Dogs, AGAIN!

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In the Kitchen

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Aug 25, 2004
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I have already told you about my dogs or should I say family. I also have said my niece has 4 dogs plus 15 fosters (dogs that are old and no one adopts them). She cares for them w/hopes that someone will have heart and adopt one. To me, this is too much. She goes to vet w/them all the time whatever is necessary. Gets certain discount from vet for his service. Yesterday she told me one dog has to have his leg cut off due to cancer. Was always developing some kind of lumps and always returning. I am sorry but I question her sanity. She loves dogs, like all the rest of us. Could you do this? To see a dog w/one leg missing bothers me. Now I know why she resented me to put my dog down when back legs were lame. To see the dog pull its back legs bothered me not the dog. I question my reasons for putting her down each time I talk to her. I often wonder what her husband thinks? He does help; most of the work is up to her. Her dogs all have eye operations, surgeries of every kind and she gets no help but from the doctor for percentage of services he performs. She must use all her money from her paycheck.

Knowing I would have to cut off one of the legs of my dog is just too heartbreaking. When I tell her about being too much, she doesn't call for while after that. I just can't keep my mouth shut.

Thanks for understanding.
 
That's tough. I love animals but I wouldn't want an old dog having to learn to walk on 3 legs. Personally, I think that is too much for an elderly animal. Nothing will guarantee that the cancer wouldn't spread, either.

I think you did the best thing for your dog, ITK.
 
Half Baked

Don't you always question your decisions, Half Baked? Especially when it comes to something so permanent? I loved the dog, no doubt about it. Never will forget her. As my family said, she had the best life anyone could have given her.

Walking yesterday, I saw two different guys walking w/their dogs. The first one, reprimended his dogs with a soft, stern command. The other one, had a rough, hard and even tried to kick the dog to obey. The dogs showed how they felt by the first doing as his owner said. The second one tried to run off. Such night and day difference.

Thanks again, Half Baked. Main reason I may have started this thread is to hear someone say, it was okay. Hope your day is going well.
 
We put down our 16yo dog when he started dragging his legs, too. :( I didn't want him to struggle and he had one of the best lives a dog could have.

I still regret not having him put down sooner. He was miserable and we were so sad.
 
We had a toy poodle we had to put down, we they found cancer on her belly, we did not want her to suffer. I still think we did the best for her.
 
It broke my heart to lose my dear old Maggie Dog. She'd had occasional bouts with arthritis, and at the last got to where she'd wet the bed, but mostly she did pretty well, until she had what we think was a heart attack. The poor girl was in so much pain, that there was no question about what we had to do. I went in with her, and the look on her face when she was released from the pain let me know it was the right thing.
 
In the Kitchen, the vet wouldn't have put down the dog if he didn't think it was the right thing to do.

As for your niece, the only thing you can do is not comment. It's her and her husband's life and if that's what they choose to do with it, there's not much you can do about it now that they're of an age to make their own decisions.
 
I think it's great of your niece to be caring for so many pets.

Once in a while I take care of a dog with an amputated hing leg. Sure couldn't tell the way she plays, but getting it done on an older dog... that's a lot of stress to be putting on the other leg. I just had knee surgery done to one of my dogs last March and the other knee is partially torn, but I'm hoping reduced activity will see her through her later years.... She's 7-1/2 yrs.
 
pacanis said:
I think it's great of your niece to be caring for so many pets.

Once in a while I take care of a dog with an amputated hing leg. Sure couldn't tell the way she plays, but getting it done on an older dog... that's a lot of stress to be putting on the other leg. I just had knee surgery done to one of my dogs last March and the other knee is partially torn, but I'm hoping reduced activity will see her through her later years.... She's 7-1/2 yrs.
7 1/2 like a young pup! This breaks my heart to hear all these stories but do I feel thankful that you all love your dogs until the end.

Having friends tell me to forget about shots for diabetes only makes me wonder what kind of character they have? I won't give up on a life human or animal if I know they still have a appetite. One thing I learned, when you are sick you don't want to eat. That's when it's time to seek professional help outside of yourself. I commend you all for loving your dogs. You surely won't ever regret it.

Thanks for sharing your personal feelings. Let's me know others care.

As for my niece I just don't feel I should tell her about my dogs even though she wants to know. think she may be checking to see if I am treating them okay?
 
In the Kitchen – I applaud your niece for having the heart to take care of all those animals. From your standpoint, it’s a real hardship on them, but it also seems to be what they really want to do. As Snoop Puss said, the best thing for you to do is not comment. Choose your battles. This is one your niece is choosing to fight – so let her. Don’t let her choices make you feel guilty for your choices.

I had a chow, Kelani,. She started having a hard time walking. She wasn’t acting right. I could actually see her slipping away. A week before we took her to the vet, I knew it was our last together. We spent a lot of quality time together. We found out she was riddled with cancer. There wasn’t anything the vet could do & I told them to take care of her. She was 11. This was 3 ½ years ago.

Just last June, we had a situation similar to what you went through. Our husky, Nikita, was losing control of her back legs. She was eating fine & seemed to be somewhat alert mentally. It was hard watching her try to stand. She would get so frustrated & then would panic & we’d have to help her up. Then she started losing control of her bladder. Plus, she had a huge inoperable tumor on her back leg. Another tough decision, but the vet agreed with us. Nikita was just a week shy of her 13th birthday.

I think trying to prolong a dog’s life for our own sake isn’t right. It all boils down to the quality of life for the “baby”. Bottom line, we all make our own choices. Your niece makes hers, so let her. You make yours, so don’t allow her to make you feel guilty about it. As for her asking about your dogs, just don't go into detail & give her one word answers.

I feel ya! Hope this helps! :)
 
My fiancee actually works for the local animal shelter and city animal control and we foster cats and dogs all the time.

Fortunately (and unfortunately at the same time) it's a pretty large shelter that sees a lot of animals come through its doors every year, and so it has a lot of connections and lots of people willing to help. They temperament test every animal that comes in and those that don't pass are euthanized. It sounds cruel, I know, but for every dog that doesn't pass, there are three or four dogs that do pass and are put up for adoption. Sometimes the shelter gets so full that it can't hold al of the dogs at once, which is where the foster program comes in. Dogs that are recovering from injury or illness go to foster homes to recover while the healthy stay at the shelter to be adopted. There are rare occasions when even the foster homes will be full, and so the breed rescues help out.

Breed rescues will come and take purebred (or nearly so) dogs and cats and take care of them and adopt them to people around the country who are searching for a particular breed of animal, but don't want to adopt from a breeder when they can take in a homeless animal.

Alot of times the breed rescues are full as well though, and so there's another program called "puppy train". Basically, our shelter has a deal with a few shelters in the New England area and one in Wisconsin where people adopt many more dogs than there are strays that come into their shelters. They send someone down in a big van and take between 10 and 30 puppies every trip, and this sually happens twice or three times a month.

Last year fiancee and I fostered somwhere in the neighborhood of 70 animals. We cut back after our one of our own cats caught a rare and fatal illness from one of the foster cats, and we had to put her down. Now we only foster in life or death situations, basically where the shelter has run out of room to hold more animals and has to euthanize due to lack of space. When there are perfectly adoptable animals whose heads are on the chopping block we step in ans take them home until the shelter has space to take them back and adopt them to someone. Right now we have a silky terrier with us, who my fiancee's parents will likely adopt, as well as a mother cat and her litter of 6, who are about 16 days old right now. They were found in the parking lot of the shelter one morning, dropped off in the middle of the night in a soiled blanket. There was no space, and kittens are small so we took them in. In another 2 weeks or so the kittens will be at their cutest age (i think, anyways) when they look like kittens instead of rats, and are just starting to explore their envirnoment. I'll probably have pictures for all of you before too long.

So in reply to the OP, yes it's hard, and taxing. But someone has to do it, or there would be so many more animals that died needlessly every year. It's our way of contributing to the community, and trying to make it better.
 
About 2 years ago I had to put down my toy poodle and I was in such pain both mentally and physically. Her name was Bijou and she was apricot.
 
Dog Lovers

Thanks for all the sincere comments. They are so precious to read. Feeling the love all of you have for the animals, does my heart good. I need to read this about how showing love makes such huge difference. It is so true, love does conquer all. To have one who loves you by your side at the end, is such a blessing. My only thought is for the ones who have to face their end in fear. The tv is always showing the dog that survived at the Humane Society after all the rest had died. Was that not a miracle?

My niece must not have time to read recipes on computer. I even question whether she feeds herself. She must have some kind of routine when she gets home from work to let them outside and start getting their food ready. What a terrific rush she must have when they all see her come home. No wonder she has so many. I can only imagine never do it. Giving is the best feeling.
 
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