Wife's lap dog....

About three months ago, wifey's little 9 y/o Papillon began snapping at anyone who tried to pet her....the vet said she was just getting ornery in her old age....9 y/o is not old for an inside dog....blood tests all turned out good.

He was wrong....she is going completely blind....her snapping is her defense mechanism, when she sees the blur of anyone's hands, coming near her....wife and I have both gotten bloody fingers from her bites....this has never been part of her personality....actually, she has become more of a threat to us, and is no longer a loving little pet....she just lays around in a corner, now, so nobody will step on her.

She's now running into walls, furniture, and appliances....she reacts only to sounds and our voices....very pitiful.

Ya'll know how attached that I am to Sandy, and I love animals(except cats)....this is just absolutely heart-breaking.

Cataracts don't usually form this quickly, so I'm thinking maybe a tumor on the frontal lobe of her brain.

A google revealed that cataract surgery on a dog costs $1,700 per eye, so I can only imagine what brain surgery will cost!!

Wifey doesn't want to put the Pap thru any major surgery....I've got mixed feelings.

Just wondering if any of you guys have had any experience with a situation like this....thanks

Never with blindness, but I had had to put my dog when his (and ours) quality of life just wasn't there any more and $2k for surgery wasn't an option. It's a tough job, but part of the deal you signed on for.

I just keep getting validated on why I won't own any more dogs.

I gotta ask the Lord a LOT of questions, should I be the luckiest man that ever died, but one is "Why did you make dogs lifespans so much shorter than ours?".....

I agree Bucky. Dogs live much more virtuous lives than any man. They deserve the best. They really are mans best friend. I think of surgery on pets like I do kids. Kids get scared because they don't understand what is going on. I just won't put a dog through a major surgery. I won't put an old dog through any surgery. Once my dogs are past 7 or 8, they are hospice patients. Comfort measures only.

Yeah tough one eddie.. Rub, I always ask, "If God doesn't make any mistakes, why does a parrot live to be 70 and a good dog 12?" Yeah - I'm sure I'll pay for that somehere down the road. ;)

Eddie, when my old springer went, she had the same symptoms except for the biting. I am convinced she had a stroke because she went from normal, well normal for a 16 year old dog, to blind and running into stuff and in obvious distress within hours. Its hard to see them go through that stuff. I feel for ya.

BKB

I understand your sentiment, Bill. However, I don't see grief as something to be avoided. It's an honest emotion just like those that ar emore pleasant. The joy that dog brought me for 10 or 11 years it not outweighted by the sadness as he faded or the grief when he passed.

CD, I agree. That is why we had dogs for 35 years.

But I just said that I personally am glad we don't anymore. I couldn't take that much grief at this age.

Sorry to hear this Eddie.

You might be on to sumptin about a tumor.

We've lost a lot of young agility dogs, this past year, to cancerous tumors.
Cancer is a mean thing and it will get young dogs too.

As for her quality of life, its not.
When you brought her home, you took on the responsibility of taking care of her.
As a responsible pet owner, you also have to make that one big decision too.

If surgery, is not an option, then she doesn't have a quality of life and needs to be put down.
What a horrible way, of life, living in fear right now.

None of us like making that decision, but as loving providers and caregivers, we have to.
Sorry. :(

We had to put down my 11-year old lab last January. She had been showing signs of old age over the last year. Her joints caused her obvious pain and she was slowly going deaf. We went to let her in one evening and she didn't respond to the normal signal (flashing the porch light). My wife went and found her in the dog house and she was in obvious distress. She was bumping into things and appeared to have gone blind rather quickly. We took her to the vet the next morning and they found a mass in her abdomen. Given her age and her distressed condition, we made the difficult decision. She lived a good life and provided me and my family with a lot of joy. I cried for the first time in a long time when we buried her. I still think it was the right decision. I'm thinking in her case it was probably cancer that spread to her brain. We'll never know for sure.