By Mark A. Zimmer, D.V.M., Ph D (retired)
Our Papillon, Riley, is now nearly 15 years old and is struggling with his existence as one of our family members. This brings up the discussion about euthanasia. But before we discuss his current situation, it may be helpful to know where he came from.
After my first Papillon, Cooper, died, I just couldn’t bear to think about another Papillon at that time. We had other dogs, and I just focused on them even though there was an empty spot in my heart left from Cooper’s goodbye. A couple of months later, my wife found a Papillon available at a rescue within a few hours’ drive from our home. He was certainly cute enough, but there was too much pain left from Cooper’s loss. Several months later, as a result of an apparent computer glitch, the rescue website popped up on our computer, and Riley was looking at me once again. It would seem that the Internet or Divine Intervention (or both!) wanted to give Riley and me another chance. After some soul searching, we went to the rescue, met Riley, and fell for his charms on the spot.
Riley was 8 years old then, and it is now 7 years later. Riley has changed from an intelligent, very active, loving pet when he first arrived to an easily confused, at times obsessive, and at times fearful pet. His reductions in hearing and visual acuity are at the root of some of these changes, and a loss of mental acuity is, for the most part, responsible for the rest of his behavioral changes.
As far as responding to Riley, I have had a harder time than my wife has. As a result of his problems, Riley will spontaneously bolt for the woods for no clear reason, which requires a chase across the yard, which is difficult for me to do. This uses up much of my reserve of physical stamina and a similar amount of patience, especially when the chases occur at night. Similarly, Riley has begun to snap at anything that he considers a possible threat or a possible treat, and after 45 years of being bitten at as part of my job, I find this difficult to accept from my own pet. And it now seems that all we do is clean up after his poor house-training behavior. These are the major issues that are the source of frustration for us.
The fix for the situation was not to change Riley but to do two things. The first was to change my expectations for him. For me to do that, I put myself in his place and looked at his world through his eyes, ears, and brain. A nearly blind, nearly deaf existence is a difficult change on its own, let alone with decreased cognitive abilities, loss of reasoning ability, and an exaggerated ‘fight or flight’ response.
I realized that if I were in Riley’s situation, I would most likely respond similarly. As a result, we have started ‘standardizing’ Riley’s life, adding more consistency to our daily schedule and providing more time for him to adjust to change so he can more readily adapt. Simple things such as adding nightlights, changing to brighter outdoor lights, placing ‘grabbers’ around the house so I can more easily clean up his house training accidents, and carrying him in and out of the house to minimize his ‘flight’ behavior. Now we also get up at daybreak and take him outside for a potty break to avoid him wetting the bed. Another technique is for me to slow down. I usually go through my day doing most things fast, but I learned to do things with Riley more slowly so that he feels less pressured and can process what is happening around and to him.
The reason I have given this level of detail is to exemplify an approach to your aging pet. Viewing their world from their perspective is a good start in helping them to adjust to their changing capabilities. For me, it necessitated a slower and more patient approach in dealing with my aging dog. This required us to do some introspection and perhaps, in my case, change my natural behavioral tendencies. In doing this, you also need to make a personal judgment if the changes you are considering are practical and reasonable changes to make to your life situation. Not every ‘fix’ is something you can live with. We will come back to this point later in this article.
The next thing to consider is your pet’s quality of life. It was my experience in veterinary practice that many of my clients (and friends and family) struggled with judging the quality of their aging pet’s life. This is a good spot to look at your own expectations of your pet’s life. At the tender age of 71, I have struggled a bit with the restrictions that my age and health have placed on me. Now, instead of jumping out of airplanes, I fly model airplanes. This is a choice that I needed to make.
A similar assessment is likely needed when you evaluate your pet. Your elderly dog may not be able or want to take long walks, chase a ball, or jump on and off the couch. Instead, they may be very satisfied with an extra treat, a bit more of your attention, and a longer time to just sniff around the yard. Using somewhat lessened expectations may help you decide if their life is happy enough for them.
Some considerations that may be easier to judge are the level of pain your pet may be experiencing and their ability to get up and move around. Clearly, we don’t want our pets to experience pain that cannot be controlled by veterinary care and medications. And if your pet cannot rise and walk reasonably well, this may create a decision point for you.
The APLB website has a ‘quality of life scale’ that you might find helpful in making a judgment of your pet’s situation. It is important to realize that you are the person who knows your pet best, so your decision on when it is time to euthanize your animal friend is uniquely yours. I have always believed that the pet caregiver, if they truly look inside themselves, know what is best for their pet. I should add that guilt and second-guessing yourself are two things that should never be a result of your decision. When you make your decision, just know that at that moment, you made the best decision that you could make. As a side note, I have always believed that we have Divine guidance when this decision needs to be made.
As of this writing, Riley is still a member of the family and seems to be acceptably happy, loves his treats, and has destressed a bit as a result of the changes we have made. This gives us more pluses than minuses, so we are still able to enjoy having a Papillon!
