Discussion Post....How do you know when it's time to say goodbye?
I have a 29-year-old thoroughbred that I bought with my pocket money as a freshman in high school. I've had him for many years now - I am finishing up the last year of a masters degree, and Sunny has been with me every step of the way.
About 5 years ago Sunny was diagnosed with equine Cushing's Disease. That was the first time anyone told me that it was "about time to say goodbye", and I didn't want to hear it. Sunny responded really well to treatment and the effects of his Cushing's slowed down. Last year he had a really bad episode of colic and the vet suggested euthanasia then, too. I decided to think on it for 48 hours, and in that time Sunny got better and eventually fully recovered. The older Sunny gets, the more an end of life plan gets discussed.
Over the last few months, Sunny has had chronic diarrhea. It is somewhat manageable through diet, but he's lost a lot of weight. He doesn't have very many teeth left and so he needs to be fed a high calorie/high fibre/low sugar soft food at least once a day. He's got creaky bones and a rumbly gut.
But, he still loves to eat and canters to the fence to greet me every morning. He's still sassy with his paddock mates, and is bright eyed and curious. I don't want to make him suffer for my benefit, but the decision would certainly be a lot easier if he wasn't having just as many good days as bad days, you know? I don't want him to slowly starve to death, or wait for something tragic and distressing to happen before I am forced to make the call, but I also don't want to euthanize him if we could've had a few more good years together.
Where do you all sit on the issue? How can you tell that it is time to say goodbye? What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Submitted June 18, 2017 at 07:27PM by katieb1995
via reddit http://ift.tt/2sFB2My
No comments :
Post a Comment