I have no idea if this helps, but, it's intended to.

I have severe chronic pain, if I'm awake I hurt. Every two hours I get something to take the edge off of it. You did your dog a favor. It may not feel like it right now, but you did.

Take comfort in having had the moral courage to have done what's right for the dog at the expense of your short term feelings.

I feel very disappointed and ashamed.

Treat them like they are animals
Train them like they are animals
Love them like they are people

What a bunch of crap. I apologize profusely for the following but I am very disappointed.

Terry, as an owner of a dog that lived his whole life with EPI, I firmly believe in my heart that you made a poor choice.

You made the decision that was best for you because you chose not to deal with EPI, a disease that simply involves buying some powder and putting it on his food.

You sent me an email saying it was a cost issue and I sent you to a group that could help. You should have put the dog up for adoption.

Wow.

I must send my condolences to you and yours for having to experience this loss of your family member. The decision to "put a pet down" is a very difficult and painful decision, but it is YOUR DEcision.

I am faced with a dog who is in chronic (possibly acute~I am learning more than I care to know) kidney failure. Conventional veterinarian medicine has very little to offer. However, there are significant findings that acupuncture and herbal treatments are HIGHLY effective given his blood levels/lack of any symptoms etc....I'm gonna try a some treatments. I have (for now) set a number give or take a few hundred bucks as a limit, as I'm not gonna "sell the farm" (only mortgage it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> ) for the dog.

I am faced now with a cost issue too. What price? A grand? 2 grand? The herbs alone are 2 bucks a day. Doesn't sound like much, but I too have a family. IT IS NORMAL to have cost be an issue with a pet.

I've known so many cases where people spent a ton (over $5,000) on cancer treatments for the dog and it died. Then, I've known those who have paid over $3,000 for back surgery for their 10 year old dog who lived out it's days with no back issues. Man. VERY PERSONAL DECISION.

We do the best we can with what we got to go with and every person has different priorities, obligations, etc...

Take care in your loss.

Jack
with all due respect, I am severly disappointed in YOU. You are not here and you do not know all that went in to making this decision. I have enough sense that I trust that you do what you think is best for you your dog and your family. I deserve the same consideratioon. I did not make the decision to put my dog down based solely on EPI. As I have stated before he had a severe heart murmur coupled with EPI and I consulted with numerous dog people as well as 3 Vets. The decision to put him down was not easy and if I felt that he could have had any kind of enjoyable existence I would have done everything in my power to give him that time.. As far as you being disappointed that does not mean diddle sh*t to me. I loved my guy with everything I had, did all I could for him and took the Vets, the breeders, and several trainers advice and sveral board members advice (including checking out what you contributed) and did what I thought was in Koachs' best interest. I would have done anything to spare him and to avoid having my wife and children go through something so traumatic.
I treated him like an animal
I trained like an animal
and still Love him like he was a person.

Regardless of what you or anyone else thinks I did what was in the best interest of Koach

Terry,

Thank you for the reply. I apologize for my earlier post. After reading your reply, you are not who I perceived. I thought that you took dog ownership lightly and were unwilling to make the sacrifices demanded to be a good companion to your companion.

But, after reading your reply I can see that you are thoughtful and caring and I just wanted to say thank you. I apologize, I just get rubbed at times by all of the people out there you do not take their obligation seriously and treat dogs like commodities.

Thank you again for elaborating on your decision and I wish you all the best. I pray for you in your loss.

Jack
Thank you for your apology. Please check your PM's

Terry

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I feel very disappointed......

I almost replied when you first posted about EPI being "no big deal."

That can be the case, yes. It can also be horrific.

One dog in five simply does not respond to therapy; many never regain a normal amount of weight; some are not relieved from pain, and confusion about eating without relief from hunger. I'm basing this on a lot of reading and research, and not on the dogs I own or know personally. And this is all completely aside from preexisting heart conditions, too.

You made a "no big deal" statement based on your dog and perhaps other dogs you know personally, from what I could tell. I was taken aback when I read that first post, but not shocked the way I was when you posted again.

If you had been following Terry's threads for a while, you would not have made the statements you made. JMO.

I know you thought better and apologized; I am posting just to remind us all that this board is full of dog owners whose dogs' care is *way* up there on their budget lists -- people who feed their dogs better food than (I'm gonna guess here) 90% of the general dog-owning public, who train them carefully, and to whom their dogs are second only to their human families.

We do not know from what gets posted on this forum all the days and weeks of asking and searching and decision-making that came before. And we have no right to require that "we* be satisfied with another's heartbreaking decisions.

Very well put Connie.

I too was not going to reply to this but after I saw the "apology" I just thought "what an ass!".

I felt VERY angry at Jack's comments, regardless of whether he was following the thread or not it is NOT his place to criticise for a decision which he knew NOTHING about.

Even if we had been following the thread none of us know what it's like cos 1) We're NOT there. 2) Regardless of how much Terry tells us we still don't have all the facts.

Terry seems like a nice guy, genuine too! And I have to say that had I been in Terry's shoes I would not have been so nice/forgiving/etc. about these comments

SHAME on you Jack!!! Keep your bloated self righteous opinions to yourself when it comes to the welfare of OTHER peoples animals!

John

Connie and John,

I apologize for my opinions making you feel "uncomfortable", but after reading both (plural) of your previous posts regarding Terry's situation I have to laugh.

Connie you offered zero in the way of advice only condolences and John you didn’t even post. You were only a silent observer waiting to bash someone who had an opinion differing from your own.

Both of you offered zero in the way of advice to Terry, on the other hand I did have a dog that had EPI and shared my observations on successfully dealing with the disease.

Well from my point of view Jack, I'd rather offer zero than what you had to offer.

I do not have any experience of the ailment Terry's dog was suffering therefore I had nothing to say on the matter. Why would I want to offer "advice" on something I know nothing about? I know there are people who like to do this, maybe to make themselves feel important, but I'm not that way.

I'm not really one for offering condolences etc. as I believe it's best to let people deal with these things on their own. Comments like yours however make it harder for someone to grieve and only promote anger in the process, (neither required nor welcome in most cases) therefore are best not offered.

I'm not interested in bashing you or anyone else that disagrees with me or has a different opinion, but you were just plain nasty, nothing more.

If you like to offer advice then that's fine, but your later post was an unwanted opinion (if I'm reading terry's original post correctly).

 Quote:

Thanks to all of you who have helped with advice and information.

I'm not disagreeing with what you said about treatments and a possible way forward, I'm saying that you should have kept it shut when it became "personal" for you.

John