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One of the pictures from my 14.5 year old dog's last day (Tuesday). He had a good last day. He lost 10% of his body weight in the last 18 days from refusing to eat anything other than a tiny bit of expensive fresh organic meat. Was barely able to stand up with help and walk.

Golden retriever lying down in their bed looking content/happy despite everything that's wrong.

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Daniel Micay

@DanielMicay

Jun 26

Forcing him to eat food wouldn't have fixed him throwing it up, having diarrhea and being unable to stand up or lie down on his own anymore. I don't think you realize what forcing a dog to eat would entail either. It wouldn't be pleasant and would likely result in him choking.

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He was willing / able to eat small amounts of meat every day. That wasn't enough to sustain him and I doubt he was getting much from it due to the diarrhea. Last option given by vets was giving him more powerful painkillers where he'd be partially sedated and anti-nausea meds.

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Golden retrievers usually live to 10-12 years. 14.5 is quite old and as a dog who was extremely active he really wore out his legs. They're known to have issues with their rear legs / hips when they get old, and he did. Not being able to stand or walk wouldn't be a good life.

Daniel Micay

@DanielMicay

Replying to

@DanielMicay

We had the option to drag it out for a few more weeks but there isn't a solution to the leg/hip issues. It wasn't an issue that could be addressed with surgery and he was too old for surgery, and too frail after weeks of losing weight. There isn't a nice solution to everything.

3:06 AM · Jun 26, 2022Twitter Web App

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It's about what was best for him. He didn't need to go through a few weeks of panicking while unable to stand up. He was already at the point where he couldn't stand up on his own, and rapidly approaching not being able to walk. He'd have hurt himself on one of 2 sets of steps.

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Could have been delayed by another 3-7 days or slightly longer if we found a way to get him to eat, keep down the food and actually digest it properly. He wasn't going to be able to go the park anymore within 1-2 days and would have been miserable shitting himself on the floor...