Poll of the Day > fuck. my dog isn't doing well

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ahh fuck man Im so sorry. I took your advice and bought a baster. We crushed his pills into the baby food and squirted it into his mouth. He seemed to enjoy it at first and then clamped down pretty hard on my thumb the vet is going to have to do this. Ive tried everything and it isnt working

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Bummer. For the record the couple times I did something like that I slammed down the plunger as soon as I got it pointed towards the back of the dog's throat and it didn't much like it...but the medicine was sloppily delivered. My thumb stayed far away.

Buut...if a tranquilizer/etc is an option so much the better.

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the problem is that he absolutely refuses to open his mouth even a little. I have to literally pry his mouth open and hes so strong.

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I ambushed him while he was asleep and just shoved all of his pills into his throat. So relived right now

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Excellent - hopefully it kicks in soon!

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we have to take him to a neurologist tomorrow

this is getting really expensive. i guess Im gonna have to make a gofundme or something. Is gofundme or kickstarter better for this sort of thing?

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DirtBasedSoap posted...

we have to take him to a neurologist tomorrow

this is getting really expensive. i guess Im gonna have to make a gofundme or something. Is gofundme or kickstarter better for this sort of thing?

Gofundme. Kickstarter is usually for something different
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This sounds terrible. Sorry to hear this man.

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If you can't find a way to get the meds into him he is sadly doomed. You need to get help from someone no matter how hard it is. The problem I see here is one of two things, lack of effort or he's not as sick as you think. If he's eating as little as you say he should be weakening to the point of being less dangerous to wrestle pills into his mouth forcefully. You have to face facts that you may have to risk getting bitten to get this done. I've been where you are but thankfully I had a grown daughter there to help hold my dog Spooky. He was 120 lbs of pure muscle and hated pills of any kind, even the flavored heartworm meds. I've been bitten a couple of times but nothing serious, and usually they eventually figure out you're trying to help them.

I know how hard it is to have your best buddy die of old age, the mom and dad of my current dog passed in their sleep in April and November of 2018. I wish you the best in this endeavor and wish I lived close enough to help you.

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You guys may need to seriously weigh the financial costs and consider euthanasia. He's 6 years old. That's not super young for a large dog. He won't take meds. Too much treatment that you can't afford isn't going to help you.

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Jen0125 posted...

You guys may need to seriously weigh the financial costs and consider euthanasia. He's 6 years old. That's not super young for a large dog. He won't take meds. Too much treatment that you can't afford isn't going to help you.

unfortunately thats what it might come to. I have been able to get his meds into him regularly since yesterday and he seems slightly better but hes so out of it. The vet is pretty sure he has something called wobblers now

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If he starts to recover but it seams the future medical bills will be more than you can handle, try looking into your local humane society for options either to help with expenses or possibly letting someone with more means to take the dog into a forever home/fostering situation. You might not get to keep him but at least he'll survive. There's lots of people willing to take on dogs with issues and it's just plain cruel and selfish to put an animal down when there are other options. I've adopted many dogs over my lifetime in situations like yours. I'm no longer allowed by my landlord to have a dog larger than 35lbs or I'd offer to take him.

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we have to put him down

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Crap: that sucks. Best wishes.

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we just cant afford this. they want $3500 for an MRI which we dont have after spending $2000 on him already this week

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the mri is just to figure out whats wrong with him and treatment could be even more expensive. they think it could possibly be a brain tumor

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If the meds didn't help, he's suffering, and the costs are soaring that's understandable. It really sucks, but don't beat yourself up. You did what you could and more (especially given he's not your dog).

It's not reasonable to fully diagnose and treat a brain tumor (or whatever) in a dog with that background.

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thanks. Im really beating myself right now. I feel like Im giving up on him.

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I'm sorry :( you did the best you could, don't be too hard on yourself. There's a reason he loved you so much

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If you can't afford to diagnose and treat the illness you should consider the humane option.

I was doing this with Ernie and I could kind of afford it. It doesn't change anything and it didn't make me feel less guilty for having to put him down. But it was the right thing to do.

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It just sucks so much that hes only 6 and that this was completely out of the blue.

i dont even know what Im going to do with myself today

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6 isn't young for a large dog. Small dogs can live really long but certain breeds only have lifespans of 7 years at all.

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Sounds like you gave him a really good life. Which is better than some others...

Jen0125 posted...

6 isn't young for a large dog. Small dogs can live really long but certain breeds only have lifespans of 7 years at all.

Yeah. I heard that smaller dogs usually have longer lifespans then the bigger ones.
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DirtBasedSoap posted...

I feel like Im giving up on him.

No matter the story everyone feels like that when it's time. And it sounds like it's time: even if they managed to diagnose something it doesn't sound like it would be something that would be treatable in any practical way at this point.

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If Im in pain and there doesnt seem hope of recovery, I would hope someone could do me the kindness of helping go peacefully.

I wish dogs could live longer lives, but that just isnt the case many times. It sucks and it hurts. But watching them suffer hurts more. What you can do is love them, tell them that theyre good, and always remember them.

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@wpot @Mead
thank you for the kind words, they truly have made me feel better. In a way, i am relieved that hes no longer suffering but i just wish i had the money to save him

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RIP to the sweetest and most handsome little boy Ive ever known

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DirtBasedSoap posted...

i just wish i had the money to save him

From the sound of it I think it's quite likely that money wouldn't have saved him anyways. You did what you could.

RIP pup.

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