© Veterinary Medical Associates 2011

Your Pet: When is it time

Having been a practicing veterinarian for more years than I care to share, I feel the single most important thing we do as veterinarians is the humane taking of a companion’s life.  Guiding a caretaker to the decision to let their companion go is often very emotional for all of us involved and is never to be taken lightly.  Beau is a fourteen year old Border collie mix and he is showing his age.  As we all know or at least those of us who are at the time in our lives when the aging process becomes more apparent, certain parts of the body begin to wear down.  Beau has some difficulty walking and has lost some or all of his hearing.  He still manages to follow his caretakers around the house though he does pant a lot while doing so and occasionally he falls on the more slick areas of the floor.  He still eats well and has normal bowel movements though he sometimes does drop stool in the house.  He is able to hold his urine.  The questions as posed by Nancy, Beau’s caretaker, center on when and even if it might be time to let Beau go.  Is he suffering?  How much pain is he in?  Nancy expresses her desire to keep him comfortable and not to worry about letting him pass until he can no longer ambulate.  Beau’s story hits very close to home as he is dealing with many of the very same signs of aging that I observed with in my own dog Al.  Nancy is expressing the same concerns and desires that I and certainly many of you face with our own companions.  And I must agree strongly that comfort is of the utmost importance. I try to distill each patient’s scenario down to a simple question.  Is he or she suffering from something from which he or she can not likely recover?  This is not always possible entirely, but often it fits.  For Beau, as I understand his current life, he is not.  There will be inconveniences to deal with such as the stool dropped in the house, but I can assure you Beau feels very badly about that.  And, in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not that big of a deal to clean up some stool.  After all, there will be a time when you will wish you could still be picking up stool and there will no longer be any.  I have that wish everyday.  Nancy mentioned some of the supplements and medications she is giving Beau and I do not want to get into a discussion about that here however I would strongly recommend Beau have a thorough evaluation with his veterinarian to access his current health status and then if there might be some things to be done to improve his quality of life.  A good geriatric work up can be very revealing and very rewarding to the patient if there are some good options to help him.  I do feel that if the time does come and Beau can no longer walk euthanasia should be strongly urged.  I am speaking from experience now both personally and professionally and while I know it is anthropomorphizing, I look at Beau as a proud dog who lives his life to please his caretakers and as long as he is doing so or at least he thinks he is, long may he live.