My Dog Tucker

[Aliantha]

That sucks. My puppydog is getting fairly old now. I'll be facing similar decisions soon.

Go with what your heart tells you in my opinion. You are the one/s that really knows what's best.

Good luck with it all.

[freshnesschronic]

Thanks all. Will update next week when the time comes.

[Hagar]

Ill be in a similar position with one of my dogs soon, too. The one thing that gives me some relief is that I know my dogs (like most pets) have lived charmed lives.

I'll be sad for their passing, but happy that they've been safe and warm and well fed and loved for as long as I've known them.

[Cyclefrance]

Our neighbours have always had spaniels - either springers or cockers - they do seem prone to problems both physical and medical. Having said that they seem to weather their predicaments reasonably well, but are not given to living to ripe old ages - I think their last two dogs gave out at the age of 12 or 13 or thereabouts.

It's always a difficult decision to end a pet's life. The option of finding another owner may not be so easy, but it could be a worth pursuing. Taking opinion from the vet at the likely remaining lifespan is worthwhile (although some vets tend to hedge their point of view). At the end of the day, whatever decision you do take it will be the best that suits the overall situation I am sure, and you will always be able to carry with you memories that you gave your pet a good life when so many animals suffer or are abandoned.

[freshnesschronic]

Tucker went through with the surgery.
They put him on anesthesia (sp?) and opened his leg, washed it because it had started to mineralize because I guess it had been torn for a while. They put a stainless steel plate and stitches to replace the ligament, my mom described it as a pulley or something. But yeah, he's just very slow and tired. He can only lay down on his right leg and by mistake he got his left leg caught underneath him and he shreaked very loud in pain . We have to constantly watch out for him for a month then look out for his safety for 5 months until the rehab is about over. But he's good and we're happy. Pictures attatched.

[Hagar]

Looks like a cool dog. I don't think you'll regret the surgery.

[BrianR]

The poor little guy. For the record, I was secretly pulling for the surgery and not the other option.

Take good care of him and he'll repay you tenfold!

Brian

[DanaC]

He's a bonny dog.

It's a horrible decision to have to make. My brother and his family just had a similar decision to make about their Rhodesian Ridgeback, Amber. She had to have a tumour removed and the cost was about £600. Quite a lot if you are having financial problems anyway. They managed to find the money (just) and took the risk. Fifty-fifty whether she'll develop another, or if future ones may be cancerous. But that gives her a fifty-fifty chance of none of that happening. She's almost nine, so she may get a few years yet.

Good luck with Tucker, hope he's back and bouncy soon.

Neil suffered longer than he had to and worse than we knew until the end.
I'm not you, Tucker is not Neil... but if I could help it again, I would.
Sometimes dignity and less suffering is a gift beyond measure. One we cannot give our human loves. In a way a blessing for our pets.
Just some thoughts of mine. I often wonder, did Neil suffer because I was selfish... the thought harms me. He had lymphoma, more advanced than we knew.
*loving and healing energy to Tucker, you and all who love both of you*

[freshnesschronic]

<<sigh>>
I pray for you, Lawrence Tucker.
He is in the ER right now, heavily sedated with low blood pressure levels, but they are going up which is a good thing.
Hang in there buddy....will update his status if I need to.

[Undertoad]

Hang in there fresh.

[TheMercenary]

Poor fella. He will get better over time.

[BrianR]

Please do, I've been wondering how it all came out.

If nothing else, you've given him another year to enjoy being with his humans.

[freshnesschronic]

Hi Cellar.



Well, I just have arrived home from the ER. He passed.
Lawrence Tucker has moved on.

At the beginning of this thread I posted that he had surgery almost exactly a year ago. Who'da thunk that. It was on his hind leg because he seemed to be weak in muscle mass and he had been starting to develop benign tumors on his body. Well, he has continued to have hind leg troubles in both of them, and since I arrived home from college my family told me it was his other leg that was slowing him down. He couldn't really run, and struggled and fell a lot going up/down steps.

So last week was the cruise I mentioned, and we gave Tucker to my aunt and uncle to take care of. They are pet lovers as well, having two Schnauzers of their own. Well Tucker has been on medication for arthritis and whatnot for a couple of years now, has had seizures in the past but still has endured and always has been mischievous, stealing food all the time, lil' bastard.

So my aunt and uncle have a campsite they visit often and took the dogs with them. Apparently Tucker and AJ, my aunt and uncle's male dog, had a tussle over some food and AJ bit Tucker's floppy ears. What we didn't know when we got back from the cruise that he had also puncture wounds in his chest and upper front leg, he's very shaggy. Those we didn't discover until yesterday when we took him to the vet.

Tucker's leg had swollen up and had to have been infected by AJ's saliva or just the campsite pathogens, or something. 3 days ago he could not walk and we just thought it was his bad hind leg, but it was also the infection. Tucker did not sleep at all last nite, just kept crying and whimpering as it was impossible for him to find a comfortable laying position. My parents took him in to the animal ER this morning at 7am or so and he's been there ever since.

They injected some I-have-no-idea-what-it's-called to do something to his low blood pressure which helped mildly. They gave him something else to evaluate his kidneys, which were hydrated, but even though they were hydrated he was not excreting the proper amount. I guess these were signs that he wasn't going to get better.

We put him down just under an hour ago, my mom, dad, sister and aunt and uncle. My uncle feels very responsible because he was the one watching them and had to break up the fight. But it's no one's fault, these things just happen. My sister is taking it the worst.

I always thought I'd be out of college and in the work force, when it was supposed to happen in my mind. I'm 20 and have been through two cocker spaniels passing. My first dog, Lady, was hit by a car when I was 7. I just feel dogs lives' can be so much longer, both she and Tucker were 10.

I take for granted what it was like with him around, having to close the pantry door so he wouldn't stick his nose in, kicking his stuffed animals around the floor for him and walking him around the block.

I'm glad he's not suffering or hurting, but I wish he was with me.




Rest in peace, Lawrence Tucker.

[classicman]

I'm so sorry to hear that he passed. At least he is no longer in pain and can rest peacefully.