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Montes Decline - When Is It Time?


~Anne~
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This year has been stressful in relation to the health of my 3 pugs. Boof has had 4 surgeries and several tests and procedures for his MCTs and Monte has begun to decline considerably neurologically.

It started in January with vestibular. He at first appeared to be in severe pain around the head and these symptoms progressed within 24 hours to a vestibular episode. He couldn't stand, his eyes flicked back and forth and he was terribly distressed. He had the mother of all clusters of seizures that same night. Over the next 5 weeks he gradually improved. His head tilt remained and at times it was really bad. He gradually began to navigate stairs but on bad days we blocked them as he tumbled several times.

A couple of weeks ago he developed really bad diarrhoea. When it didn't clear in 48hours we headed to the vet. Then the other two came down with the same symptoms. Thankfully it only took a few days on scourban and they were ok again.

Last week he began to breathe noisily and it seemed some times with effort. He was also very drowsy and weak. The vet did X-rays but could not find anything wrong. He was found to have some fluid around his heart though and so he was started on fluid tablets.

In the last few days he has deteriorated more. He is still weak. His head tilt has returned to what it was immediately after the vestibular. He circles a lot and you can see he is having trouble heading in the direction he wants to sometimes. When I got up just after 5am this morning to medicate him with his anti epileptic meds I found him lying outside on the deck in the rain. He was ice cold and I thought he was dead. I could see he had had a seizure. I brought him back inside ad dried him off mad warmed him up by cuddling him. He eventually came round a little more and i fed him and medicated him.

He seems to have lost his ability to consider where to toilet or he is simply to tired or weak to go outside and he simply stands wherever he is and urinates. The fluid tablets are also exacerbating this. I have stopped them now though as I am not sure he is benefiting from them overall.

Today his head tilt is bad, he seems confused, he has urinated 3 times on the floor and also had another seizure.

Looking at him I can't decide if he is happy or not. Am I dragging out the inevitable or am I jumping the gun too quickly. Next week he might improve. He's bounced back before but he has never had so many problems in such a short time and neither has he seemed so 'brain damaged'. He's only just turning 11.

I don't want to lose him, he's my heart dog and I have nursed him through so much since he came to us as a rescue just over 9 years ago. I don't want to let him go if he is still happy though. His seizures are painless but how does he feel with his world tilted? Is he stressed when he turns in circles and can't find his way forward for a few seconds. Is he just existing? He hasn't shown interest in playing with toys much in the last 3 months and the last time I can think of him playing was only about 3 or 4 weeks ago though. He hasn't tried to chew a nylabone for the last week but that isn't long. He is still eating and loves his food.... but then he is a pug on phenobarbital so he has a double whammy of the love of food.

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Anne, I have no advice to give you..... sorry for that.

You are a long term member here on DOL, you have heaps of experience, you are pragmatic & insightful...... trust your instincts as to when the time is right.

There is a saying....

Feast, and your halls are crowded;

Fast, and the world goes by.

Succeed and give, and it helps you live,

But no man can help you die.

There is room in the halls of pleasure

For a long and lordly train,

But one by one we must all file on

Through the narrow aisles of pain. -Ella Wilcox

This is your journey, but we will be with you when you are done. :grouphug:

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I had to deal with a similar situation a couple of years ago with my heart dog, I kept Bear as comfortable as possible for about two weeks, then this particular day he was laying in his bed, he gave me a look as much as to say I need to go, it broke my heart to make that decision, I miss him so much but I never have regretted in letting him have the peace he deserved and he went to the rainbow bridge the next day, he had just turned 13 years old.

I know that it is your decision, but when the quality of life for loyal faithful friends has diminished to the extent that Monte seems to be, I say to you put his comfort before your feelings, he sounds like a very sick baby and needs rest.

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My vet always says to me that it is far worse to make the decision too late than too early and this is true in my experience.

I've had to make many of these decisions since 2007. Some years I have lost 3 of my own dogs plus dogs I've rescued to rehome. I adopt/rescue many older dogs and it is the price I pay. It's been heartbreaking.

Sometimes I've gone to the vet having made my decision and the vet has said just try these pills and see if it helps. I've gone home and within a day or two my dog has gone further downhill and I've come home from work to find them suffering. If I'd gone ahead with my decision when I made it, I wouldn't have put them through an extra couple of days of suffering. From their point of view, they were not enjoying life and I was prolonging it unnecessarily. We are only doing this for ourselves, because we love them but we have to love them enough to know when it is time, when they've had enough and no matter how much we love them we cannot heal them and we cannot stop their suffering.

I have just been through this with a dear little soul that I rescued in 2009. Since mid 2010 she had lived with a friend of mine. She had gone downhill over a few months and was on painkillers for suspected bone cancer. My friend called me 2 wks ago and said come and see her (I hadn't seen her for about 3 weeks). I was shocked by her when I got there and said it is time, she could no longer support her body weight. I would not have left it this long. My friend didn't accept it there and then but next morning we went, she could no longer stand for even a few seconds ...

It's a tough decision but from your description, he is not enjoying life any more. Be brave, take some treats with you to help him at the end.

Edited by dogmad
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Monte will be given his wings this afternoon. He went into status overnight and has suffered seizure after seizure. He is currently heavily sedated at the vet hospital and the seizures still haven't stopped. :cry:

I am gutted.

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I am so sorry to hear that Monte has not responded and still having seizures, a dog I bred passed at 14 1/2 years last November and my heart dog Bear in 2011 with the exact same symptoms, and we had to make that difficult for us, but not for your heart dog, decision.

Bless you and your dear Monte,there will be plenty of our Doler dogs waiting for him. :cry::grouphug:

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Thank you all. My teddy bear suffered seizures non-stop through the day. They kept him heavily sedated and even administered an anti inflammatory in case it was a tumour on his brain to see if we could give him some respite. He looked exhausted and dazed. We gave him his wings this afternoon.

My life for 9 years has revolved around this little pug. I'm up before dawn 365 days a year medicating him come rain, shine or hangover. Im home by 5.30pm every day or my husband (or a family member is) to ensure his 12 houly medication cycles are never disrupted. He's had me crying with exhaustion with his regular 4am wake up calls and he has exhausted pet sitters with this too. His pig squealing noises at dinner time drove everyone crazy and I'm sure the neighbours imagined I was torturing him every day. He restlessly went in and out of the dog door 24/7 and i lived and breathed the thwump, thwump, thwump of that door swinging back and forth. He ate the pebbles in the hard and chewed up many of my pot plants. His insatiable appetite saw him eat a packet of worming tablets and his penchant for twigs and rocks had me stressed on many occasions. He licked every surface of the house and my legs and feet.

My life as I have known it for just over 9 years is no longer. God I loved this little guy. So many people over the years made hurtful comments about giving him his wings just because he had epilepsy. But he loved life and he was loved so very much. He enjoyed it until recently.. When I arrived back at the hospital this afternoon he had just had another massive seizure. My poor little boy. :cry: this is why having pets is so hard. A part of my life has disappeared. A big part in a little hairy, shedding, snorting naughty cuddly pug.

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Oh Anne, all my love to you and Monte. Losing your heart dog has to be the most feared and frightening thing I ever went through.

It's a blessing that his body let you know what to do for him.

Thinking of you. xxxx

Anna

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:cry: Tears here for you and your beloved Monte. How very fortunate that little dog was to have found such a devoted owner. You did everything you could for him all his life, and I'm sure he knew how very much he was loved.
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