When to euthanize dog with arthritis.

Dr. Marie replied:

I'm so sorry to hear of your situation. Unfortunately this is a type of case that I see very commonly and I can understand how difficult it is to make the decision for euthanasia.

Dogs have such a strong survival drive that they are going to do all they can to try to act happy and this makes that decision so hard.

From what you have described, if Baloo is not able to walk, then in my mind the time is very near, if not now. If Baloo is unable to walk, there is a good chance that that is because of pain. (The exception would be if he had a paralysis issue - sometimes those are not painful). But, if he can't walk because of arthritis then this means that there is significant pain. And again, dogs just don't show us exactly how much pain they have.

With all of that being said, I usually do find that most of my clients just seem to know when it is time for euthanasia.

With my animals, my philosophy is that if my pets have a condition that I know they are not going to recover from then I would much rather make the decision too early than too late. The whole goal is to reduce the amount of discomfort that Baloo has.

I'm so sorry for these hard decisions. Arthritis in dogs can be so difficult.

Please let me know if you have more questions.

Dr. Marie



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