So my dog has oral cancer and shes right at the time where dogs usually get put to sleep for it. This morning she wouldnt eat enough to take her meds so i made a water solution and put it in her mouth and she flipped out from the taste like usual and the mass popped out again but this time i couldnt get it back in. It looks awful and im afraid shes going to keep busting it open but luckily im able to be with her a lot to stop her from pawing at it all day
Anyway shes acting normal beyond now having more trouble eating, but her mass is infected and gross. Shes on pain meds and antibiotics
What would you do? I really want to keep going with her until her behavior changes but im so worried about her mass being exposed like this.
Note that i just gave her an antiinflamatory so it should be less swollen in an hr.
I had to have this debate a couple years back. This was the most helpful advice I received:
Your dog isn’t like you, in that he can’t learn how to find joy in sedentary activities. He won’t be able to sit and do puzzles when his pain is acting up. He gets all his fun from running and playing and eating. He can’t be distracted from the pain by watching a movie. If he can’t play anymore, and he’s struggling to even eat, he’s got nothing left that is fun for him.
When we decided to put my dog to rest, he had one last very good day. We made him a sundae of canned pumpkin and peanut butter, and carried him on a walk outside. Then we cooked up a steak cut into tiny pieces and brought it to the vet. We held him and fed him bits of steak and he slowly drifted off to sleep mid-feast, being hugged.
I cried, but I also felt like I made the right decision. He’d been in a lot of pain, and now he wasn’t. And he adored his last day. It felt peaceful, like it was the right time for him.
She hasnt been super playful since she broke her leg, and that happened right before she developed cancer. She still seems to enjoy going on car rides and doing training sessions, which are her two favorite things, but im worried about her safety
I definitely dont want her to suffer, but that is part of dying, and i cant live with the idea of making that call too early. She deserves to live every day shes able to and right now shes walking around and chasing cats and loving going on car rides and wagging her tail still.
My dog had stopped doing those things, except for a couple brief minutes at a time. He spent more time crying than playing. I believe I waited too long to make the call, and that he suffered longer than he needed to. That is what leaves me feeling guilty. If your dog still seems like she is spending more time happy and playing than sad and suffering, she might not be there yet. But if she seems like those playful moments are brief spikes in an otherwise sad day, it is time.
Yeah i think shes currently having more good times than bad. Her meds are still working somehow. She just ate a hit more so im gonna try feeding her throughout the day more than i was.
Hugs. I hope she feels better today, and can keep getting a decent quality of life for a while yet. When she can’t, know that you aren’t doing something wrong. It is a kindness to end suffering in a being that doesn’t understand why they are suffering and cannot process it.
Yeah im just at a point where shes going downhill so fast i cant watch her suffer this hard and its gonna get worse. Its scheduled for thursday afternoon
