Anticipatory Grief

[Scribe]

I'm in exactly the same boat with my golden retriever. She'll be 14 in January, and a few months ago she was so sick, that we took her to the vet with the understanding that "today might be the day", but we were advised to "give her the weekend" and she got better.

She has mobility issues, and acts somewhat strangely (compared to how she used to).

It's tricky, because I don't want to hold onto her for my own sake, but I also don't want to put her down for my sake, either. She still seems pretty happy, but then, she's a golden retriever. They're generally happy by nature!

I guess that might be the point where we pull the plug. If she ever truly struggles to get up, or if she doesn't seem happy anymore. It's my best guess, anyway.

I gave my guy a lot of leash. Ahem...

By the end he had quite a few issues, and I had given him the talk several times, but he always got better, was always happy.

Eventually age caught up and he did something to his back/hip, and it was obviously time, in an emergency kind of way.

He was 15ish, a rescue, and even though it's been over a year, I don't know that I'll get over him really.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

He was 15ish, a rescue, and even though it's been over a year, I don't know that I'll get over him really

I’m 58. I have had pets most of my life. I remember something about most of them, and a lot about a few of them.

 

[GreyLord]

Something with an old cat I had was that we kept him around for far too long. His last few months/weeks were just a painful life for him.

Sometimes it is better to let them have a peaceful death by putting them to sleep then to let them suffer for your sake.

They die happier than they do when they are in constant pain.

If there is no hope in the pet getting better and only a downward spiral, I'd say brace oneself for the day and time it so that they don't have to suffer, but let them go gracefully into the night for their sake, even if you will feel the pain all the more.