Hello,
I found this forum looking for comfort after we had to put our big boy Lyon down yesterday. He was 12 years young, and had been healthy for the most part until I found him in the back yard on the 26th and he couldn't get up. While he'd been having problems getting up on our laminate flooring, he could get up under his own power on carpet or grass. We knew something was wrong when he wouldn't get up on grass with our assistance. So we took him to the emergency vet that night and found out he had broken his left rear leg. The vet at the clinic recommended a specialty surgical clinic in Dallas, but we wanted our family vet to take a look at him and see if he could mend the broken leg. After spending the night at the clinic, we took him to our family vet, and he said the problem was too big for him (we found out later why he didn't want to treat him). The clinic in Dallas was booked for Thursday, but they said their clinic in Grapevine could see him and do the surgery. We took him there and waited a long time before the vet came in. Here is where the bomb dropped. She said that he had osteosarcoma, and the break was a "pathological" break. While she said treatment would include amputation, she also cautioned that since he was a big dog (116 lbs), and old, that he would have a really hard time on three legs. She also said that it may be likely that the cancer may have already spread into other parts of the body. She said that he would have had at most, 4 to 5 months of life left without chemotherapy. We decided at that point to have him put down. This was a very hard decision. We wanted our family vet to put him down, so we took him back to his clinic. He admitted that he had seen the X-rays and the pathologic break and the tumors in his leg bone, but didn't want to make a call about putting him down till a specialist vet had looked at him. But, he felt we were making the right decision. Lyon was in a great deal of pain with the broken leg, but he was heavily sedated. The doctor put him down yesterday around 5pm with all of the family at his side. This is not our first dog to put down, but this was so sudden and shocking. To have to make such a final decision so quickly was gut-wrenching and sad.
But now, my wife is second-guessing her decision to have him put down, and is beside herself with guilt and grief that she let him down. After seeing three vets, and two of them saying that euthanizing our dog was an option, I felt like we made the best decision with the information we had available. I feel terrible in that I could have said "no", let's proceed with the amputation and take it one day at a time.
Sorry for the long post. I suppose I'm looking more for consolation than anything. I'm also looking for guidance on how to help my wife cope with the loss of a wonderful dog that was so good and true to his breed. While we have three other dogs - two of them young and another old, my wife is so stricken with grief she doesn't want to spend any time with them. My children, who are all adults, seem to be coping OK, but my youngest two are having a difficult time. I'm sure that we will eventually get over our grief as we have before, but this one is different as Lyon was such a wonderful dog. Thanks.
I found this forum looking for comfort after we had to put our big boy Lyon down yesterday. He was 12 years young, and had been healthy for the most part until I found him in the back yard on the 26th and he couldn't get up. While he'd been having problems getting up on our laminate flooring, he could get up under his own power on carpet or grass. We knew something was wrong when he wouldn't get up on grass with our assistance. So we took him to the emergency vet that night and found out he had broken his left rear leg. The vet at the clinic recommended a specialty surgical clinic in Dallas, but we wanted our family vet to take a look at him and see if he could mend the broken leg. After spending the night at the clinic, we took him to our family vet, and he said the problem was too big for him (we found out later why he didn't want to treat him). The clinic in Dallas was booked for Thursday, but they said their clinic in Grapevine could see him and do the surgery. We took him there and waited a long time before the vet came in. Here is where the bomb dropped. She said that he had osteosarcoma, and the break was a "pathological" break. While she said treatment would include amputation, she also cautioned that since he was a big dog (116 lbs), and old, that he would have a really hard time on three legs. She also said that it may be likely that the cancer may have already spread into other parts of the body. She said that he would have had at most, 4 to 5 months of life left without chemotherapy. We decided at that point to have him put down. This was a very hard decision. We wanted our family vet to put him down, so we took him back to his clinic. He admitted that he had seen the X-rays and the pathologic break and the tumors in his leg bone, but didn't want to make a call about putting him down till a specialist vet had looked at him. But, he felt we were making the right decision. Lyon was in a great deal of pain with the broken leg, but he was heavily sedated. The doctor put him down yesterday around 5pm with all of the family at his side. This is not our first dog to put down, but this was so sudden and shocking. To have to make such a final decision so quickly was gut-wrenching and sad.
But now, my wife is second-guessing her decision to have him put down, and is beside herself with guilt and grief that she let him down. After seeing three vets, and two of them saying that euthanizing our dog was an option, I felt like we made the best decision with the information we had available. I feel terrible in that I could have said "no", let's proceed with the amputation and take it one day at a time.
Sorry for the long post. I suppose I'm looking more for consolation than anything. I'm also looking for guidance on how to help my wife cope with the loss of a wonderful dog that was so good and true to his breed. While we have three other dogs - two of them young and another old, my wife is so stricken with grief she doesn't want to spend any time with them. My children, who are all adults, seem to be coping OK, but my youngest two are having a difficult time. I'm sure that we will eventually get over our grief as we have before, but this one is different as Lyon was such a wonderful dog. Thanks.