My animals are my life. I make a promise to them all when they come to live with me.. I tell them that they will have a home with me until they take their last breath.

So, who decides when the 'last breath' is to be taken? If they have a spark of life in their eyes, or are wagging their tail, I will go to the ends of the earth for them. If they are in too much pain to show me that they want to live, I let them go with dignity and peace.

As the person responsible for their care, it is the best I can do. When I bury them, I am proud to know that they lived a wonderful life, and I did what I could for them.

I have had to put 2 of my dogs (Ug and Spooky) to sleep, and one of the horses (Red). This is the ultimate sacrifice for me... letting them go when I may not be prepared or ready to say goodbye. Money, toys, food.. that's not sacrifice. Breaking my heart is.

Just my opinion.

--Kel

My dogs are very important to me and I consider them my companions. I enjoy their dogness and love to watch their interactions. I really have fun training them and it is my desire to provide them with the best possible dog life. I try and feed them the very best food I can afford, (at present raw diet), I try and make their life interesting, since I have 3 terriers I have a section on my property where they are allowed to dig for gophers and hunt lizards. I have a little area where they can do agility for fun, and try and take them with me where I go when I can. They enjoy camping. They bring me great joy and I will do all I can for them. My dog cody cost me a bundle when he nearly died of some kind of poisoning (we do not use poisons on our property), other people were telling me I was nuts, but he was beginning to recover from whatever nearly killed him(we never found out what it was) so I was committed to spend what I could to help him recover. It has been a year and now I am beginning to rebuild his stamina. I tried to give my dogs the best vet I could. And I found a wonderful vet, unfortunately he died unexpectedly and now I am trying to find a new one-holistic hopefully.
We know our dogs are dogs but we care for them like we would a member of our family. We have mind games for them and enjoy them tremendously. I just love dogs, have had one since a child and wouldn't want to be without them. They mean a lot to me and I feel very responsible to make sure I give them the best life I can.
I feel blessed to have the dogs I have right now. All of them are rescues, it has taken a lot of deprograming but they are worth it.

In my life my son comes first, always and no matter what. Then my husband, and then the dogs and cats...Well to be honest the dogs and my husband might be on pretty equal footing

They are my friends, and part of our family, and for me personally there is a peaceful joy in the time I spend with them.

I have faced some tough decisions with my animals in the last year and it absolutely broke my heart. I still feel the guilt and doubt on a daily basis. I know in my heart I made the right decision for the entire family, including him....but that doesn't make it any easier.

But I also know I give them the best life I possibly can including treating them as animals and not "my babies", nutritious healthy food, mental and physical activity, love, and quality medical care.

Financially they are every bit as much of a responsibility to us as any other family member...I have totally replaced our fencing, there have been weeks in the past when I ate sandwiches or soup to make sure they had what they needed and we are still paying of a giant bill for Nico's surgery on top of all of her medicines. But it is what it is, I don't see a choice in the matter.

Nico has been with me since I was 18, she is a part of my soul and I love her so deeply I have already started crying just trying to type this. She is a gentle soul and the most balanced wonderful perfect example of a dog that anyone could ever want.

But she is very obviously old, and her cancer is starting to be more obvious. The poor old girl has been loosing hair again, and her legs slide out from under her on the wood floors more often than they ever have before.

She itches despite treatment, and this time I know for a fact it isn't fleas, and she has several new small growths from the Mast Cell Cancer. But she is still happy, she still eats and she still gets around really well.

She is able to get off and on the couch, was able to climb in the bathtub with no problem last night and she still plays a little bit.

I have a daily conversation with myself about her...is she "happy", is she reasonably comfortable, did she eat with her normal gusto, and am I being selfish or is she still ok.
So far these conversations have gone well, I dread the day my answers change.

I really do this daily at this point, I have made a promise to her that she will stay with us as long we possibly can, but no longer than is truly loving of me. Having watched an old dog linger for months too long, I am resolved to be completely honest with myself about the best thing for her.