Damn dog

                   Tough call McG, and I can only wish you peace with whatever decision you arrive at. 

Sorry man I know the pain all to well.

For years i was active in pit bull rescue and fostering.

The last one I kept for good was about 5 when I got her and when she got to 18 ( yes 18 really) her body was falling apart so bad I had to put her down. 

I struggled for 2 years to finally do it .

Only you can make that call but the fact that you're asking the question means you already know what to do.

It's not selfish to end the pain but it is selfish to be weak and make her keep suffering.

You'll know when the time is right.

That is one of the worst decisions someone will have to make. I vote let the dog live as long as you can keep her happy. I went through the same dilemma different reason. I cried like a baby on the way to the vet. Had to pull over and pull myself together. Turned around and went back home. Did everything we could to keep Ol Duke happy for another few months. Glad I turned around. I don't feel like I quit on him now. It was just as hard the second trip to the vet but on that trip I knew it was the right decision.

Heart goes out to to brother.

TM

Terrible news. We had to let our two go last year a few months apart.

We still miss them every day.

One thing I want to put out there, though. We had a dog back in 2008 that was diagnosed with bone cancer. The x-rays showed his thigh bone with holes in it that looked like something moth-eaten.

We had a biopsy done, and it came back inconclusive. The poor guy started to really suffer, and when the pain meds stopped working we took him in and did the deed.

Years later, we read this article in the NY Times about a child that the docs thought had bone cancer. It turned out to be scurvy from a vitamin c deficiency.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/12/magazine/12mag-diagnosis…

We always wondered if that was the problem with our poor Merlin.

It is not a 'normal' condition for dogs to have a vitamin c deficiency, but if we had to do over again, we would give him some vitamin c for awhile and see what happens. It can't hurt!

If you decide to do that, let me know if you get a positive result.

Good luck in any case!

Sorry to hear this. It seems the older we get the more we love our dogs.

I'm sorry. This is one of the hardest decisions in life.  She is lucky to have your love and companionship and you hers. They deserve to outlive us with the unconditional love they give. 

Interestingly, vitamin c was what we used for Duke. But you have to use Ester C, 2,000-3,000 MG daily, sprinkled over dinner. Regular C is not as absorbed into the body and passes through so you don't get the benefit. After we started the Ester C, Duke went from needing help to get up, to bringing a ball to play.

Good info to file away for the future.

Thanks.

Sorry that you & your Golden are having to go thru this. I’m gonna hope for only the best outcomes and maybe a miracle…or two.

Manny 

McG, sorry that you have to go through this.  Keep him happy and comfortable, you will know when the time is right.  Give him some good rubs from me and all the other Vital dog lovers.

Feel for you man...  Like everyone else that's replied, been through it too.  One rule my wife and I have about putting down a dog is that we pay the extra amount to have the vet come to our house for the procedure.  I know it helps us, and I'm hoping it's less stressful for the dog as well.     

Sorry McG… There is NOTHING worse than the horror show of losing a beloved family member! And I call em “family member” because these amazing creatures find a way to invade every nook and cranny of our existence and fill them with happiness, joy and unconditional love in ways that “just a pet” could never possibly manage!
We just lost this beloved little guy less than a month ago, just before his 10th birthday to the awfulness that cancer is and the wife & I are still reeling from his loss! Gutted is an understatement! 

It was the same deal…mid August he was still his typical silly-self with 50 pounds of goofiness and non-stop hilarity crammed into his 20 pounds of furry amazingness! Then he started having unexplained nose bleeds…Vet appts, a scan or two later and we got the terrible diagnosis of Adenocarcinoma, an aggressive cancer that had already done far too much damage to be treated before it was even known it was there. All we could do was keep him comfortable, spoil him until the cancer was making him too uncomfortable to continue and then an appt for the WORST thing we have ever had to do! 

I wish I could offer you some insight on how to best proceed, but I don’t know if that’s even possible? Keep working with your Vet, enjoying & spoiling her while/as long as you can and hopefully you find a clear course of treatment in this awful circumstance! Know that you’re not alone in your heartbreak and I hope you’re able to make the most of the time with your sweet girl…

I feel for you my good man…dealing with cancer and possibly losing a beloved family before their time really is one of THE worst realities imaginable! 🥹 🙏 💔

 

I will probably come off as an asshole here but don't drag this out for your dog.

In 2009 the best dog we ever had got cancer. His appetite went down, lost energy and he was a very active but not destructive dog. He was true member of the family, very smart and trained easy. Almost like he agreed with everything we wanted him to do. We took him to the vet and got a sales pitch for surgery and chemo. Went to another vet that was honest with us and said we didn't have much time and did we want to put him down. We decided to take him home for a few days for the kids to say goodbye since we actually made an appointment to bring him back to be put down. Well, he went downhill over night,  and we could see his suffering. We had to put him down on Fathers day. We swore we would never let a pet go that long again because of our feels. 

Animals are stoic and will keep trying to please but make no mistake your poor dog is suffering. 

I wiped a tear away typing this all up.

I don't think his dog is as far into the cancer as your's was. There's a lot of space between healthy and needing to be put down. He said she's still happy. You made the right decision for your dog, but his dog might still be happy 6-12 months. Nobody knows.

I get it. Also, it’s good to share stuff like that.

It's terrible to deal with this stuff. I can't say anything that hasn't already been said. But as far as age and amputation. If it wasn't for the University of Illinois fucking us over and not giving us all the info we needed we were fully committed to putting a 25k prosthetic hoof on our 22 year old horse. He was quite healthy otherwise. Had to put him down due to his kidneys shutting down from pain meds that wouldn't have been needed for as long had the uni not been a group of fucking cunts.

If you have the money, their healthy otherwise and can live an extra year or more comfortably then it's an option to me. We have a 15 year old Grey hound that goes to our dog park that had to have a leg taken from cancer at 13. 

I always say i will do everything i can to give them as long as i can so long as their comfortable, when it's time you'll know. 

Best of luck to you and the pooch.

I never know what to say in these situations. Dogs rule. Better than most people I know. I wish they lived 50 years. 
Prayers to you sir. 

Only one thing wrong with dogs………they don’t live long enough.

Like most of the others have said already, it's a super tough thing to do. I've had to do it twice, one dog (solid black Cocker Spaniel) and a rescue cat. Both had cancer, and we had to make the terrible decision to put them down. I'm not really a cat person, always had dogs, but I cried like a baby when we put her to sleep. Hell, tearing up as I type this.... I have three dogs now, 2 English bulldogs and a Frenchie. One was my dog, the other English bulldog was a rescue of sorts. The original owners were going to give him up to the local Humane Society. He's only 2 and a real spark-plug for sure. Most people don't realize how high maintenance English bulldogs are and then have to give them up because they can't afford it. My original bully is 11 years old now. That's about the average age for life expectancy of an English bulldog. He's got hip issues, but still gets around pretty good. I know the day is coming, and I hate the thought of it. The Frenchie was my son's and his now ex-girlfriends. When they split up, neither one could have pets where they moved. So, Abbey the Frenchie has lived with us for a few years now. She's so cool, and she's getting up there in years (7, I think). My wife has totally taken to her, as have I. That will be a bad day for sure. Enough of my rambling... I hope you have as much time with your pet as possible. As others have said, you'll know when it's time. Prayers to you and your family.

Dude, it doesn't get any easier the older you get either.

She'll let you know when it is time.

Peace be with you moto brother.

I know how you feel.  Had to put my 7 year old Great Dane down a few months ago.  Bone cancer in one of his back legs.  We put him down sooner instead of waiting too long.  His leg had gotten so big, so fast that we were really scared that it might break because he was so big (175 lbs).  Also, our vet told us that once a bone tumor gets big enough to detect, the cancer has probably already metastasized and is everywhere.  In hind sight, I'm glad we did it when we did, before he really started to suffer.  But it really sucked at the time.  He still wanted to play right up to the end.  It was heartbreaking.  If sorry for what you're going through.

So sorry to hear....was the hardest decision I ever had to make.

I had to put my 4 year old Australian Sheppard down in February.  He had slowed down on his eating and would throw up somewhat often for a month after Christmas time.  We thought it was from him eating a piece of aluminum foil.  After many visits to the vet they decided to open up his stomach and pull the tinfoil out.  Once in the vet called and said he had a tumor in his stomach and that was the problem.   We quick ran down to the vets office and said good bye to him, the doctor then put him to sleep.  It is a terrible day to make that decision.  

It sounds like it could be a ligament or just arthritis my dog is 10 years old and I've been given her these CBD/Glucosamine chewy's for a while and also the ones from Costco and she hasn't limped but she has some large fatty tumor bumps on her body that has me concerned. 

Well, that she doesn't have cancer is great news!