Dog - didn't think it would hit me this hard

[Rover Mac]

My 10 year old English Cocker Spaniel is having surgery early tomorrow morning to remove a mass from his liver, however if the tumor has spread beyond what was seen on the ultrasound the vet and i agree he should be euthanised there and then.

Hard part is he is showing no signs of discomfort , and is behaving normally for an extremely lazy and content spaniel.

Convinced myself that i would never want my dog to suffer, but now with hours to go before dropping him at the vets i am not finding this an easy decision .

I hope for the best, and have confidence in my vet, but deep down I perhaps know that statistically the odds are really are not in my favor.

 

[stu454]

It's never easy, even when they are clearly suffering.

 

[DiscoPhoto]

so sorry to hear that...it's always easier for me to deal with people in pain because I can talk to them, dogs are much harder to cope with for me. good luck

 

[jhmover]

Find an oncologist. My Pit Bull is almost 12. She was diagnosed 14 months ago with with a massive tumor on her heart (larger than the heart itself). We took her to an oncologist who started her on chemo. That shrank it enough so she had a good quality of life until about 2 months ago when fluid started building up around her heart. We almost put her down but decided to hold off. Amazingly the lining on her heart spit enough to drain the fluid. Now we have her diuretics and she has to go in every 2-3 weeks and get her abdomen drained (about when she looks major pregnant). She still has a good life, she's alert, eats like a pig and seems happy.

We went to VCA in San Leandro and have been very happy with the care. The prices are out of site but she's worth it. I looked and they have several VCA's in LA. If you like I'd be happy to call our oncologist here and see if she can recommend anyone in LA area.

 

[LRflip]

So sorry buddy, thoughts are with you.

 

[Nomar]

Any update Conal?


We've been thinking of your dog.


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[Rocky]

Dogs keep going 100% until they are very very sick.

 

[Rover Mac]

Apologies for the belated update, and thank you for the replies.
Unfortunately Dougal had surgery and as soon as they opened him up, the tumor was larger than indicated on the ultra sound, and had started to bleed so we had him euthanized. He had shown no signs of being in any pain,and we were fortunate to be able to spend the day with him before dropping him off later that evening.

I wrote back in 2013
http://www.discoweb.org/forums/showthread.php?t=84177

'To love dogs is to know death and to accept that there's never a time we are more morally obliged to speak for them than when they face the end of their lives.'

 

[jhmover]

Bummer. Sorry to hear that. At least there was no suffering.

 

[Rover Mac]

End of an era, or rather a decade.
My son was just old enough to really enjoy camping trips and the outdoors, I had just started actually posting on Dweb and beginning to modify my P38 and graduate off forest roads., The same week we adopted Dougal was my first LR event in Death Valley, where he burrowed out of the tent and came into the "event" looking for us. He was with me every night except for his last.
Losing a dog is a lesson in love and death for any child, and while we will never be able to replace that stubborn, obstinate but intensely loyal and loving Spaniel.
We are off to look at a springer spaniel puppy tonight, meet the puppies parents and attempt to assess his personality.

 

[Nomar]

We are off to look at a springer spaniel puppy tonight, meet the puppies parents and attempt to assess his personality.

^^ This is a good decision, I think ^^

Sorry for your loss.

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[slangel]

^^ This is a good decision, I think ^^

Sorry for your loss.

.

Agreed. I am so sorry for the loss of your pup.

 

[Rover Mac]

^^ This is a good decision, I think ^^

Sorry for your loss.

.

I hope so,

Meet the Springer Spaniels puppies parents, bitch was friendly and not possessive of her pups, father good with people, puppy used to being handled. not the most adventurous of the litter, which is fine - i do not need an obsessive highly strung prey driven alpha dog.

Spoke to a couple of owners of puppies from the bitchs first litter, all looks good so far, and i while I do of course feel guilty about replacing my English Cocker so soon it is a compliment to Dougal that he left such a void in our lives. He trained us well.

 

[Nomar]

... and i while I do of course feel guilty about replacing my English Cocker so soon it is a compliment to Dougal that he left such a void in our lives. He trained us well.

Try not to feel guilty.
We felt that getting another dog honored our dog's memory, because it shows that she was so worth it that we'd do it all over again, despite the painful ending.


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[pschuler]

So sorry to hear about your loss. I'll never forget when my families sharpei passed away. I was driving cross country and pulled over to take a call from my mom, beautiful lake tahoe was in the distance and my mother was balling on the phone. He had sudden kidney failure. It took awhile to get over the loss but as the world works, they randomly came across another sharpei a family was giving up and were anxious to take on another one. Dogs (like rovers) take time and patience but at the end of the day, they're worth their weight in gold. No reason to feel guilty, I agree with the other guys that taking on another dog in honor of Dougal is a good choice.

 

[dcarr1971]

Really sorry to hear about this. I know what you're going through. I lost my dog to a cancerous tumor that caused his spleen to rupture very suddenly last week. I never would have believed how hard it hit me.

After a couple days of feeling terrible over it, I gave in (to my kids...yeah...it was all for them) and picked up another GSD pup that should be a worthy successor (but never a replacement).

 

[Rover Mac]

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10 week old English Springer Spaniel ,
Dougal left such a hole in all our hearts , and while we can never replace or forget him, we do now have a new member of the household.

Thanks for the messages,
I have been quickly reminded of just how much time and effort went into training Dougal, already going to need a new Apple charger after the puppy chewed through the cable while typing this.

As far as names, the short list is Duncan, Percy, Finn, Euan, Callum, Mungo, Angus and Walter.
Merlin was supposedly the name of William Wallaces springer.