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Old dog


Scruit

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Has anyone ever had a blind and deaf dog? I struggle to see what kind of quality if life there is there, but it may be that dogs adapt easily.

We had a blind partially deaf cat growing up. She was fine as long as you didn't move the furniture around.

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There always comes the hard choices when you ask yourself if it's time. We had to put down two dogs within a few months of each other 2 years ago. When it comes down to it, is she alive for her happiness and well being or yours? Tough call, I feel for you.

My wife and I are huge animal lovers and big supporters of the SPCA in Cinci. It's good to see people who really care about their pets...there are plenty who could give a rats ass.

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Just got back from the vet. The news is better than we feared. Not glaucoma.

The fixed wide dilation, the vet says, is either inflammation that is affecting the signal to the irises, or the iris muscles are worn out. If it's inflammation then it may even correct itself.

It won't cause her to go blind, and it's not causing her any pain (she just has to squint)

Hmm... Maybe I can get some doggy sunglasses for when she goes outside...

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Woot! Good news, indeed!

I remember back in the old days what caused my pupils to dilate. Allegedly. :)

Has Bean been eating more Doritos lately?

Wait... What are all these Twinkie and White Castle wrappers doing in her bed?

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You are on the right track. Just keep in mind, that if she does loose eye sight it is a danger for them and possibly the family. If hard hearing and bad eyes, they will be skittish, snappy if scared, and like stated before stumble around and hurt them selves. Wouldn't want to put them or the family through them.

Always sad to know you don't have long with a loved one like this. I have always found that if you have time, and are willing to go through some of the pain, get a puppy now. Let the family pet, teach/pass on traits, and let them help train a new pup. It helps ease some of the pain, that is going to happen. You know that certain things were passed on, that will make you remember the times you had with Bean. I have actually done this with the dogs I have had in my life. It really helped me.

The thing to remember about dogs, is that they are so loyal to a family. They will hide that they are in any pain, until the day that they go. I had a doberman, rot mix, that had cancer, and showed no signs of it. Was outside feeding him one day, and he had tried to eat the flesh away to get rid of it. I went out, and he acted like nothing was wrong, and tried to play like we always did. As soon as he stepped with his rear leg, he hit the grown. Was a very sad day.

The way I always decided when it was time, was when they would start acting different than normal. Spend as much time as you can with them, make them their favorite thing to eat, no matter if it is a bag of snacks, or cook a meal just for them. Show them how much they mean to you, and let them know it is okay. They will give you a sign when they are ready. They may even leave you with a memory before that time.

My blood hound was a big baby, wouldn't hurt a fly. Her last day with me, she tried to rip my pants off like we use to play together, and she peed on the vet, and then tried to bite him before she went. Was hard to cry when she made me laugh so hard. The vet was her regular, so he knew how she was. He started talking about when he first seen her, and started laughing when she peed on him and tried to bite him.

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  • 8 months later...

Reviving this old thread... This morning my wife found Bean unconscious and apparently not breathing. She picked the dog up and said she was completely limp. After 10 seconds of trying to shake her awake she finally came to and is now acting normally. Very strange.

Since I started this thread we have been monitoring Bean's health and at this point she is not declining any more. She's completely deaf, her pupils are permanently fixed and dilated and some days she struggles to get up the stairs, but she's not getting any worse.

Has anyone seen this unconsciousness thing before? My wife said she thought Bean was dead.

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Reviving this old thread... This morning my wife found Bean unconscious and apparently not breathing. She picked the dog up and said she was completely limp. After 10 seconds of trying to shake her awake she finally came to and is now acting normally. Very strange.

Since I started this thread we have been monitoring Bean's health and at this point she is not declining any more. She's completely deaf, her pupils are permanently fixed and dilated and some days she struggles to get up the stairs, but she's not getting any worse.

Has anyone seen this unconsciousness thing before? My wife said she thought Bean was dead.

Seriously.... It sounds like it's past time to put her down... I know that's not what you want to hear, but that's my opinion

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Seriously.... It sounds like it's past time to put her down... I know that's not what you want to hear, but that's my opinion

Going to have to agree here, the humane thing it sounds like at this point is to make an apt and just do what has to be done. It's not fun, but it's definitely time.

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I'll evaluate her when I get home. Will have to see how she is doing. Like I say, she has not declined in the last 8 months except for this weird thing this morning. And she apparently went back to normal within a few seconds so I don't get it. I asked if it was just a heavy sleep, but my wife said she wasn't breathing. But if she wasn't breathing then she'd be dead within minutes, right? Was it just good timing that she was found? How can she go from being "dead" to being normal within seconds?

I don't get it. We're making an appointment to have her evaluated at the vet. Right now her quality of life is good other than the usual old age complaints, and the vet said 6 months ago that although he didn't expect her to live more than a year or two, there was no reason to put her down back then.

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rough times man. someone in the beginning of this thread said the perfect words.

"she'll tell you when its time, its their will to live"

love your dog and wait for her to tell you. though its rough on her and your emotional state, when shes done needing your attention and love, she'll let you know.

just think of it as a person, when a person gets older and starts having problems, they enjoy what they can because they know their time is soon. let her enjoy it.

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We'll see. She's not in any pain, not incontinent, can still get around the house and her eyesight is apparently ok so I'm sure her quality of life is good right now.

If she's in such stellar health, you wouldn't have ever made this thread.... I feel like these are all things you tell yourself to justify keeping her around... Not judging you because I used to say all of these exact same things when I wasn't ready to put mine down... Just an observation

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  • 4 months later...

Headed to medvet.  She took a real sudden turn for the worse.  She has stopped eating, and this afternoon she started having some breathing problems, over the last hour she has clearly become distressed by her breathing.  She could use some kind thoughts.

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It's a really bad case of congestive heart failure. She is on oxygen right now, so she is temporarily comfortable. Without aggressive treatment she will die within hours, and she will suffer throughout.

We can start aggressive treatment now and maybe get her a few more months, but the vet warned us the treatment plan will run ~$3k.

Given her age and other health problems, we didn't expect her to survive much longer already, but now with this we're agreed it's her time.

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