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Hardest decision- pet related
If it's not one pet it's the other at our house.
Our dog has Fanconi disease. There is no cure.
We control it by giving Max 18 pills a day (this sucks) and offering water. Lots of water. He doesn't take the pills well. We've tried mixing them with food, crushing them. We basically shove them down his throat and our, dh's mostly, hands are cut up because of the dog fighting it.
Because he drinks a lot of water, the dog is up and wanting to go outside multiple times a night (5 times on average a night, even if we kennel him he whines to go out and tries to get out of the kennel). Or he paces and tries to get into the toilets for water. He has had a couple more accidents in the house, I get so mad, but I know it's not his fault. Stupid disease.
We can't keep getting no sleep or shoving pills down the dogs throat. We feel so guilty for even thinking about taking him in to put him down. He's a good dog except for all the above.
This is killing us both literally and figuratively. I don't think we have a choice. We are getting sick from no sleep.
Re: Hardest decision- pet related
18 pills?!?!
What happens if you do not give him these pills?
He sounds and you sound miserable.
That sounds miserable! I know it's hard, but you really have to think about quality of life -- for Max AND for you!
My mom kept her Bichon alive with daily insulin and 10 pills a day for years! He had absolutely no quality of life, but she didn't want to let him go. He finally went into renal failure and there was no quantity of medicine that would keep him comfortable, so she let him go.
Picture courtesy of Heidi Keene Photography
Steph. It's time. I like animals, truly I do, but when they start inhibiting my sanity, and costing me a fortune, then I just don't see the benefit of keeping them alive. It's like my dog, she was fine minus passing out and bleeding out her butt. My granny was fine minus the pneumonia and her lungs shutting down. We are all fine except for.......... Know what I'm saying?
The guilt is normal. That doesn't get better. I hated my dog, and I even cried when they put her to sleep.
thanks to jennied
I agree with what everyone else has said. That poor guy. 18 pills a day is absolutely INSANE.. for a human, even! I would rather have him put down peacefully than drag this out and watch him be miserable.. which he is, if he's crying every night to go out, etc.
How old is he? If he were perfectly healthy, how many more years would he have in him?
I'm sorry
@ smiles- he starts wasting away if we stop the pills. We've already seen his coat get duller since taking the pills.
@ Amy- He's only 7 and some basenji's with this disease live a normal life once the pill amounts get figured out. We spend $65 for blood gas tests everytime his pills need adjusted.
I am waiting for dh to call me back after he talks to the vet. The pills do not make him stop drinking/peeing more, they just control his absorption of nutrients. So this will always be an issue.
Thank you nesties for all your support.
So whats up with all the peeing then? Is there an underlying issue there I wonder. with his kidneys? Because 5 times a night seems crazy to me, even if he is drinking a lot of water. Or my other question would be, why is he THAT thirsty all the time... maybe it comes back to the pills?
I am no vet, what do I know. How long do normal basenjis live?
Here is a website that explains the peeing and other aspects of the disease. There is also a couple stories on basenji's with the disease. What tipped us off at first that something was up was the excessive drinking and peeing about this time last year (without any pills). We at first thought diabetes, did tests that came back normal. Once it was determined something else was up we found this took the protocol to our vet, did the blood gas test (several times), met with a vet specialist (this is who dh is calling), etc. and it was determined he had Fanconi's.
J had a basenji that was 16 or so years old before she passed. I think normal is 12.
http://basenjicompanions.org/health/fanconi/life.html