Barking at nothing, pacing. Again vet said it was "just dementia" and he wasn't suffering (?). Seizures got so frequent it was 2, 3 a day, he would poop and pee and need to have a bath, which he hated. He had to be confined most of the time bc the seizures were so unpredictable. - ThreadSky

lextextilia.bsky.social • 15 days ago

Barking at nothing, pacing. Again vet said it was "just dementia" and he wasn't suffering (?). Seizures got so frequent it was 2, 3 a day, he would poop and pee and need to have a bath, which he hated. He had to be confined most of the time bc the seizures were so unpredictable.

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lextextilia.bsky.social•15 days ago

Vet made us feel like crap about even considering euthanasia bc he wasn't "in pain." Finally we saw a new vet who agreed with us that his quality of life was incredibly poor and would only get worse, not better. It was the right choice but I am still angry that we were made to feel bad about it.

yourotherfamilydr.bsky.social•14 days ago

Medicine in general- whether for humans or animals- tends to carry far too much denial around death. Some doctors are guilty of thinking they can fix anything & have a "never surrender!" complex; some just want the money for "doing all that can be done". Either way, you have every right to be angry.

lextextilia.bsky.social•13 days ago

Thank you! I think it was less either of those things and more that the vet felt that only pain would justify euthanasia, and perceived us as not wanting to be "inconvenienced." In reality my husband had been sleeping with our dog in another part of the house for a YEAR because his dementia was

lextextilia.bsky.social•13 days ago

causing him to pace and howl at night, waking our kids, our hearts broke every time we left the house to come back and find that he had clearly had another seizure and was wandering around in the enclosure he had to stay in, covered in poop and urine and we had to force him into the tub to bathe.

yourotherfamilydr.bsky.social•13 days ago

Sorry that you had to deal with an unsupportive vet on top of all that. I think it's also unfortunate that so many vets see the bad side of pet caregivers, & develop a tendency to assume the worst of people as a result.

lextextilia.bsky.social•13 days ago

That is a good point. I remember how surprised they were when we said we wanted to stay with him and hold him while he died, because they said most people wanted to leave the room, which broke my heart. I had trouble leaving the room even after he was gone.

lextextilia.bsky.social•13 days ago

It just felt like a miserable existence most of the time for ALL of us, including him, but we did it for a year because it was too painful to consider anything else... until it just became clear that there was nothing but misery, worry, and unpleasantness in our dynamic on all sides.

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