So, I decided to post this in anything goes since it's about a quadpawd, but I figured with all you animal pawrents, you might be the best people to help.

My husky is 14 as of July. She has arthritis and recently had a sebacious cyst site that will not heal because she won't leave it alone.The vet recommended surgery to prevent infection; however, at the age of 14, I'm unsure if surgery is really a good idea. It just sounds like more pain for a pet that may not have longer to live.

However, I'm having a really hard time making a decision. She's been on deramaxx for about a year. We just added Tramadal (sp?) last Friday in addition to the deramaxx because she's in pain at night. Or at least, I assume it's pain because she cries as she circles around/braces herself to sit/lay down. However, sometimes she doesn't whine at all and plops down like she has no arthritis at all. And on top of this, she's also a husky who is very vocal so how am I to know she isn't hot or something? When she comes in after going to the bathroom she prances around all excited for a treat. Sometimes she even play bows. She still gets excited about going for a walk too.

However, she sways too. Like when she's standing, she'll start leaning to one side until she eventually moves and starts the process over or she sits. After pacing or a walk or being all excited for a treat, it's worse. Sometimes, she can't even stand to eat if she's been too active.

We changed her food recently and now she eats regularly and is putting on weight again. Her bloodwork is great according to the vets.

However, she has a hard time with pooping. When she realizes she has to go, 9 times out of 10, it means she needs to go THEN, which often occurs in the house and sometimes even when she's sleeping or laying down or something as I find it right where she was sleeping. She'll get up and go somewhere else obviously, but I can't imagine she enjoys that. She also has a harder time going I think because of the awkward (or at least it looks awkward and always has) position that dogs have to get in to poop. She now has to walk while she poops, or she falls in it.

She managed to tell me twice this week that she needed to go outside to poop and managed to wait until then; however, I usually find a pile of poop or two when I get home from work in the house.

I'm just really torn with what to do. This is the first time I've had to make this decision. Our previous dogs had various end of life experiences. One fell asleep and never woke up at the age of 17 while I was away at college; our rottie we had put to sleep because he could no longer stand to poop and would just lie there in it, and our lab became very ill and was dropping weight without any clue as to what happened. I was there for the latter two, so I'm aware of what happens during the process, but they were also my siblings' dogs and my mother was the one who made all the choices. Plus, I was with her when we put them to sleep.

Now though, I'm living away from my mom and have to make the decision alone. Plus, this is my baby who I've been best friends with since 7th grade.

While the vets say that the operation should be fine and he is 95% confident that there would be no complications, I'm torn by the idea of causing more pain to a dog who seems to be having pain lying down. I know she's lost a lot of muscle mass in her back legs too. But then she seems to act like she's a puppy again with me at times, especially when she wants her treats or her medicine. Yet she also wakes me up in the middle of the night whining while she tries to lie down.

She's just not consistent with showing her pain that it makes me wonder if it's time yet or if she's just really good at masking her pain until it's unbearable since she whines the most when it's time for more medicine. I just don't know.

I've read articles about making the right choice, but they all talk about quality of life and if your pet still does the things they like to do. She stopped playing when the other dogs passed on because she only really enjoyed keeping things away from them. She's not a dog that has ever enjoyed being petted, so in all reality it just feels like all she does is sleep, go outside, and come in all excited for a treat. It's been her life for several years now, but what kind of life is that? Is that an okay life for an aging pet? I mean, how do I know if she's no longer interested in doing things if she's never really been a typical dog?

How do I figure out what to do? What would you do if this was your dog? I'm so conflicted. If it wasn't for this stupid cyst, I feel like I wouldn't have to decide now, but I know it bothers her. And she almost died getting stung by bees earlier this year and during the checkup afterward is when the stupid cyst came off. It just feels like well why did she survive that if she's just going to die from this?

I feel like I have to choose something, but the one hand feels like causing more pain to an elderly dog and the other feels like I'm killing my best friend. What if I make the wrong choice?