Sorry to bump this thread...
My chocolate lab is not likely to make the weekend, and I'm struggling with how to deal with the kids. The lab is only 7, but has liver and kidney issues that have plagued her for years and have mostly been kept at bay with drugs. It seems she takes more drugs than food.
She also has a torn ACL in her hind leg but the vets don't think she will survive the anesthesia that would be required to fix it due to the aforementioned kidney and liver issues. She's been dealing with that ok for the six months or so since it happened, but it is definitely noticeable in her mobility and her weight. Anyone who has had a lab knows that they will eat anything and everything, and if they can't get the necessary exercise will chunk it up, even with a reduced diet and special diet food.
Now, in addition we have learned she has the equivalent to ALS in dogs, and a possible brain tumor or whatever the doggy equivalent to Alzheimer's is. Her personality has changed, she is more aggressive to strangers (something she never was in the past) and occasionally appears that she doesn't recognize close friends and family. Immediate family seems to still be ok. She appears to have almost mini strokes from time to time, dragging both legs on one side of her body as she walks, or is unable to get up from a lying or sitting position.
The ALS is now impacting her breathing. Again, there might be a surgical path to cut back part of her throat but that's not really an option due to the liver/kidney thing.
It is so hard to know.... she eats, she sleeps... then she struggles to breathe. She can't play ball, she can't go for walks, she can't go swim in the river, she can't go camping.... I don't know if she is always suffering, but she can't "be a dog" anymore, and there is something about not being able to breathe that scares the crap out of me. I don't want it to get to the point where she is suffocating and unable to breathe.
Kids are 14 and 11, and this will destroy them. The dog has been a part of our family for the past 7+ years and is easily the best temperament dog I have ever had. Hell it is destroying me and the wife.
We have discussed with the kids the dog's health and the likely outcome, and that we think the end is imminent. They have obviously been aware of the liver and kidney things because those are years old. The multitude of specialist visits over the past many months have led to other conversations around these newer issues, and a few weeks ago we had the 'the end is nigh' conversation, but I didn't honestly think (or perhaps my brain chose to ignore the possibility) that it would come this quickly. Now that we are staring it in the face... do we offer to take the kids with us to the vet? Leave them home? Thoughts on how to deal with this both "day of" and post?
Sorry for the downer.