Dog passing away at home
We've been told our Yorkie has a tumor in his kidney. The vet said they can open him up and check the severity of it, but the last time he did that for our previous dog, he called us, told us she was riddled, and that it would be best to put her down so we followed his advice. She had stopped eating so we knew it was the right decision. But with our Yorkie, he's still happy and fairly active ( he is 12 years old ), so this time we want to just give him the pills he needs and hopefully give him a couple more weeks/months at home. So my question is, (and I know that this is a sensitive one), how do you know when your dog is getting ready to pass away?
April Rogers
Well they will quit eating, and depending on the illness may become inconvenient. Their gums might become pale. They will be lethargic and sometimes their breathing will change either becoming very rapid or slowing to almost not breathing. These are just my experiences with pets we kept at home and didn't opt for having put down
Laura Napier
I'm very sorry to hear about your Yorkie. I'm glad to hear that the pup still has quality of life and you are helping ensure it lasts as long as possible. I've never had a pet pass away at home on their own. They've all had some sort of medical emergency which resulted in having to have them put down. With two of the medical emergencies, they were approaching the time anyway and we watched closely to ensure they still had quality of life. Once the emergency happened, they had no quality of life anymore and we had them put down. Just like with a human, when they go on their own, systems / organs start shutting down. There are too many signs that indicate it is happening to list. Not eating, becoming lethargic, have no interest in the things they used to enjoy, etc are the most noticeable. When they get to that point, they have no more quality of life. If the end doesn't happen shortly after those signs, I'd be in favor of going ahead and putting them down to prevent suffering.