I'd like to get the opinions of dog lovers here. My neighbor has a 15 year old Yorkie. She's blind and deaf, she can't walk and her kidneys are shutting down. If she were your dog, would you let her go on this way until she died or would you have her put to sleep?
I would have put her down when she was having trouble walking.
I let my precious dog Bear die with some dignity after he could no longer get in position to poop without being in horrible pain. He got beer & steak dinners for 4 days first...
Time for the poor little thing not to suffer any further.
Yes, I would put her down with appropriate love and care. IMHO.
That is a hard one.
Someone once told me that your pets love you so much, they will literally crawl through Hell just to be with you another day and bask in your presence. They can't tell you how they feel, as well- you have to guess, and it's hard to judge what they really suffer with ailments like that.
As hard as it is to do, I've always believed that when they can't enjoy life ( and that, too, is a hard call to make ) very much, you owe them the mercy of ending their suffering.
Animals are so much more physical that we are- if we are crippled, we can still use our minds, but for them, just moving and eating and sleeping are a great part of living.
I do not say this lightly, for it's a little like killing a child- but as the higher being, you owe your friend mercy when they suffer too much.
One other thing- a good Vet will make a house call- to spare the trauma and stress of taking a sick animal to the office to put it to sleep. It's well worth the little extra expense.
I put it off a little too long with my little one. It's hard, when they are just dwindling day by day, to decide which day is the right one. It's easy for you to see... but her owner may be seeing something else, or failing to see because she doesn't want to.
Does she get regular veterinary care? The owner may be going on the doctor's advice.
I'd let her go. If her kidneys weren't shutting down, I'd have to really think long and hard about it, but add the kidneys, and it's time. What misery she must be in....so sad.
Send her to THE BRIDGE, bless her heart.
We had a similar problem with our cocker spaniel, Jingles...my parents got him when I was just 8 yrs old, and he and I grew up together...I had a brother in the family, and cousins living downstairs of me, and lots of kinds in the neighborhood to play with and lots of friends...but Jingles was my very best friend, and I loved him so much...
But of course, as time goes on, the dog ages so much more quickly than we humans do....by the time Jingles was around 10, he slowly began to lose his vision, and his hearing...by the time he was 11 he was completely deaf and completely blind...but the family adapted to him...we kept all things in the house in the same place, so Jingles would not bump into things...he learned to make his way around, with some help from us humans...he could not hear, so we had to pet and touch and hug him, to reassure him that we were near him....we adapted to him, and he adapted to his situation...we loved him so...
He never had problems walking tho...he could still even run if he felt one of us near his side...but when his kidneys gave out, when he was 13, mom and dad said it was time to put him down...poor thing, he would just pee all over, he could not help it, and it seemed to make him miserable as well...
Mom and dad took him to the vet...mom could not go in...dad took Jingles out of the car, let him sniff around outside the vet office as much as he wanted, and then took him inside...dad held Jingles as the vet sent him to the Rainbow Bridge....and all the way home in the car, alone, without their beloved Jingles, mom and dad could not speak, all they could do was cry...its almost impossible to take ones beloved pet to the vet to have it put down, it is so very painful....
It is hard to say, what your neighbor is going through, knowing in her head, that her beloved doggie probably needs to be put down, but in her heart, she just cant let go...
That's a decision your neighbor will have to make. You can't really give her any advice because if you do, she may end up doubting she made the right decision. She will know when the times comes.