Zeus Delima

about 5yrs ago we adopted a pit mix.  beautiful pup, mellow demeanor.  slobbery, huge and clumsy.  he has always had issues with his hind legs, like he spent the first 3-4yrs of his life in a kennel prior to our adoption.  his teeth have declined, he takes pain meds when his arthritis acts up, he has allergy meds every 3 weeks as he is allergic to dirt, grass, trees, etc.  all things that dogs should be able to play in with no issues. due to the allergies, even with allergy meds, he is a yeasty dude and will often lick his paws raw.  all this to say he comes with a host of issues that we have been managing since we adopted him.

last week I woke to find that he wouldn’t stand.  that morning he ate like normal, went outside to pee like normal, came inside and was limping.  he was in a fenced back yard, we have security cams and there was nothing to indicate an injury.  I took him to the pet er and after about 8hrs they dx him with a torn acl which would require surgery.  the surgery would shave the bone down a bit to try to help his muscle heal but it will never be the same and the arthritis will get much worse.  having this type of injury also means he is putting more weight on his good rear leg and it will deteriorate quickly too.  when asked how this could have happened, the vet said it is degenerative and it does happen to large breed dogs.  he isn’t overweight, just a pit with mastiff in his breeding.  the recovery from the surgery is 12 weeks.  and then if the second leg goes, we are back to square 1.  he currently has pain meds but he declines to eat most anything.  as a last resort I’ve gotten him to take cubes of cheese and sausage.  I hide the pain meds in the sausage since he won’t take it with anything else.  like some pill super spy, he can find a pill and spit it out faster than any dog I’ve ever seen.

knowing his current life of pain, that we have to currently carry him outside to pee because he cannot walk due to the injury, and the healing time, is it really right to put him through the surgery and keep him immobile for such an extended period of time or is it more humane to understand that he is in pain, the pain won’t go away, and the right thing to do would be to let him go over the rainbow bridge?

really just throwing this out to the world to see if it is selfish to try to extend his life knowing it will be an increasingly painful one 🙁

 

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October 11, 2021

That is really tough. I’m not sure what I’d do in that situation. My first instinct is that it’s still my best friend, but it’s precisely that reason I’d have to make the decision to let him go.

My husband and I are talking about that right now. It’s possible my Emotional Support Animal, my dog Aubrey, who is my entire world and I cannot function without her… may have hip dysplasia. We have pet insurance on her, but they do not cover that as of her annual policy update a couple of years ago. That surgery is rough, and very expensive. They call it “Economic Euthanasia.”

I told my hubby I can’t do that to her. He said, but can you let her be in pain? I can’t do that either. It’s an impossible situation.

I’m sorry you’re going through this.

October 19, 2021

@caria I’m so sorry you are going through this too.  please remember that you gave Aubrey her best life.

October 19, 2021

@whatimmadeof I am doing my best to give her that – all the love in the world. The vet couldn’t find anything wrong with her, and she’s been doing better, but she stopped wanting to eat again yesterday. That could just be her anorexia. Until someone tells me otherwise, I’m going with that. It’s the least worrisome problem.