Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

To all:

Thank you again for all you’ve done for us. It matters a lot right now to have a support group like this. I wish all of you (including your dogs) could be here right now so I could tell you so in person.

We really thought we had a few more months with him, but sometimes nature has different ideas. We took the last couple of weeks off work to take Max up to Carmel and the January North Cal Tripawds party – a trip we almost cancelled due to Max’s health, but our boy would have none of it. His health rebounded, and we ended up having our best trip ever with him. He stayed energetic and happy until last Friday, when we noticed him hacking a little bit. We were bothered that he was finally showing symptoms, but not overly concerned.

But on Saturday morning, he woke up and seemed short of breath. He was only mildly interested in his food, and he seemed tired. Although he got excited as usual when we took him on some errands later that day, we could tell he didn’t have the same level of energy. We decided that if he wasn’t better by the next day, we’d take him to the vet for a checkup and maybe some meds.

No change Sunday morning, so we went to the vet, and that’s when they discovered that his lung mets had grown significantly since his last x-ray. They were generating fluid which was building around his lungs and putting pressure on them, making it difficult to breathe. Our doctors gave us the option of using ultrasound to drain the fluid, but they made it clear that due to the size of the mets, the fluid would return in a few days. There wasn’t going to be any good solution to this situation.

My wife said it perfectly earlier on this thread when she gave our reasons for making this decision. What I’m writing next is for those who will read this in the future as they seek advice on the most difficult decision they’ll ever make for their dog. Everyone on this forum who’s lost their dog has given us the same advice, and it’s true – you’ll know when the time is right. There won’t be any doubt. In our case, ultrasound was certainly an option. It’s just a needle to drain the fluid, doesn’t hurt much, and it would have fixed his breathing. But Max was always nervous and scared when he went to the hospital (no reflection on them – they’re wonderful, brilliant people who gave our dog a year of life he never would have had otherwise). Once we’d exhausted our chemo and treatment options, Di and I agreed we wouldn’t subject Max to any more stress. We could have drained him weekly if that’s what it took to keep him breathing well, but to what end? The mets were huge, and it was only a matter of time before some other problem became too big to fix.

In the past few years, Di and I have seen both a friend and a family member get cancer, and watched as they slowly wasted away and became pale, ghostly shells of what they used to be. For both of them, death was a blessing when it finally came. We swore we’d never let that happen to Max. He would never see a moment of pain that we could avoid. So in the end, there was no question for us. No subjecting him to the stress of a place that scared him, needles in his already chemo-scarred veins, or the pain that comes with cancer in its final stages. We made the decision to let him go before any real pain set in. And as I sit here on the first morning of our lives without him, I know we made the right decision. Our boy died happy, with Diane and I holding him and his beloved sister Linda leaning against him. He never knew pain, and never wasted away into a pathetic shell of his former self. He made it fourteen months as a tripawd with cancer, and we’re grateful for every second we had with him. We knew it was time to let him go with the same dignity he’d always lived his life, and I’m glad I can remember him like that. He was a proud, strong boy all his life, and deserved to go out that way as well.

I’m glad that one of the last photos of him was with Wyatt, who belongs to Tripwads founders Jim and Rene. Max is with their dog Jerry now, standing tall as an inspiration to all the tripawds to come. I’m proud of my boy and the battle he fought. He was a dog hero to the end.

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Wyatt & Max - January 13, 2010