deciding "it time"

[Pajarita]

Yes, it's not that anybody doubts that it is the best for the animal, it's the human that is going to miss the animal that suffers. I am keeping my Titita alive by feeding her with a syringe three times a day... I know I have to put her down and I will but it's extra hard during the holidays -especially her who is like an extension of my own body.

[marie83]

Todays the day for Star to move on from this world, she is still up to her tricks of pushing the flying saucers together no matter how far apart I put them. Its extra sad because her sister from the second litter will be going with her having developed two tumours since my last post, she has one on the side of her abdomen and another on her shoulder. Chip was born on boxing day last year so isn't even a year old, Chip is the least sociable towards people out of all the females and is always the last to be moved from mouse mansion at cleaning out time and last to go back home when the cleaning is done.

[liz]

I know this sounds harsh but a pet dying is harder than a human dying. With the humans I had time to deal with it before death. Caring for them and letting them know how much they were loved cushioned the hurt. They had pain meds to ease their passing. No one really knows how the pet feels or where to stick a morphine patch so it is much harder. I did not know what all was hurting Rascal. I gave him warm baths and massaged cortisone cream on his skin and it helped but in the end I had to kill him and I suffered a long time after that.

Allow yourself time to morn.

[Pajarita]

Oh, Marie, my heart goes out to you. It's always hard to put them down but it's worse this time of the year, isn't it? Unbelievably, Titita (chorkie) is not only holding on, she seems to be a bit more alert and even gained a little weight but Michiche (shih tzu) is not doing so well despite taking 5 pills a day.

[marie83]

Oh, Marie, my heart goes out to you. It's always hard to put them down but it's worse this time of the year, isn't it? Unbelievably, Titita (chorkie) is not only holding on, she seems to be a bit more alert and even gained a little weight but Michiche (shih tzu) is not doing so well despite taking 5 pills a day.

That's fab about titita, I hope the improvements continue even if its unlikely for her. I'm sorry to hear about michiche though. I will keep them both in my thoughts.
What has made it worse is that I think chip and possibly star had a few days longer but I didn't want them suffering should things get worse over the Christmas period- the vets in my area don't tend to have out of hours appointments any more I think the nearest surgery that does is about 40 minutes away and have very hefty fees to boot. I would gladly pay the money but didn't like the thought of them having a 40 minute journey as even for a mouse that would be stressful.

What made me make a definite decision is how fast these mousy tumours grow- chip didn't even have signs of having them on the 10th or for a few days after, so in less than 2 weeks she's gone from having no external lumps and bumps to having two on the same side of her body. It's impossible to gauge how much pain they are really in when they hide so much. They are both at peace now but I do feel a bit worse this time because if it wasn't Christmas they both would have had a little longer even though I know we are talking days rather than weeks.

[Pajarita]

No, no, you absolutely made the right decision! When it comes to animals, quality trumps quantity of life and mice's tumors do advance very quickly (that's why they use them for cancer testing all the time) so they are better off in peace and free of pain than holding off for a few more days.

[DanaandPod]

Sorry for your loss. I can relate somewhat. I have an eleven yr. old tiny duarf rabbit. And, the vet ruled out that he is and has been urinating outside of his litter box due to age. Over a year now,,,I have had to periodically scrub and scrub the carpet. It is extremely frustrating at times. I know that many folks would have put their animal to sleep over this. But, otherwise he is healthy and every evening when I let him out...(When my parrot is covered and put away, lol) He runs around with the energy of a baby rabbit. I don't have the heart other than to take care of him until the day comes that pain is the ultimate reason for making a decision to euthanize. AT that point, it would be sad...but for a pet rabbit... he had a good life. No living thing deserves to suffer in pain.

[Wolf]

Dana, eleven years is a pretty long time for a rabbit, dwarf or not. As long as the rabbits overall quality of life is not compromised then there would be no reason to put it down. I Would think that anyone who would put it down for a simple loss of bladder control, given that it is otherwise healthy don't really care very much for their animal friends. But that is just my personal outlook on human/ animal relationships.
A large number of humans seem to think of animals as being somehow inferior to humans, a point of view that I simply do not share. I think that you are doing fine with your animals.

[marie83]

Well In Jan we had two more put to sleep on the same day, again both girls and tumours were the cause. Daisy was a silvery grey, she was the friendliest towards humans, always the first to climb voluntarily onto my hand at cleaning out time. Bandit was the other one she was black and white and you can probably guess how she came about her name, she was a digger and there would be a new tunnel each morning in the "basement" of the mouse mansion.

Mummy mouse Silver has eye trouble at the moment, we are not sure of the cause but we have been treating for an eye/eyelid infection. I would rather medicate the parrots than a mouse to be honest, she's such a wrigglebum and the ointment ends up everywhere but where it's supposed to go. One of the white males has a wart type growth, not sure how that one will go as I can't seem to find much info about them.

[Wolf]

Wish I could offer something other than moral support, but I know next to nothing about mice. I do hope that this will improve quickly as I know that it is stressing you something awful.