my decison not to have the surgery done on fife was not based on money either, he had legg perthes and needed to hip surgeries and he also had g4 lp and needed 2 knee surgeries, when his trachea started to collapse i took him to several surgeons, most explained it would give him 2 years at best, that was the best any dog had ever lived with the surgery and half of them died within the 1st year, and of the ones that lived longet than a year needed a second stent. For the most part fife lived a pretty comfortable life for 2 years, I knew what to do an when, i knew the signs and contrary to what your vet will say with dosage you will learn what works and when, i didnt always follow the dosage they suggested, i always tried a little less i could always give more I did want fife comfortable but not knocked out. I also used ace when i knew i would have visitors just to take teh edge off, i found marax worked pretty well too, hycoden worked for some time, same as most of the drugs,
I tried them all, in the end even the steroids didnt work. I needed to put fife to sleep in june, he wasnt fife anymore and the heat was killing him. Everyone told me I would knwo when it was time but i thought i knew so many times this was the end then fife would rally and be fine for weeks on end. I also asked my vet to make sure to tell me when she thought it was the end, but infact i really did know. I kept oxygen at home, that also seemed to help, fife didnt love it but it helped. I know its not an easy choice to have the surgery done or not, but you need to do what is right for you and your dog. I didnt think fife would be better off with the surgery. I miss him terribly but i know I did the right thing for him. I wish you the best, and i am sorry. |