What Would You Do?

[SallyDog]

I have a border collie Kelpie cross who is now at least 18 years old but could be up to 20 years of age (she came from the pound 17.5yrs ago). She is almost blind and almost deaf (though I call it selective hearing) cause if you squeak a toy she will appear, ...............but slowly. She has some arthritis in her back legs but is still able to get in an out of our dog hatch OK and has no incontinence. Recently I took her to the vet because she hangs her head to one side and they said she need her ears cleaned, so they put her under a light aneasetic and cleaned her ears. She did not handle the anaesetic well, infact it took her more than 4 days to recover from what is probably the minimal level dose and I thought at one stage she was going to die.

Now my problem, the other day I found a lump near the corner of her mouth, it is about the size of a pea and not affecting her in any wayat this stage (she is eating fine), but it has come up quickly.

Do I let it run its course and have her put down when the time is right or

Do I put her through and operation to have it removed as it has just appeared.

I'm finding this decision tough cause I love her to bits but dont want her to suffer.

Edited December 6, 2007 by SallyDog

[dogsforall]

personally if it was me and it caused her no discomfort i would not put her under again

if she was happy and eating i would just leave her and enjoy the time she has here and not put undue stress on her if she doesn't need it

but i would also let the vet have a look at the lump just to see what is going on

hopefully it is something minor that needs no major attention

dfa

[PAX]

Hi Sallydog,

You could always discuss the options with your vet and remind him of her four day recovery from the last anaesthetic. If it is not too major, perhaps it could be removed with a local, again it is something you should discuss with a trusted vet.

Any way God bless your dog, hopefully my dogs will make such a great age.

[baifra]

Hi,

We are going through a similar situation ourselves with our old lab cross. She has arthritis, diabetes, is going deaf and has a large lump under her chin. After many tears and discussion we decided that quality at her age was far more important than quantity so we wont be stessing her with any more operations. It's a very personal decision and one only you can make. Your doggie has been with you for such a long time and im sure she will let you know when the time has come for her to go. Good luck with your decsion. Your not alone.

[Rysup]

I would not worry about it - putting her under again could mean she does not wake up. Sounds like her time left is limited, and unless the growth starts to be major trouble I would leave it alone.

[Nekhbet]

Depends what drugs they use. Old dogs can have morphine mix or something else. There are some cheaper anaesthetics that our clinic refuses to use because it has a bad effect on the dog. Check they didnt use Dormitor or something similar, not pleasant for an old dog that stuff.

Get a pre-anaesthetic blood test done and then decide.