Our lab has now passed on.
Discussion
To avoid intruding further on CharlieH89's thread.....
We had 4 wonderful days between bringing Barney back from the specialist vet and him being put to sleep today.
We spoilt him fully, culminating in steak yesterday - the wonderful cooking smells which he could only usually dream of tasting, were all for him.
I've been through this as a teenager, but this was horrendous and as tough as I feared it would be. Mainly watching your kids taking everything in (wife and I were present for the procedure, kids before and after).
It's heartbreaking, and it will take some time to fully aknowledge that it was the compassionate course of action.
We had 4 wonderful days between bringing Barney back from the specialist vet and him being put to sleep today.
We spoilt him fully, culminating in steak yesterday - the wonderful cooking smells which he could only usually dream of tasting, were all for him.
I've been through this as a teenager, but this was horrendous and as tough as I feared it would be. Mainly watching your kids taking everything in (wife and I were present for the procedure, kids before and after).
It's heartbreaking, and it will take some time to fully aknowledge that it was the compassionate course of action.
Thank you all, as you all know it makes it so much easier to share.
Barney was 10, roughly. He was a rescue dog, when we adopted him he was ca. 18 months.
The kids had that wonderful experience of growing up with him. Preaching to the converted, I know, but the temperament of a loving pet dog is just wonderful to observe - just absolutely amazing with the kids and their friends. Once you set the boundaries - no kids, don't try to ride him like a horse, don't pull his tail etc, there was never a sense of too much dressing up, too much tickling, too much hide-and-seek. He just adored human beings and wanted to say hello to everybody he encountered.
We do well as a society to call time when quality of life for pets has run out. In theory, Barney could have stayed alive having had a leg amputated, had a hind-portion wheelchair (unsure of the terminology) and long-term pain relief, but that would have been cruel and self-serving.
Happily we found a vet who is thoughtful and creative and found a way within the current restrictions, for Barney to pass with his ‘mum and dad’ being the last faces he saw as he drifted away.
It's a moral minefield, but euthanasia is something I would really hope for personally, it I get to a stage where my health has irreversibly disintegrated. But that’s a subject for another day.
Barney was 10, roughly. He was a rescue dog, when we adopted him he was ca. 18 months.
The kids had that wonderful experience of growing up with him. Preaching to the converted, I know, but the temperament of a loving pet dog is just wonderful to observe - just absolutely amazing with the kids and their friends. Once you set the boundaries - no kids, don't try to ride him like a horse, don't pull his tail etc, there was never a sense of too much dressing up, too much tickling, too much hide-and-seek. He just adored human beings and wanted to say hello to everybody he encountered.
We do well as a society to call time when quality of life for pets has run out. In theory, Barney could have stayed alive having had a leg amputated, had a hind-portion wheelchair (unsure of the terminology) and long-term pain relief, but that would have been cruel and self-serving.
Happily we found a vet who is thoughtful and creative and found a way within the current restrictions, for Barney to pass with his ‘mum and dad’ being the last faces he saw as he drifted away.
It's a moral minefield, but euthanasia is something I would really hope for personally, it I get to a stage where my health has irreversibly disintegrated. But that’s a subject for another day.
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