I have 4 dogs. 2 were adopted from animal shelters and 1 was a stray that I took in. The last dog I adopted is about 15 years old. She is very thin and can not put weight on. What few teeth she has are in terrible shape. She has cataracts and poor hearing. She has a big (about the size of a silver dollar) nasty bleeding wart on her side, and a smaller one on the top of her head.
The big wart is gross! It bleeds and then this scab thing will form over the top of it making it smell HORRIBLE... like rotting flesh (no joke.) I can't leave her outside for more than a few minutes now that it is summer because the wart attracts blow flies.
Here is where the terrible decision comes in. I've made the very hard decision to have her put to sleep due to the wart. That sounds terrible, I know, but I just don't want to put a lot of $ into a dog that is so old and frail. I have a 6 year old dog that has some major medical stuff going on now and I need to have all extra $ (HA!) available for him. Besides, I could have the wart removed and then she could die from old age 3 weeks later. Or she might not survive the general and surgery anyway.
I don't really know why I posting this. I guess I just need to get it off my chest. I feel so bad for her, but then I remind myself that she was going to be gassed to death at the pound the next day if I had not adopted her. No one was looking at her because it was full of puppies. Seeing her in there broke my heart and I didn't want such an old dog to die alone like that. She has spent the last 5 months living with a family (us) that has shown her nothing but love and affection. She will die by the tender hand of her vet. She will be buried in our backyard, as if we've had her since she was a puppy. She will have the dignified death of a beloved pet and not the sad death of a thrown away shelter animal. She will feel no pain and will simply go to sleep. My head knows all this. My head is telling me it's the right thing to do. Why is my heart refusing to listen?
