Companionship and fun adventures with a beloved dog can feel never-ending to pet parents. Then suddenly years sneak past as your pup’s muzzle turns gray, their steps grow shaky, or a sudden severe illness or injury surfaces out of the blue.
A great life with a dog is never long enough, so how will you know when it’s time to say goodbye?
Key Takeaways
- Deciding when to put a dog down involves evaluating health, personality, personal principles, and caregiving resources.
- Quality-of-life assessment tools can help pet parents track good days versus bad days for their dog.
- Veterinarians play a vital role in guiding families through palliative care, euthanasia options, and aftercare decisions.
- Support resources, such as Lap of Love, can help pet parents cope with grief while continuing to honor their pet’s life.
When Is It Time To Put a Dog Down?
Answering the question about when it’s time to say goodbye is unique to each dog and their pet parent’s situation. This crucial decision-making step involves evaluating your dog’s quality of life in relation to four key factors:
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Your dog’s health status
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Your dog’s personality
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Your personal principles
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Your pet care budgets (money, time, physical capability, and emotional capacity)
Reflect on Your Dog’s Health
Veterinary assessment and input are vital when it comes to a dog’s end of life. A dog’s health status signals the course of their ailments, the expected rate of further decline, and how well a dog’s discomfort can be alleviated and their suffering prevented.
If a dog has severely impaired mobility, debilitating organ failure, serious mental deterioration, or a combination of these or other health challenges, and if ensuring a dog’s comfort, safety, and contentment are not achievable, it may be time to say goodbye.
Your vet can work with you to determine what is best, based on your dog’s health.
Observe Your Dog’s Attitude
A dog’s personality and temperament affect how well they can adjust to their ailments and how well their pet parents can manage them.
Consider what your dog can tolerate on a regular basis, including:
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How readily they accept and take prescribed medication (notice if they are experiencing any side effects)
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Ease of getting around the house (even after mobility-assistance items are added such as dog stairs)
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Eagerness to eat or drink water
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Tolerating being left home alone
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Interacting appropriately with pet parents and other housemates
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Engaging in their favorite activities
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Ease of going outdoors without pain to eliminate
If your dog has lost interest in previously relished social interactions, is not eating or drinking on a consistent basis (and health issues have been ruled out), and/or does not tolerate receiving necessary care, it may be time to consider next steps.
When bad days outnumber good days and your dog’s health and circumstances aren’t expected to improve, it may be time to say goodbye.
Consider Your Principles
A pet parent’s decision about when to say a final goodbye may be influenced by their culture, religion, personal preferences, and their dog’s role or function within the family.
Pet parents and other close family members should come together and try to agree on when and how to say goodbye to their dog, whether it’s via humane euthanasia or waiting for a natural death.
In the meantime, the goal of any pet parent should be to keep their dog comfortable during their final weeks or days ,and helping to ease their suffering. Comfort items such as an orthopedic bed, soft blankets, and a sound machine are good additions to keep your dog comfortable during this time.
Account for Your Pet Care Budget
A dog parent’s essential pet care “budgets”—money, time, physical capability, and emotional capacity—can determine how long they can provide for an ailing dog’s comfort, cleanliness, safety, and contentment.
For example, financial constraints may make caring for a senior or sick dog unaffordable.
Work, school, or travel schedules and other responsibilities may not allow enough hours in the day for pet parents to attend to their dog. A pet parent’s physical capabilities may not mesh with their dog’s mobility, cleanliness, or medication needs.
A pet parent’s emotional resilience may also buckle under the demands of caring for an ailing dog. When any one of these pet care budgets is depleted, dog parents may understandably decide it’s time to say goodbye.
Dog Quality-of-Life Assessment Tool
Taking stock of those four influential factors in evaluating your dog’s quality of life involves observing and reflecting on your dog’s physical and emotional health, social interactions, and natural daily functions.
You can track an ailing dog’s good days and bad days by assessing how well your dog can get around, eat, drink, eliminate, interact with the family, and engage in their favorite activities.
When bad days outnumber good days and your dog’s health and circumstances aren’t expected to improve, it may be time to say goodbye.
A variety of canine quality-of-life assessments are available from Lap of Love, as well as other resources related to end-of-life care for a dog.
Who Can Help with Dog Euthanasia?
Most veterinarians provide pet euthanasia services, both in a clinic and at home. If your vet does not offer in-home euthanasia, resources like Lap of Love and VetAngel can help you find a provider in your area.
Humane euthanasia done for the right reasons is generous and kind. An ailing dog no longer suffers discomfort or distress, and pet parents gain relief from worry about their dog’s diminished quality of life.
If possible, discuss an end-of-life plan for your dog with your veterinarian well before the time arrives when you will need it.
How To Decide What’s Right for Your Dog
Talk with your veterinarian, who can answer questions about your dog’s health status and help you make the best decision for you and your pup.
Vets can also provide palliative and hospice care options, information on euthanasia service or what a natural passing means, and aftercare and memorial preferences.
Veterinarians can help pet parents decide for themselves when it’s time to say goodbye. The time may be right if the dog is suffering and other measures to alleviate the dog’s ailments aren’t accessible.
Or the time may be at any point within the next few days, weeks, or months, and depend on the dog’s quality of life and the pet parent’s caregiving resources.
Veterinarians offer guidance for pet parents who ultimately must make the hardest of decisions for their dog.
If and when you do decide to say goodbye, Lap of Love’s pet loss support resources can help grieving pet parents cope, reflect, and continue to cherish and honor their dog’s life.
How Do You Know When To Put a Dog Down FAQs
How do I know when it’s time to say a final goodbye to my dog?
The answer on whether to say goodbye to your dog is unique for each pet and their parent. To help you decide, there are multiple factors to consider. First, honestly reflect on whether your ailing dog can receive and respond to the care they need to continue to enjoy a good quality of life.
Talk with your veterinarian about your dog’s health status and the extent of your pet care budgets: money, time, physical capability, and emotional capacity.
In addition, consider your dog’s personality and your personal principles. Multiple factors influence how you answer this question, and the answer is unique for each dog and pet parent.
How do I assess my dog’s quality of life?
Your veterinarian can help you understand your dog’s health status and suggest how to alleviate and monitor your dog’s ailments, taking into consideration your pet care budgets. They can also suggest canine quality-of-life assessment resources to help you track your dog’s physical and emotional well-being.
Some tools also allow you to keep tabs on how well you’re holding up while keeping your dog comfortable and content. Your quality of life matters too, and is a key element of supporting your dog’s quality of life.
