ago. She is going blind. She is arthritic, and she is now developing tumors on her chest.

Our vet is phenomenal. When we suggested CBD, she was totally onboard.

I don't want this dog to be drugged out, for our sake. She doesn't deserve that. The CBD has worked thus far, but we know it isn't a permanent fix.

We will keep her happy, and spoiled for as long as we can.

a reply to: DanDanDat

been a dog owner a long time my dogs are outside dogs i have noticed when they are feeling off colour they tend to eat grass don't know how it works but it does nothing worse than having to put your mate away good luck

have you had her teeth checked? an unresolved toothache can cause all the symptoms you're talking about

a reply to: DanDanDat

Have they tested her for Lyme disease? If she has it & they gave an antibiotic for a possible infection, that would have helped. But steroids would make it worse. Lyme has so many different symptoms, even in people. Or it could be any one of the tick borne co-infections.

She doesn’t have to have had a tick bite either. Fleas & mosquitoes can carry it too! It’s worth ruling it out, if they haven’t already.

Good luck!
WOQ

a reply to: DanDanDat

I had to let go my dog and even if I know that was the right decision and the best for him, it's been the most horrible thing I did in my life.

Everyday I remember my boy, my son. Because we are the parents of our pets, we aren't "owners".

Please just do what a good father would do.

a reply to: DanDanDat

That depends, you didn't really say what type of diagnosis was run on her besides blood tests.
Did she get an ultrasonic to check her organs? A colonoscopy? There are plenty of possibilities she could have you can't necessarily tell from a blood test.
Like someone else said her teeth, fingers crossed, that would be great.
Did she get painkillers too?

How much can you or are you willing to spend on a 12 year old? Because 2 weeks without really getting better is a long time.

Early teens is a good life for that type/size of dog. I would probably give the meds a little more time. But not eating for that long is usually not a great sign and that could be her way of telling you that she's ready. There could be more going on with her body than you know. As humans we tend to want to try to fix everything, drag everything out to appease our own emotions. But animals seem to accept when it's their time. Back when dogs used to run free on farms they were known to just leave their home and go find a place to let go on their own peacefully.

I have worked most of my life in vet offices and have owned a mobile dog grooming business. One of the reasons I refuse to work in any pet business now is the selfishness of many owners. I've weekly groomed dogs that couldn't even stand, had to wear a diaper, stomach red and irritated from constant contact with urine. One insane lady had an ancient cat that could no longer stand. She bought enemas by the case load and would give it an enema to clear it's bowels and move it in front of different windows in the house throughout the day. When you look into those eyes it breaks your heart.

We had to let our little guy go at 15. He was physically pretty healthy, but he was losing his mind and it was causing him a lot of anxiety. We wanted him to go while he still recognized us. While he still knew we were there loving him. It leaves a pretty good scar on you.

I would give the meds a little more time and see what the doctors say.
But don't force it or drag it out. You will know.
Compassion is letting her go before she loses her dignity.
I'm sure you have given her an amazing life, an amazing family, and at this point she could want nothing more.
And when the time does come, give yourself time to grieve, and then honor her by sharing her place with another dog that needs an amazing life as well.

Hugs.