Couch 176: The happy cake couch

I adopted my dog from a shelter when she was a puppy. The shelter found her as a stray. It’s not that I don’t want to keep my dog. My struggle is trying to figure out if my decision would be premature. I’m not just going to give her to a rescue. She’s 13 and it’s not fair. She’s been here her whole life.

He does't hear her at night when she needs to go out. He also works a total different shift now and is no longer here when I am here. He does take care of her during the hours he’s home before work but I don’t get help overnight. I’m the only one who hears her because I’m a light sleeper.

My house is beginning to smell like pee despite mopping the floors every day and keeping it clean in here. I do not have carpets..thank goodness. She is alone for a 7 hour window Monday-Friday so any accidents she has during that time frame dries up and so I mop every day. I normally go by the dogs quality of life as well. I ended up waiting too long with my other dog. She chewed off diapers when I tried them. Her incontinence frustrates her. She pants very heavy after an accident. Vet said that’s because her nerves. She gets upset over the accident though she is never yelled at for her accidents. She can’t help it.

There's no cure for age.

Thirteen years is seriously old for a dog. No dog could expect to live much longer than that.

13 is a long good life. I’ve had dog live till 15 and one till 17-but I think 17 is rare and usually in smaller breeds. Rat Terrier is a small breed but she has these health issues so there’s no way she will live that long.

No - this is not a blanket truth. It depends on the breed and other factors.
Where do you get this stuff?

Jersey, would she use puppy pads? If she's confined to one room, and the puppy pad is in one place, do you think she would use it? I've even seen a contraption that has a "grass" top layer that the pee goes through into a pad somehow.

I've always hoped that when faced with such a situation, I'd do as SD. My pets so far have never died from a lingering condition. But I understand how exhausting physically and emotionally it can be during that time before quality of life is clearly fading. If you have a good mutual respect with your vet, I think it can really help to talk it out with him.

Street talk.
Thass sound in da hood.

Also, Jersey—could you refuse any more expensive tests, unless it seems something else is wrong with her?

You know what the condition is and how to treat it, and you’re doing that. I don’t see why she needs more tests, which may upset her too.

If that doesnt deserve a 'good lord'....

My cats went mad last night and knocked several of my paintings down. I havent had time to hang them. They broke the frame of one. Going to see if i can get some small braces to fix it

Yes. I can just tell him no more tests. He wanted to take more x rays and I already told him no to that because she had x rays 2 months ago.

I had a lot of baby crib mattress pads down where I knew my old girl liked to sleep and then some human bed disposable mattress protectors down on the floor as well. I fully admit that it probably looked crazy from the outside - but she was not in pain and enjoyed life in a senile sort of way. I checked with the vet all the time about the signs to look for about pain because I was so afraid of having her suffer.

Good idea! She does write some phrases in my notebook

I could certainly try the grass pads and keep her in the kitchen. She needs to have water available at all times so the kitchen would be the best spot.

Today I wore the sweater I wore when I married 2ex. I haven’t worn it since we broke up, even though it’s very nice and is one of my higher-end items of clothing.

My previous excuse was it was too big now, but I made myself wear it, just put a belt around my waist over the sweater to cinch it in.

Movin’ on up.

Hugs. Creepy guy sounds like trouble.

Hugs if you want them.

That's a really difficult call, Jersey. I had a dog who was incontinent and blind, but she loved her walks (in the stroller), so she wore diapers at home and we managed (the diapers were cotton with little inserts, so I only had to swap out the inserts and wash the outer diaper every few days). I put a limit on medical interventions--only those for pain (like for her eyes, which had ulcers, that was a no brainer). My regular vet has a hardship fund that she dipped into for another dog I had when I was struggling financially. I wonder if your vet has something like that if needed? When I got into a better position, I started donating back into the fund, which felt good, but was not asked for or expected.

Thanks Ruh Roh
My vet doesn’t have anything like a hardship fund. Once in awhile they will take a couple bucks off the bill but that’s really about it. She chewed off disposable diapers but maybe I can try a washable one.

(((Jersey))) I'm sorry you're in such a difficult situation. I wish I had words of wisdom that could help. I've tried 3 times to share about letting my old cat go (and this was like 12 years ago) but I keep deleting it because it's sad. He was 16. It's such a hard decision to have to make for a beloved pet.

Thank you Art.

Everybody's a critic!!

I can only hope i would be so well treated in my dotage.

Una come to London to visit.

Is anyone still around?

I guess i just want some sympathy.. I don't know what's wrong with me. I woke up still feeling very nauseous when I tried to get up so I laid back down in bed.

Hugs, Lemoncake. It sounds like you've had a difficult few days.