Almost lost our little friend, again

[wallfish 16,985]

Tupa was the fourth of 4 puppies. No one wanted to take her as a puppy so we decided to keep her and now she's the only one still alive. She's prone to having seizures every once in a while and earlier tonight was a bad one. She completely stopped breathing, eyes were open, body very limp and her tongue was hanging out long. If you have ever been there when putting down a pet, you will know the look. She had died but my wife gave her CPR for about 10 minutes and she slowly came back to life. She's a bit tired now from her big ordeal but she was walking around and even went out to pee.

 About a year and 1/2 ago we were told by the vet that it's probably time to put her down as she was very sick with a high fever and wouldn't eat. My wife spoon fed her for 5 or 6 days and she slowly came back as good as new. She still runs around like a puppy every once in while even though she's almost 18 years old. We lost her 17 year old Maltese father about 3 or 4 years ago.

 Anyway, I'm thankful she made it and proud of my wife for loving her little dog so much. Just thought I'd share a good story about loosing our pets.

 

[Cvans 1,009]

Glad she made it. 

How old is she John?

 

 

[formariz 11,987]

Great post. No one needs to wonder what kind of family little Tupa lives with. Your wife is indeed a very special human being.

[953 nut 55,075]

             Tupa has a lot of love left to share, glad she is recovering. We are all proud of your wife for saving your beloved family member.      

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,300]

That was nice to read. Well done by your wife.

  The loss of a pet is so damn difficult!

[wallfish 16,985]

Little Tupa seems like she's right back to her old self this morning, prancing around like noth'n ever happened.

7 hours ago, Cvans said:

How old is she John?

She's almost 18.

 

Thinking about it now, this event was kind of her third do-over. When she was about 3 or 4, she fell down the stairs, broke her leg and had some other bad injuries. Most people were saying they wouldn't have payed the kind of money we did for her surgery. It was a few grand which we really didn't have at the time and almost couldn't get it together. It's worth every penny for all the years of companionship.

[19richie66 17,500]

Yeah Rosco’s seizures were bad enough and close enough he just couldn’t come back from them. When he got aggressive after them, we had to make the decision to have him put down. Hard but he didn’t have to suffer anymore. Glad Tupa is doing better. Kudos to your wife for hanging in there.

[Cvans 1,009]

2 hours ago, wallfish said:

She's almost 18.

Wow. You must have really taken good care of her over the years. Even for a small dog that's a long life. 

 

[Sarge 3,463]

That's pretty cool and kudos to your wife - pets give us a dedication almost no human can equal, nice to pay them back when you can. 18yrs is pretty amazing - you're blessed to enjoy a dog that long and hope she keeps going in the future. It's amazing what they do for us - I feel sorry for those that have never owned a dog .

 

Sarge

[wallfish 16,985]

Tupa had another event yesterday morning. She has had a single seizure about once every 4-6 months over the last few years. Not sure what's changed or going on but now she's had 2 in a week. No tick or flea medicine, she's 90% an indoor dog. Luckily I was up early for work, came out of the shower and heard a short yelp just like the last time. Sure enough, she was loosing her life again but 5 minutes of CPR brought her back. Maybe she wanted to give me a chance to save her too. LoL  And just like last time, she's right back to normal after a few hours. It's interesting that people can breath and pulse the heart of creatures to save them. Mostly unheard of 10-15 years ago. It's also an incredible feeling to save the life of your loved pet. BTW neither of us has ever had any training, good thing we've seen it on TV.

 Now the problem is we're torn whether or not to keep this up if it happens again. The vet is telling us we shouldn't be doing it, most family and friends say the same thing.( People are funny when it's not their own pet). The decision would be easy if her quality of life was horrible or if she was in any pain or if she had any adverse mental effect, but there's absolutely none of that. Thus where our dilemma begins. Do we keep this up until she gets to that point? She could just pass the way we'd like to go, calmly and suddenly drop dead without any pain or drama. On the other hand, she's in reasonably good health for being 18, still prancing around the house like nothing ever happened and even went out for a little romp in the snow today. She doesn't see or hear as well as she used to but she's not in any pain other than some morning stiffness of the joints so why not keep her alive. We believe her old body can't handle the sudden trauma of a seizure anymore.

What would you do? Thoughts or opinions?

 

[Sarge 3,463]

That part is entirely up to you - in all honesty we can't give input because it's not our pet as you say . If it were mine I would keep her around due to her desire to continue to live despite the health problems - gotta give that pup a lot of credit for being amazingly tough, she sets an example for the rest of us.

 

Sarge

[formariz 11,987]

Little Tupa wants to live! The seizures seem to be te only problem she is having? If she is not in pain I would definitely try to keep her alive . At least to the point where I could not do anything else. Not an easy decision to put her down . I think I would feel guilty for the rest of my life. Saving her in each occurrence at least I would feel like I did all I could.

[19richie66 17,500]

It's a very hard decision. One my wife and I had to make. Rosco had seizures a couple of months apart at first and he would come out of them like he was a puppy. He had to go check out every room in the house like he had never been there before. We got him on medication after he started having them every couple of weeks. He went for 3 months on meds without a seizure and was really just like his old self. He would run and play with the others and you would never know anything had happened to him. After the 3 months the meds stopped working. We believe he had a brain tumor as his moods starting changing after the first couple of events. Finally he had one and came out of it aggressive and actually bit my hand when I tried to give him his medicine. He didn't hurt me but I knew something was up. He had never been violent towards me. After I left for work he had several more and on one instance went after one of the other dogs. They were his buddies, playmates so my wife called me at work and we made the decision to have him put down. We had the grandkids coming over for Christmas break anyways and couldn't take a chance on him biting one of them. I miss him but I feel better knowing he is not going through this anymore. I wish you the best John. It's not easy but if she starts having them every other day or every day, it's hard on their little bodies. I know you will make the best decision for her.

[Cvans 1,009]

It's tough to put ones self in your shoes. I guess if your comfortable continuing to bring her back then keep on doing it. You have to know though that there is going to come that time when your efforts might not work and in that case don't be hard on yourself. Just try to be grateful for the extra time you had with her and know that you did everything you could.

Best of luck.

 

 

[Digger 66 3,478]

On 2/12/2018 at 10:02 PM, wallfish said:

Tupa was the fourth of 4 puppies. No one wanted to take her as a puppy so we decided to keep her and now she's the only one still alive. She's prone to having seizures every once in a while and earlier tonight was a bad one. She completely stopped breathing, eyes were open, body very limp and her tongue was hanging out long. If you have ever been there when putting down a pet, you will know the look. She had died but my wife gave her CPR for about 10 minutes and she slowly came back to life. She's a bit tired now from her big ordeal but she was walking around and even went out to pee.

 About a year and 1/2 ago we were told by the vet that it's probably time to put her down as she was very sick with a high fever and wouldn't eat. My wife spoon fed her for 5 or 6 days and she slowly came back as good as new. She still runs around like a puppy every once in while even though she's almost 18 years old. We lost her 17 year old Maltese father about 3 or 4 years ago.

 Anyway, I'm thankful she made it and proud of my wife for loving her little dog so much. Just thought I'd share a good story about loosing our pets.

 

 

What an awesome story ! 

Good on you Sir !!!

[rmaynard 15,427]

I hoped and prayed that our pets would die peacefully in their sleep, but it never happened. We always had to make that dreaded decision.

 

All I can say is that you will know when it is the right time to do what needs to be done. 

 

No matter how hard the decision, I've always slept well knowing that my beloved pet was at peace.

 

My thoughts are with you in whatever your decision is John.

[wallfish 16,985]

Update. Good news again!

She's sporting her favorite purple sweater. She easily escapes out of the others like she's Houdini in a straight jacket but has no problem at all wearing the purple one. ?

Tough little Tupa has had 4 seizures where she actually passed away or at least was very close and was brought back with doggie CPR. She's doing much better now and even had 2 more in which she recovered on her own. No one would ever know the way she still prances around like nothing ever happened.

Thanks everyone for your kind words!

 

 

[Digger 66 3,478]

Waaaay Cool ! 

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,300]

Jumped up those stairs like a puppy! 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

I feel your pain! 

DesignerLabradors.com 

It's wonderful when it's wonderful. 

Sometimes it's not wonderful...

I've seen it all I think... 

Appreciate the good!  Down play the rest... 

[wallfish 16,985]

Unfortunately the good story has ultimately turned for the worse and the very difficult decision and sad day is coming on Friday. Little Tupa hasn't been doing well over the past couple of months. She now has an issue with the pressure in her eyes and the doctors can't seem to get anything to work. She started having some bad arthritis problems with her back legs and hips so she stumbles and slips down quite a bit recently. She can't see or hear a thing anymore. Her quality of life has went drastically down hill over the past couple of weeks and she's beginning to show signs of pain. As much as we love her and want her around, we don't want to wait for this to become a drastic emergency and or wait for her to be in too much pain.

We will certainly miss our little friend and companion

[Stormin 9,981]

 I'm sorry you've had to make that decision. I know it's hard, but I think it's the right one.

 I had to do the same with my Border Collies. The one on the left in my avatar a year and a half ago. She just lost the use of her legs and stopped eating. I guess she just wanted to go. She was just short of 14yrs.

 Her sister we lost last November due to stroke. She would have been 15 in January. I still miss her very much. She was always there to greet me and was always by my chair when in the house.

 

 

[Blackhood Bill 721]

@wallfish I'm sorry to hear that you have made a very, very hard decision. I have had to put 3 of mine down and then after my grandmother and dad passed we had to put their one down also. I have always taken into account how my animals health, in pain, way of life, first and foremost. It still isn't easy. I will never forget my animal family, they all will forever be with me and the wife. I just have to remember they are in a better place now and one day we will play together again when the good Lord says its time for us to be together again. Your hearts are heavy and I'm sure you have lots of memories to remember her by that were oh so great. Godspeed be with you and your family

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,300]

Sorry to be reading this John. Losing a pet is TOUGH!

 

[The Tuul Crib 7,336]

I had to put down our friend  of 15 years in February of this year. The hardest part was bringing her back home and digging your hole to bury her. I feel your pain !