Is Euthanasia right for my dog

Question

I have a conundrum of two parts, scientific and spiritual.

First the details.

My female dog is 12 years old. She developed a mammary tumor about 2-3 years ago which was not treated because it had metastasized and doctors didn't think she would survive the surgery. She was hale and hearty until 2 weeks ago when that tumor on her nipple developed puss.

Parallelly she developed uterus infection also. Doctors did surgery to remove her uterus, and even though her survival possibility was low she survived.

But the prognosis is not good.

Her creatinine (which should be less than 1.6, went from 2 to 9 in just one week, which is killing her now. With no amount of therapy do doctors expect to get it down to under 1.6.

She is eating nothing. She drinks only water and in 5 minutes vomits it all with blood in it.

She is on drip and about 4 injections daily (This is since past 2 days. Surgery was done about a weak ago).

She is very weak and losing weight fast.

Any vet I spoke to predicts a life between few days and a month for her.

Now here's my problem:

Scientific conundrum: Euthanasia for her is being talked about in the family. Although it pains me to see her suffering, I don't want to euthanise her if there is a possibility of her getting better. But whether that possibility exists or not will only be known after her death. The larger medical consensus is that she would die, but basically doctors cannot be sure 100%. Maybe 99.9%, but not 100%. When cancer was detected in her 2 years ago her life was predicted 6 months but she is still there.

But if her death is a forgone conclusion, I don't want her to suffer even.

Spiritual Conundrum: In my country we don't like the idea of killing even animals. In the US they just shoot farm animals who are unhealthy, but here we believe in right to life, and that only god should make the decision of life and death. But I don't want that because of my cultural leanings my dog should suffer if there is a possibility that she does not have to suffer via euthanasia. But then there is that faint hope that until there is life there is the possibility of miracles, once death happens it is permanent.

I am very confused and conflicted. I try to think what would my dog expect from me, but am not sure of even that. I don't think dogs are capable of holding expectations, but again, I am very confused.

UPDATE :

We put her to sleep with Euthanasia. Thank you Keshlam and Elmy for helping me reach some clarity. Last night she was in pain and cried a lot. We couldn't take it and today took her to the hospital with Euthanasia in mind. Her condition deteriorated very fast. By the time it came to injecting her with the drug, she was nearly gone, but I wouldn't have her suffer for even a second which was not necessary, so went ahead with the process. She was gone the moment the drug was injected in her. I am at peace with what has been done. At least I now know for sure there was no possibility of her getting better.

Answer 1

For me personally, it helps to think of euthanasia not in terms of killing, but in terms of comfort. All of us have to die eventually, the question is just when and how comfortable we are at that time.

As long as the animal is comfortable (like your dog was for many years despite the cancer), there is no question that euthanasia is the wrong decision.

Right now your dog is not comfortable anymore. The cancer has clearly progressed and there's some internal problem that caused bleeding when she vomits. If it was possible to manage her symptoms with pain medication to the point where she would eat and act more like normal, I would still say that she's comfortable enough to not euthanize her.

However, if she is clearly approaching the end of her life and her symptoms and discomfort cannot be alleviated by medication, the question becomes: How much does she have to suffer until the end? If she survives this for another day, week or year (which doesn't sound realistic based on your description) how much discomfort and pain will she experience in that time? To be absolutely honest with you, I highly doubt that her tumor will ever heal again and the internal bleeding suggests another tumor in her stomach or esophagus causing her nausea.

I cannot give you an objective answer to whether euthanasia is the right decision for her. No-one can give you that, because this is always based on a subjective estimation of her quality of life.

Answer 2

This is very much a personal decision based on your own understanding of your dog's quality of life.

Remember that all the animal knows is comfortable and uncomfortable, to varying degrees; you are the one who has to consider the future and decide whether there is sufficient benefit to be gained by continuing to tolerate the discomfort, just as with any other medical procedure.

We don't know the animal, we don't know you, we really can't tell you where to draw that line. All we can say is consult your vet and remember that the goal is to give your pet the best life, not the longest life.

At least euthanasia is permitted for pets. We aren't that kind to humans yet.

We don't have them long enough. But they have us all their lives.