Asklemmy

43965 readers

1641 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

When would you let go? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 10 months ago by wintermutehal to c/[email protected]

41 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey all! This may be kind of a dumb post as I know I need to make this decision myself, but I‘d sure love some advice. My oldest dog is 11, going on 12. The poor girl is diabetic, blind, has fatty lipomas, and mobility issues due to diabetes, breed, and age. This morning, we are fairly sure she had a stroke of some sort (the vet agrees with this diagnosis so far, blood work and an X-ray are incoming). She eats but doesn’t really want to get up much, and is generally just resting most of the day. She still has a bit of sparkle in her eyes but she doesn’t really seem to have much energy left. The vet hasn’t mentioned it, but I‘m pretty sure it’s about time to say goodbye. The most important thing to my partner and I is that once she’s suffering, it’s time to let go. She just ate a nice full dinner but still doesn’t want to get up and do much. How long would you give her? Till she’s not eating? The vet hasn’t brought it up yet, so maybe I should be patient, but she’s been such a good friend, I don’t want her to suffer. I’m just at a loss, and this is the first time I‘ve had to do this horrible calculus.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Man, this should also be a thing for humans. Seeing my grandmother deteriote very slowly is just painful. She wants it to end, we want it to end seeing her deaf, borderline blind and slowly turning incontinent, but her very old body just keeps going on and on without needing long term medical care. Should be part of human rights, dying on your own terms (without having to resort to violence, eg suicide)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I completely agree. As my husband and I get older and think about where to retire, one of the criteria we consider is whether or not the place has "death with dignity" laws. Some states already have it but they're a small minority.