sad and scared

[rpowers24]

I came home two weeks ago to find my 12 year old springer spaniel/golden reitreiver collapesed on the kitchen floor. I immediatly ran him to the animal emergency vet. There I was told he was getting no oxygen to his brain. They told me it didnt look like he was going to make it. 45 mintues went by and the doctor came out and told me they had put Rookie, ( my sweet dog) on lasics and oxygen. They said he was badly dehydrated and from the x rays they took he had an enlarged heart and what looked to be cancer throughout his body. They recommended he stay there the night and check on him in the morning. We did pick him up in the morning to find he was doing a little better. He was at least able to walk himself out very slowly to our car and from there we took him to our vet. To make really long story short our vet had extended his team of employees and added a new vetenarian. So I was a bit surprized to find out that our normal doctor was not going to be see Rookie, this new lady was. Under the emergency to get Rookie the attention I thought he needed I proceeced to let her look at him and give me her professional advise. Which I came to feel right off the start with this vet that she was immediatly wanting to start running tests doing biopsies ect.. ect... After just spending 950.00 at the emergency room the night prior I was really needing someone to work with me finacially. When I asked the vet if there was anyway we could get by doing the bare essesials first to see if we can see what the problem may be I kinda got a bit of an attitude from the vet. She said I was limiting her to being able to really see what was going on with Rookie. She agreed to only doing one xray of Rookies heart and checking out the fluid in his lungs. She said that would be enough to get a started. So, x ray came back his heart was in larged on both sides and there was fluid in his lungs. I asked her about the cancer I was told he had from the emneergency room vet and she said well it could be it could not be it had to be biopsied to know for sure. I was very frustrated by this uncertainy from her and the positively for sure from the emergency room vet. She mentioned the price for the biopsie and it was extremly expensive. And after doing some reading these last few days, I am not sure that putting my dog under anestesia would have been the best thing for him after all he had gone throught the night before. His blood presure was low his heart rate was fast he was just all messed up inside.
So anyways I picked Rookie up later that day from the vet and they had me put him on 3 medications, Enalapril 5mg,metronidazol 250 mg and Furosemide 20 mg. Since being home now 8 days his health has gotten worse and I don't know what to do. He since then is back to pretty much not being able to walk I have to help him go to the bathroom and I am hand feeding him and giving him water. Last night I believe he had a stroke maybe a few strokes. It was the scraiest thing I have ever gone through with him. The strokes don't last long but they are so sad when he is going through them. One of the strokes seems to have left him bling in one eye. I don't know what to do I know I don't want him to suffer and I know his quality of life is not the same for him. I just wander if I should try to get him to another vet one that I feel like i can trust more than I do this new vet. Maybe there is some other kind of medication or maybe I should get the so called cancer looked at through better testing I just don't know. I love him so much and just havent been able to wrap my head around not having him apart of my daliy life. This all happened so suddenly and so quickly. I'm just so sad and torn inside about it all. I am open for any suggestions. So sorry about the lenghy email I have no one to really talk to and get genuine advice from.

Thank you for hearing me out.

[AtomicSkies]

im sorry you are going through this with your dog

what you choose to do isnt something we here on a forum can tell you you need to sit down and make it for yourself...but...at 12 you really need to consider what kind of quality of life the dog has...do you feel like he is suffering? do you feel like it is something he will recover from and have a good quality of life? if you dont trust the vet you saw by all means take him to one you do and see what they think but at the end of the day you need to put your feelings aside and decide what is best for your fathiful companian

[luvin my dogs]

I'm so sorry for your rough day! Not fun at all. I agree with the above poster that said that you will need to consider quality of life. They bring so much joy to our lives and are a part of our families. Sometimes it is hard to make decisions that aren't solely based on our emotions.
I am in a situation right now where I have had 2 surgeries on my young dog and each surgery was hard, but the second one was terrible on her. If this one fails and the leg becomes unstable again and another surgery is required I will put her down. It kills me to see her in pain and hating her life. It's entirely possible that she could get past this and live a long and very productive life, but I won't do a third surgery. I just cannot do it to her. And I hope not to be faced with standing strong in that decision. It will break my heart and I will know I failed her. But failing her more would be to continue to fight a harsh and loosing battle.

[AtomicSkies]

Originally Posted by luvin my dogs

I'm so sorry for your rough day! Not fun at all. I agree with the above poster that said that you will need to consider quality of life. They bring so much joy to our lives and are a part of our families. Sometimes it is hard to make decisions that aren't solely based on our emotions.
I am in a situation right now where I have had 2 surgeries on my young dog and each surgery was hard, but the second one was terrible on her. If this one fails and the leg becomes unstable again and another surgery is required I will put her down. It kills me to see her in pain and hating her life. It's entirely possible that she could get past this and live a long and very productive life, but I won't do a third surgery. I just cannot do it to her. And I hope not to be faced with standing strong in that decision. It will break my heart and I will know I failed her. But failing her more would be to continue to fight a harsh and loosing battle.

depending on the leg issue if it fails again you could opt for removal...dogs do quite well on three legs and while yes it will mean another surgery it isnt the type of thing that can fail...unless its cancer or something...i would diffinatly look at that WAY before thinking about putting a young dog to sleep...heck a member just had a 4 or 5 week old foster pup have a leg removed and the outlook for her is quite well

[luvin my dogs]

I's onluy a luxating patella that failed in the first surgery and was wretched in the second. She isn't dealing well. I'm not hi******* from the OP. so Sorry!!

[OnyxsMom]

That would be me, I just had a 5 week old foster pup go thru a leg amputation. Its a pretty stable surgery that they do typically bounce back from quickly. If you want info, pm me.

[AtomicSkies]

Originally Posted by luvin my dogs

I's onluy a luxating patella that failed in the first surgery and was wretched in the second. She isn't dealing well. I'm not hi******* from the OP. so Sorry!!

i in no way would pts for something like that if the dog is happy and healthy otherwise...like i said dogs can do quite well on three legs