We have a situation in the garden: What do with our 16 year old Border Collie. We didn’t think he’d make it through the summer, and yet as we cross the threshold into the new year, he’s still hanging on. Barely.
We’d planned to let nature take it’s course. Our vet gave us some good advice a couple of years ago when we were dealing with a little Bijan that was having seizures. “You’ll know it’s time to euthanize your pet when the bad days are more frequent than the good days.”
After reviewing the quality-of-life checklist, we realized that in regard to the Happiness/Mental Status category, every day is a bad day for our friend. It was a reality check.
His tail is tucked most of the time. The only time the tail shows any kind of life is when we walk. A slow painful stroll to the corner. The dog that had unending energy and had to be off the leash so that he could run and stretch his legs now is less stressed when the leash is on to guide him. His vision is dim and his ears are deaf. He falls down and is confused. His toys? The ball? Not interested.
He’s stinking up the place. There’s an odor of decay. He eats but doesn’t seem to get any nutritional value and is a frail bony skeleton. Our pact was we’d let him go when he couldn’t get up. Now, I’m not so sure we should wait.
Addendum: We thought we might take him for a little jaunt, but when we grabbed the leash, he looked at us like “are you kidding me?”. I called the vet and scheduled the appointment.
Grieving a Lost Pet | 5 Tips to Coping with the Death of a Pet | Life in the Garden (urngarden.com)