We may soon face the difficult decision of putting our beloved dog down. He’s a miniature dachshund that we’ve had for 14 years and he’s progressively gotten worse over the past six months. He’s increasingly having more heart troubles and developed a cough a few weeks ago. He gets winded very easily.
This morning we took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and said he has lots of fluid around his heart and would’ve likely passed within a couple weeks if we didn’t take him in this morning. They prescribed some medication to reduce the fluid but as a result, he’ll have to urinate a lot more often and could become somewhat incontinent. We have already decided that we can’t deal with involuntary urination in our house and that could be the deciding factor. The vet gave us some meds and said to re-evaluate in a month.
He’s had a wonderful life, the best we could’ve given him. He has cataracts, trouble hearing, and now he’s having a hard time getting around - especially with the vet saying no more walks. I’ve had this dog around since I was 10yrs old, so it’s very tough to see him deteriorate and potentially having to put him down. As you can imagine, our morning has been very emotional, and we’re now deciding what the best route to take will be. We have decided so far that we’ll monitor the situation and see if these meds can help his heart condition, but feel like it’s just a short term fix as he will never be able to fully recover from CHF. I never realized how attached I have gotten to an animal until now.
I know y’all have been through this more than I have, but what was your turning point as to whether it was best to put he or she down or continue trying to help them?
