What would you do?

[gruntygiggles]

So, a friend of mine is a foster carer for a number of dogs. She usually ends up with dogs that have medical issues and she is no less than a saint for what she does for them. However, I have mixed emotions about her most recent addition.

She is a 13 week old collie. Ended up in rescue as the result of breeding two blue mearles together. Sparkle and her sister both have medical issues, but Sparkle is also blind and deaf. Not only that but she is anaemic and has an autoimmune deficiency.

She is faced with numerous lifelong veterinary visits and treatments, is constantly being scared by the touch of my friend or the other dogs. When she realises they are nice touches, she wags her tail, rolls around and wants cuddles, but still, it means she is always in the dark and being surprised by every contact.

I am unsure how I feel about this. I love my dogs so much it hurts sometimes, but I don't know if I could subject a dog to a life like that.

Is keeping her alive for her own good or is it more that it makes the humans around her feel better?

Discuss.

[yorkie_chris]

Sadly I think I'd have to have her put down.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Sadly I think I'd have to have her put down.

Me too Chris. I will post a picture up later. Sparkle and her sister Evie are the most adorable puppies, but I just don't think I could put her through what is going to be a life full of trauma and without the ability to see or hear comforting things.

How very sad. Every animal should have a chance but I would have thought that even with the right owner who can attend to all Sparkle's needs it's just such an enormous task that's being asked.

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

I just don't think I could put her through what is going to be a life full of trauma and without the ability to see or hear comforting things.

But then again she won't miss what she's never had. If she had a daily routine that an owner could keep to so she could gain some sense of familiarity, but that's a massive responsibility and a burden in some respects. Dogs are so very trusting and if she were to fall in love with someone to the point of feeling safe wherever that person took her, whatever that person did with her then maybe it could work but how long would she have to live before that person came along? You could so easily find yourself back at square one, just one environmental factor/incident could set all her training back and consequently doing more damage than good.

I'd have to go with Chris on this one, sometimes it pays to be cruel to be kind.

[Fallout]

Dogs are like very young children. Terminally ill children lying in hospital beds generally want to live, despite all their illness and suffering. The positives make life worth living. If you don't believe in an afterlife (as I don't) there is nothing waiting for you when you die, so taking a life is taking away everything.

I believe the majority of times when an animal is put down it's to alleviate the owner's suffering. We just convince ourselves it's what the pet wants, but really, dogs live for the moment. A dog can suffer one minute, than be happy the next. They don't think long and hard about their terminal illness and conclude they want to die. When they are happy, they are happy. They're not happy with an overshadowing fear of long term health.

I think we should stop fooling ourselves into thinking we're doing what's best for a dog when we put them down. Unless a dog is literally, 100% riddled in agony all the time, we're doing what's best for us! That's how I feel. I can live with that.

Unfortunately as she gets older if she gets scared when someone startles her she may bite out of fear and that would be awful for it to happen to a child or someone unknowing of her condition.
It is a very hard decision but I think to put her to sleep may be the best one for her.

Your friend sounds great Cheryl. I know what she is going through to a point from having the ferret rescue and getting a lot of badly inbred kits coming through.

Only she can make that decision for Sparkle.
Thoughts go out to her.

[gruntygiggles]

I put this up because I can't discuss it with her. I have enormous respect for her and what she does, but I am always sad when I get updates about her dogs.

She has a cocker spaniel that has had 12 operations in 18 months and is constantly sedated and still cries 20 hours a day in pain as it tries to move, but can't. She now has Sparkle, who is adorable, but who wees and poos herself in fear, jumps at everything and on top of that has to deal with pain on a daily basis.

Is it really good for the dogs to be kept alive just because we can medically manage it?

My fear is that if something happened to Dominique, most of the dogs she has, especially Jacob and Sparkle would have to go through major trauma to cope with all of the changes of new people/dogs/routines etc. Even Dom going on holiday would mean a major upheaval for these dogs, stress that is not necessary.

Fallout, I get what you are saying about animals being put to sleep to alleviate the owners suffering, but in this instance, my worry is that Sparkles suffering is being overlooked in order for the charity involved to stick to their moto of giving every dog a chance.

A chance is one thing, but this is a situation that will never improve. Also, a child with a terminal illness can have that explained to them, a dog cannot. Yes, a dog lives in the moment, but does that make it any better when the vast majority of moments are full of fear?

[chris8886]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Sadly I think I'd have to have her put down.

i'm afraid horrible as it may be i couldn't agree with you more chris

I'd have to say I'd put them down.

Constant pain and fear is no life, If it were me that was left deaf, blind and in agony I'd want it to end even knowing theres nothing afterwards. Not if theres no chance of any change in the condition.

Its one thing to be waiting for improvement, it's another thing to just exist till nature finally ends your suffering.

Take the most humane option I say, let her die easily, the way most people think that guy with "locked in syndrome" should have been allowed to go.

[Fallout]

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

Fallout, I get what you are saying about animals being put to sleep to alleviate the owners suffering, but in this instance, my worry is that Sparkles suffering is being overlooked in order for the charity involved to stick to their moto of giving every dog a chance.

A chance is one thing, but this is a situation that will never improve. Also, a child with a terminal illness can have that explained to them, a dog cannot. Yes, a dog lives in the moment, but does that make it any better when the vast majority of moments are full of fear?

I obviously can't make sweeping statements without seeing the whole situation, so I really don't know the answer all I can say is this ...

Originally Posted by minimorecambe

Unfortunately as she gets older if she gets scared when someone startles her she may bite out of fear and that would be awful for it to happen to a child or someone unknowing of her condition.
It is a very hard decision but I think to put her to sleep may be the best one for her.

... is a perfect example of what I said (sorry Mini ... I'm not picking on you, I promise). How is it better for the dog to put it down because a child may get bitten? That's better for the child so it doesn't get hurt, and better for the owners so they don't have to deal with that situation, but it's not better for the dog. If I was a bit of a mentalist and someone suggested it'd be better for me to be put down because I might stab someone someday, I'd clearly be of the opinion that I'd rather stab someone someday than be put down!

That's the psychology A LOT of people seem to have. They justify putting the dog down for whatever reason and convince themselves it's in the dogs best interest. In the instance of a dog biting someone, it is never in their best interest to be put down because of that!

Again, I can't judge this situation myself properly. I just have strong opinions on animals being put down, as a result of having pets put down while growing up and being affected by it (as I'm sure many people are). I was not the sort of kid to believe my parents when they said "It's for the best". I thought for myself and concluded it wasn't.

In my case it was arthritis both times. The dog struggling to walk, ending up crapping in the house and spending most of it's time in it's bed. My parents concluded "it's not life for a dog" and has them put down, even though to me they seems largely happy. I strongly believe it was for my parents benefit, so they didn't have to feel bad watching the suffering. The act of having to clean up crap in the house was such a horrible thing. They probably had feelings that the dog was humiliated because it could go outside, and felt sad. But it's a dog! It will get over it! I really thing if you could communicate in that situation and say "Would you rather just lie in your bed most of the time and eat, or die?" they'd choose the former!

The same happened with my sister's last horse. It was put down. She justified it as it had some bad back injury and could only spend the rest of it's life in a field eating grass and could never be ridden or exercised. The reality was, she wanted her new horse and couldn't afford both, so convinced herself it was in the horses best interest. What horse doesn't want to stand in a field and eat grass and suffer mild discomfort when the other option is death?!

Anyway ... enough from me. All I'm saying is before anyone kills their pet, take a step back and truly understand the implications of being DEAD. Ask yourself is being DEAD is really better, and whether it's not your own suffering, guilt, helplessness, anguish etc. that you're alleviating instead. If it IS for your benefit, and you still want to put the animal down, FAIR PLAY. That's your choice. But don't lie to yourself and pretend it's in the animals interest. That's a shameful and pathetic action.

And just to reiterate one more time, I've gone general here! I can't comment on this scenario. I've just started venting general thoughts. All I can say is good luck with whatever happens and I hope she makes the right choices.