Old dog...when to call time.

[OBO]

Decent advise welcome.
My jackrussell cross is about 18yrs old, he's been my constant companion for 16 years, even when working. The only time I ever left him was trackdays...
Cons - He's deaf, almost blind, his legs are failing and he gets very confused, ie we go out for him to poop, then when we're just back indoors he poops...(not a problem for me, it's a hard floor so easily cleaned)
Pros - he still shows excitement when I'm preparing his food and always scoffs it all, he's showing no sign of being in any pain, but his tail is no longer up and wagging apart from slightly at mealtimes. He's always been the happiest dog you could meet..tail always up and wagging.
How the hell do I decide his time is up, for HIS good, not mine?

[Trinity765]

Aww It sounds like you're both ok so why do anything? Have you had a chat to a vet? You may be able to give him some dog friendly pain killers and I know a lot of people give their older dogs glucosamine.

[Noggin]

It's so difficult isn't it?

I would say that if he shows no sign of pain and still shows excitement/happiness then keep going

For me it's about quality of life more than anything

xxx

[mel]

Decent advise welcome.
My jackrussell cross is about 18yrs old, he's been my constant companion for 16 years, even when working. The only time I ever left him was trackdays...
Cons - He's deaf, almost blind, his legs are failing and he gets very confused, ie we go out for him to poop, then when we're just back indoors he poops...(not a problem for me, it's a hard floor so easily cleaned)
Pros - he still shows excitement when I'm preparing his food and always scoffs it all, he's showing no sign of being in any pain, but his tail is no longer up and wagging apart from slightly at mealtimes. He's always been the happiest dog you could meet..tail always up and wagging.
How the hell do I decide his time is up, for HIS good, not mine?

as soon as his reducing quality of life upsets you - you will know —
as for pain killers great if it’s short term to help him recover , not IMO great idea to help ailing animal just survive a bit longer as then it’s more for the owner than the animal

[neilf]

No great help here (I have working gun dogs and lost a few over the years) but I always say I would rather have a dog pts a day early rather than a day late. When his tail stops wagging and he goes off his food then sadly its that time.
My last old boy was over 13 was a bit dodgy on his legs but I always refused pain killers for him as I thought it would give him false belief and he would do more. I was about to make that difficult decision when my little lab bitch came into season.... well his interest in life was rekindled and we got another 2 months with him...

[hawker]

Decent advise welcome.
My jackrussell cross is about 18yrs old, he's been my constant companion for 16 years, even when working. The only time I ever left him was trackdays...
Cons - He's deaf, almost blind, his legs are failing and he gets very confused, ie we go out for him to poop, then when we're just back indoors he poops...(not a problem for me, it's a hard floor so easily cleaned)
Pros - he still shows excitement when I'm preparing his food and always scoffs it all, he's showing no sign of being in any pain, but his tail is no longer up and wagging apart from slightly at mealtimes. He's always been the happiest dog you could meet..tail always up and wagging.
How the hell do I decide his time is up, for HIS good, not mine?

I,retired as a vet now like many know on here. but I stillthink I can help? I used to say to owners that you will know when it is time because you feel sorry for the dog all of the time. 18 years old is a very good age for anyd og, even a resilient little Jack Russell.

but old age is not a disease, it is just a number. Do not be misled by his hunger many dogs won't stop until they've actually passed away! Likewise, a wagging taiul. Yes it shows the dog is fairly happy but dogs in severe pain still wag their tail!
I would advise that no dog should be euthanased without having been on paoin-killers first! Pain is a terrible thing and most old dog diseases involve some degree of pain. The old meications like stuff called phenylbutazone can be very effective but newer ones have much, much lower risk of side-effectds, specifically sickness and diarrhoea. Druugs such as carprofen and meloxicam are less ikely to have adverse effects in my long experience over 40 years before sudden early retirement in 2013.
Good lck with this, I hope you find the rigfht decision at the right time?
Cheers,bHawker MRCVS [ RET'],

[Wossname]

Just to add to Hawker's useful comments - the question I would ask of you is " do you think he's a happy, limited dog, or an unhappy, limited dog?" There's usually a point where an owner can say "yesterday he was the first; today, I think he's the second". Has he got happy times ahead, even for a few days, or not? Please note - I haven't mentioned YOUR happiness at all. I feel it comes second by a long way.

Your main responsibility at this stage is not to make him go through un-necessary and pointless suffering - you'd regret that afterwards. Having said the above, I don't underestimate the difficulty of the decision sometimes.

[Bigjawa]

I lost my old Rottweiler at the end of January, he was 9 and a half so as Rotts go, he had a good run. He was absolutely fine until the end of October and went off his back leg a bit, he got a bit better but when he was a bit stiff, I took hime to the vet who said "Cruciate" but she'd need xrays to make sure. About the same time I noticed he was losing weight but didn't think much of it as I'd moved him on to senior food as he was a bit of a chunker.

Xray came back as bone cancer, the vet basically told us there and then it was incurable and to say goodbye, that was in November, but she gave him painkillers and said to see how it went but don't expect him to see christmas. Christmas came and went and he actually put on a bit of weight, but after new year he started going downhill, we used to play a game where we'd literally be nose to nose and his teeth would be bared and he'd look like he was about to tear my head off, but now he could barely manage a rumble and could barely walk the length of the street, but he still wiggled his wee stumpy tail but he was obvioulsy deteriorating so we made the arrangements to have him PTS the next tuesday so giving us a final week of treats, but on the thursday, I came down and he had pooped everywhere and was sick, which wasn't like him as he was the cleanest dog on the planet. Let him out the back and somehow he climbed up to the top of the decking, like he used to, then he came down and was sick again and that's when I knew it was time to let him go.

It's really odd, but when the vet started pumping in the aneasthetic, he looked up at me and looked really happy, Then he just fell down at my feet and was gone.

But when he knows the time has come, and he will, he'll let you know.

Still miss my big guy, I always will.

[OBO]

Thanks all for your advice, much appreciated.
I will take it one day at a time with him...
I'm convinced his love of swimming has given him his 18 yrs, he would come out into the waves and surf back in and any fast flowing rivers he'd jump straight in and go with the flow with me running like a twat to keep up with him!
Top dog.

[Hoonercat]

The third week of December 2019 I decided the following day would be the last for my old Staffie girl. She had been suffering with degenerative disc disease since she was 10 and also Arthritis in both front elbows, had an op aged 12 but there she was, 2 weeks away from turning 14 and she'd been absolutely miserable for the previous 7 days despite having had injections etc. That was the third time that year I thought her end was near, but this time it was different - the way she looked at me on that Sunday told me she had finally given up.*

The next morning she was out in the garden throwing a rope toy around, play-growling then singing at the top of her voice as she tried to chase the other dogs as they played. She's still with us, turned 15 last month, spends most of her time sleeping when she's not waddling around the garden shouting at the young 'uns and has to wear a dog nappy in the house. Today was the perfet day for her weather-wise, 19 degrees and sunny so she spent most of it sunbathing, tonight it's going to be -4 so she'll be curled up in front of the wood burner all night.

*Yeah good one, very fucking funny

[Futter]

Just to echo what bigjawa said really. We lost our big lab Branston, a few years ago now and he was a happy fun overgrown puppy that most dogs are, however, one day, he just didnt want to go for a walk, just stopped which was not like him. We went to the vet who'd known him as long as we had and they did some tests/xrays. Turned out he had cancer and they could operate but .....

That said it all to us. We took him home and loved him and fussed him, brings a tear to me now it does, the vet came and we did the right thing, it was so peaceful. He'll tell you, and you'll know when. Until then, love him all you can.

[Trinity765]

I have never had any pets but my Mum has always had lots of animals so I grew up around them.

As mentioned in other threads my Mum has Alzheimer's and requires a lot of care. She has a 10 year old shih tzu, Bonnie (from Triumph Bonneville as I talked my Mum into naming some pets after motorbikes) who is showing signs of aging - she looks stiff sometimes when she get up and I think she has a cataract. She is the perfect dog for my Mum as she is low energy, always happy and we love looking after her. Shih Tzu means "little lion".

Me n Bonnie.

[Bigyin]

In a slightly similar position with our own 14 year old cross Jack Russell as in October he started getting infections and we ended up having a few teeth removed which seemed to sort it but a few weeks later he went from a happy active dog moping around, yelped when yawning and wouldnt bark, tail down, lost lots of weight and lost all interest in anything. Took him to a different vet who found one of the removed teeth areas wasnt sutured so that had caused more infections and we honestly thought it was time as he has a few other issues like the beginning of cataracts and some loss of hearing and weight loss.

Decision was made to try some more antibiotics and if they didnt work and he was still declining then we would have to accept it.

A few weeks in and he has got weight back, no more pain from his mouth, regained his happy demeanour and barks like a puppy again. He now is happy to go for a couple of mile walks and throws in the odd mad zooms around the house for 10 laps or so non stop then gets his breath back. I keep thinking we nearly lost him before xmas and i know i will be in a mess when it happens but seems he'll be around for a little longer but when his quality of life goes and he is clearly in pain that we cant fix then its time

[MingtheMerciless]

Our old Staffie, Chewie has arthritis so is on Dasaquin joint supplement, Amerentium and Metacham pain killers (not sure I'm spelling those right), he's stiff and has a waddle walk but he's still his usual shouty, belligerent self and will happily play with our year old pup and put him in his place, its just the walks in the cold (and/or rain) he doesn't like.

I'd say once he's not enjoying himself/life and the vet says its not going to get any better then its time to go.