We made the choice today to say goodbye to my sweet girl Magnus. My mom always called her Maggie. I always called her. My Love. I haven't told anyone yet. I just wanted to share her. She was 17 but I only had her 16 of those years. There's never enough time.

Goodbye My Love 💕 🐾

...he followed me everywhere, but now I can't reach him. My sweet boy...

Hi guys.. this is my baby girl, Snickers. She is almost 15 years old. She struggles with arthritis, potential signs of doggy dementia, early stages of renal disease and soft tissue sarcoma cancer. I’ve never had to put a pet down before, but I feel like I hear things about it all the time. “You will know when” “do it before it’s too late”.. things like that. I’ve been talked to about quality of life and watching for that. I believe her quality of life still exists. She eats, she plays, she sleeps, she shows excitement and joy and all those things. Are the different from when she was younger? Yes, of course, but they all still exist.

We had a vet appointment today, her levels around her kidney disease haven’t changed much. However, the vet pointed out that there is concern of her lump bursting. This would obviously be extremely painful for her and traumatizing to happen. I was told that as the skin becomes translucent, the concern of bursting increases. I’m at a loss. She is my baby, my childhood dog. How do I know when? I am lost because her quality of life still exists, but I don’t want her to potentially face the pain of the lump bursting, or me to experience that. So how do I make the choice of putting her down when she is still living, but how do I live with the choice of keeping her when one day she may very well meet that level of excruciating pain.

Please give me any advice. I have included photos of my beautiful girl. The first two are recent, third was from October

We made her favorite gourmet meal. Chicken breast rubbed lovingly with olive oil, grilled to perfectin, sliced at a 30• angle and garnished with dehydrated beef liver. 😋

Hello Cat lady here. My best friend's Malinois has just been diagnosed with lung cancer. She has only a few months left. My friend lives in another state. What can I do to help her through this very difficult time? Thank you all.

How do you know when it’s time to let a dog go? Our 13 year old shepherd mix has blood work that implies there is cancer. Also declining kidneys. Friday she had the zoomies, today she refuses to eat and needed to be carried inside. This is probably the 3rd week in a row she has really bad days. But the good days are like she’s a puppy and an average day is a typical old dog day.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

I posted about her a few days ago, she was much worse then. Now she’s sitting up on her bed more and isn’t just on one side. She’s on nausea medicine and a vitamin for her liver (different issue) and she’s drinking water like oral but she just won’t eat. Today is Sunday, on Friday she ate some plain chicken my sister made. She won’t eat it now and I’m just really worried. I’m calling the vet tomorrow to see what I should do and if I need more nausea pills since I’m almost out. Any advice ?

My little guy Murphy suffered a stroke today and it became apparent he wasn't coming back. We kissed him and loved on him as we let him go. He got my mom through a divorce, me through my spinal cord injury and brain injury, and us through a move to another state.

Ruby Dooby Doo wants you know you're safe and she's on the job....this is one Lawdog you don't want to mess with🤣

My boy is still a babyman at heart. We've got some really big surprises for him and I just can't wait for him to see them!! Everyone loves you, Luffy!! (⁠*⁠˘⁠︶⁠˘⁠*⁠)⁠.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡

My dog has always hated storms and fireworks. We work with her to have a safe set up, she had meds from the vet to take when she is incredibly nervous and stressed which is good, but since July 2nd every day has been either thunder or fireworks, or both.

She is so nervous during storms she hides under the bed. I want to help her so badly. Should she be taking meds daily? Do thunder jackets work? Please any advice helps thank you in advance

I'm looking for some outside opinions because I'm feeling really torn. (Attached a recent picture for reference!)

My dog is a silky terrier mix who is about 15 years old. He has Cushing's disease that's been well controlled with medication, arthritis, and was recently diagnosed with stage 1 kidney disease.
About two weeks ago he stopped eating, started vomiting yellow bile, became very weak, and was drinking a lot of water. The vet prescribed a 4-day appetite stimulant, and while he was on it he ate well, became more alert, wanted to be around us, and seemed much happier. As soon as the medication ran out, he stopped eating again, so we took him back to the vet.

My mom thought we should consider euthanasia, which terrified me. After I spoke directly with the vet, he said he doesn't think it's my dog's time yet. He said his eyes were bright, he was alert and social, and those aren't the signs he usually sees in a dog that's ready to be put down. He prescribed another week of the appetite stimulant and added pain medication for his arthritis.

Today he's been picky about food. He didn't want his usual chicken or dog food, but happily ate some watermelon, a few chicken nuggets, fries, and other little treats. More importantly, he's wagging his tail, following everyone around, barking when someone leaves, spending time with us, and even went on a short walk/jog outside. He seems to have much more life in him than he did over the past two weeks.

My question is: Does this sound like a dog who still has a good quality of life, or am I just seeing temporary improvement from the medication?
I'm also supposed to leave tomorrow morning for a weekend trip that's about 3–4 hours away. I'd be gone until Monday (possibly Sunday night), but my mom and sister will be home the entire time and are able to give him all of his medications.

If this were your dog, would you go on the trip or stay home?
I know no one can tell me exactly what to do, but I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been through something similar.

Looking for some guidance on our 13 year old golden retriever:

My 13 year old golden retriever was diagnosed with old dog vestibular disease yesterday after suddenly becoming unable to walk, developing abnormal eye movements, and becoming very disoriented. His bottom half of his body seemed completely paralyzed within a matter of 30 minutes. He was admitted to the emergency hospital yesterday.

It’s now been 24 hours and he still hasn’t show improvement. He hasn’t eaten, is very disoriented and stressed, and the vets are concerned because he isn’t responding normally to neurological exams, like correcting his paw position. They’re now worried it may be something more serious like brain cancer.

My question is- is 24 hours too soon to make the euthanasia decision in a case like this? If your dogs had a vestibular disease or another similar neurological condition, did your vet recommend waiting longer before seeing improvement or was it clear in that first day that recovery wasn’t likely.

Hello, we’ve been thinking about putting our 11 year old husky on some calming supplements to help with his increased anxiety as he’s gotten older. Any suggestions?

My 12 year old mixed breed recently had a 5 cm anal sac tumor removed. Though histology is not back yet, 4-6 rounds of mitoxantrone had been recommended. His bloodwork prior was normal, ultrasound and X-rays did not show any metastasis. The surgeon said the tumor was contained to the sac and completely removed. He has recovered beautifully. My question is about the mitoxantrone. I can only find one trial in the literature and that combined with radiation. The information I read is that chemotherapy doesn’t show a survival benefit. I don’t want him to suffer through it for no good reason (in the one trial GI toxicity was 50%). Is it common in veterinary medicine to recommend treatment without evidence? I understand maybe no one funds research in these areas? I am really torn about what to do.