Terrible news, I feel for you and Yoshi. My Wife, dogs and I will keep you in our thoughts. Good Luck, he loves you, you weren't selfish, simply allowing him to be with you longer.
Damn man. Sorry to hear it. I put mine down last October after 12 years also. it's a fine line between love and selfishness. I believe I crossed it with mine by holding on to him 6 months too long. it's hard to let something go that's given you conditional love and companionship for so long. but it's just as hard watching them struggle daily to do the simplest of tasks. whatever decision you make, may peace be with you.
I am not looking forward to my lab's inevitable decline. I try to always keep in perspective how happy and sweet she's always been and focus on giving her the most love I can while she's on this earth. it sounds like Yoshi received a lot of love for a long, long time. it doesn't make it any easier, here at the end of the road, but you have done all you could, and letting go is the right thing to do. my thoughts are with you and Yoshi over the next few days...it's devastating to face the loss of your best friend.
I love dogs, but never had a chance to have one of my own. I feel for you. Hope the best for your dog Yoshi. Great name by the way
Really sorry you're having to go through this ordeal. It is terrible just seeing it and imagining it. I know it has to be incredibly rough for you right now. Best of luck.
He crawled back into your arms!!! I'm tearing up here. I'm so sorry. My big fear is one day everything is fine, then some snafu. I could definitely see my dog eating a whole bag of dog food, too. Such a cute dog! I have no idea what I'd do in your situation.
thank you everyone for all your well wishes and prayers. It does provide some level of comfort. Just a quick update. I just got a call from the vet and Yoshi is awake again and being monitored. His heart rate and key vitals are all looking fine. I'm hoping he can come home late tongiht or tomorrow morning where he can be mroe comfortable To answer some questions. Yes the vet did do x-rays to diagnose his inverted stomach. If I didnt take him in he probably wouldnt be with us right now. I thought it was just a case of overeating and gas so was so sudden and caught me off guard when the doctor told me the worst news that if we dont operatate he wouldnt make it through the night. If Yoshi was a young dog the decision would have been so easy. Even if he was just two years younger at 10 it would still have been a easy decision. But at 12 I recognize he is a old dog and large dogs usually only live 10-12 years. But he's a healthy 12 year old dog. We still go on plenty of walks and he still loves to play. Up to this incident he's been doing great so it was so sudden .. but when i saw him try to get up and walk out with me i just knew i had to give him one more chance and try to save him. I still dont know if this was a selfish decision on my part but guess everyone is right and i shouldnt 2nd guess myself. While in surgery the doctor noticed he has a abnormal turmor growth that fused his kidney and spleen together. They took a sample for biopsy but Im debating if i even want to get a biopsy done at this point. If it comes back cancerous I don't think i want to put yoshi through anymore stress or pain at his age. I'm just hoping he recovers and can live out his life happily at home. It just feels so weird not having him at home right now. The house feels empty. I knew this day would come but it's somethign you really cant prepare for. You really do get attached to those little buggers and they really are family. Anyways thanks again for everyone's prayers and well wishes. Hoping I can see Yoshi tonight
I don't know what it is with dogs but when mine died I balled like I never had before. I really hope he pulls through and you have more time together.
Cause dogs love us unconditionally and would do anything for us. I hate that money can be a factor when treating them. Our Ellie has ligament damage and at one point earlier this year, the vet said it'd be about a $4k surgery to fix. She's 10 and that's a lot of money to spend. Luckily, we had other friends who had a dog with a similar issue and they recommended pills. Ellie's been taking them for a couple months now and the change is very evident. My wife busted in this morning after going to get coffee all excited that Ellie slept upstairs and came running down when she came out of the bedroom.
Glad to hear Yoshi will get to come home. We almost lost my dog Sampson last year. He's a beagle, and had a tumor on his spleen the size of a grapefruit, that started bleeding internally. The emergency vets were sure it was cancer and urged us to put him down, but we decided to drive to Houston (from Austin) so we could let his long time vet see him. Long story short, they performed surgery, and to everyone's amazement it wasn't cancer. Sampson just turned 13, and is healthy and happy as can be. The whole ordeal cost us over 5k, but it was absolutely worth it. Dogs are the best, and there's nothing more painful than the prospect of losing them
That is good news. No matter what happens, he will be with you. Much better for both of you, no doubt. I'm not a dog owner, but the part about him crawling back into your arms and wanting to go home really got to me. Best wishes to both of you and please keep us updated.
Hopefully the vet returns him safe and sound bro. If he does pass, find peace in knowing he lived a long, happy life. Find peace knowing that ya'll got to spend an amazing 12 long years together, cherish all the memories. A couple of months ago my 1 year old puppy got loose from a friends back yard, I found him dead and cold in the down the street 2 hours later. I love my dogs like nobody else bro, that was hard for me.
Hoping for a strong recovery man, get well Yoshi! Breaks my heart seeing this thread. I didn't respond earlier because it hits home. But seeing it at the top of the forum I couldn't ignore it any longer. I had a similar issue a few years ago with my beagle Shelby. Vet in my town told me nothing could be done for her up there and I'd have to see a specialist down in Houston in the galleria. She had a spinal injury, in her neck. Basically her vertebrae had a nerve stuck in between it, and was out of place. She couldn't move, or anything. The vet in Houston was going to be around $4-6K. I ended up not getting the procedure and seeing if she'd get better over time, she couldn't move and was in serious pain when not on the pain killers and steroids. I had to carry her outside to relieve herself and she'd just stand there then I'd pick her up and bring her back in. Any bumps / movement on her neck / head and she'd scream in pain for minutes. Thank goodness though, she recovered. Probably an 85-90% recovery, no pain moving around anymore. All I can say to other dog owners out there. Don't attach a leash to their collar....use a harness!! Hoping Yoshi has a strong recovery! I want to go home now and be with my dogs.
Praying for you and your dog and hoping for the best! I lost my first dog (a maltese) recently of old age and kidney failure in May. She woke up one day and couldn't move. She basically was just lying there. She was still able to eat but her bowels weren't really moving and her waste just kind of leaked out. We took her to the vet as well a pet acupuncture doctor but nothing would help. Such a crappy feeling seeing her like this and not able to do anything. Hardest two weeks I had before she finally gave up and passed away. I'll never forget the night before she passed away when I came home and she still mustered up the energy to bark and lick me on the face.
