Today we had to make the hard decision to put our baby boy down. He is finally not suffering.
We went to emergency last night and got a shot of furosemide, but the vet basically told us right then to consider euthanasia. The vet isn't a cardiologist, the cardiologist was in constant consultation given this is new years and people are on vacation etc. I believe all the doctors involved were competent and gave us the best care.
After the furosemide shot at 1AM, he was still coughing till until 4AM, after which he did sleep for a couple of hours. As the day progressed, he got worse. We did up the furosemide tablets to 75mg every 8 hours, but it wasn't helping. On top of that all the heart medications were really messing up his system, we had to force feed every tablet, and he wouldn't eat. His poos were all runny. He even stopped drinking enough water and was starting to feel cold, gums turned pale etc. What I don't understand though, why did 75mg of tablet furosemide not clear his lungs while a 50mg shot did?
The worst part was, over the past couple of days, he could not sleep. Anytime he would put his head down, he would cough because the liquid from his lungs would suffocate him. The only way he could breathe was standing up. So he was standing, falling asleep, rubbery legs, we had to there to hold him all the time. The only time he did sleep was in my lap, where he could set his head on my thigh and breathe as he slept. A few hours here and there, with him between my legs, his long paws below me thigh, his head in my arms, and I had sit like that for hours. That was the only way he could sleep.
After euthanasia, a whole lot of pinkish liquid came out of his nose. I mean, a lot. He was holding so much in. My boy was suffering so much.
------
I want to introduce my baby boy too. This was my first doberman, although I've had many dogs. I don't know if we got lucky, but this dog has ruined it for me, it is going to be impossible to connect with any dog like I did with him. Tell me if our boy was special or this is just how dobermans are?
The usual eye contact, telepathic connection, protective of family, great guard dog .. check check check.
He was super polite, when I had a meeting going on, he would knock, peep in, and ask for permission to come into my office. If I said okay, he would come, else he would wait outside for however long it took.
Anytime you'd feed him, he would _without_fail_ come to you and give you a thank you kiss.
He could count, I have no idea how he learnt it.
He was picky and communicative about what toy or treat he wanted when. He would literally point with his nose what toy he wanted, I mean take us to the doggie room, point to the closet, shelf, and specific toy. You tried giving something else, he would still point to what HE wanted, of course if you insisted, he would happily take what you gave him.
I would never miss a fedex signature. But then I would be made aware of every squirrel or fox in the yard too.
Absolutely insane sense of smell and hearing and sight.
He would get loads of complements every time we went for walks.
He would wake us up in the morning, if we wanted to sleep in, we'd just tell him, and he would wait, patiently.
He LOVED playing with ball, more than even food. But he would always bring the ball back and always drop it. If the ball went somewhere he wasn't supposed to go, he would come back running and tell us by poking his nose on my hand and asking me to come to him. He would show me where to go.
He ate healthy, you gave him bread or fruit, he was like wtf is this stuff. He was naturally on a keto diet. He loved dairy stuff.
He destroyed stuffed toys to the point we had them on subscription from amazon.
He was clean, if there was mud, he would avoid it. He _hated_ pooing in the rain.
Whenever I gave him his last outing of the day, he would run upstairs straight to bed, but not before checking if everyone else was safely in bed first.
If you asked him to go sleep at 10PM, he would run upstairs, straight to his bed. EXTREMELY OBEDIENT in whatever we asked him for.
He was very strong, and insanely agile, unbelievable stamina. But also very sensitive. Once he jumped at hit my thumb, and was so concerned, ears back, lick lick, totally apologetic, without me saying a word.
He was super intelligent, we had buttons to communicate what he wanted and he would press them to tell us exactly what he needed and when.
The part that really broke my heart, when we were taking him for euthanasia, we were upset of course, but I think he could hear and understand everything. He didn't wanna go. He stood at the top of the stairs by the front door, and didn't wanna go. We tried to fool him by taking him through the yard, and he took us back inside. When we took him by the car, he took us back to the front door, he wanted to be inside.
--- are all doberman's like this? I've never had a dog with this kind of personality. What a cruel joke to afflict them with this genetic disease that has such a rapid and painful end. My heart is broken into a million pieces, I will miss him everyday. But I am also at peace to put him out of so much pain he was dealing with.
Now, I'll go catch some sleep. It's been tough, I've had less sleep than him between taking care of him and waking up crying thinking of him.
We went to emergency last night and got a shot of furosemide, but the vet basically told us right then to consider euthanasia. The vet isn't a cardiologist, the cardiologist was in constant consultation given this is new years and people are on vacation etc. I believe all the doctors involved were competent and gave us the best care.
After the furosemide shot at 1AM, he was still coughing till until 4AM, after which he did sleep for a couple of hours. As the day progressed, he got worse. We did up the furosemide tablets to 75mg every 8 hours, but it wasn't helping. On top of that all the heart medications were really messing up his system, we had to force feed every tablet, and he wouldn't eat. His poos were all runny. He even stopped drinking enough water and was starting to feel cold, gums turned pale etc. What I don't understand though, why did 75mg of tablet furosemide not clear his lungs while a 50mg shot did?
The worst part was, over the past couple of days, he could not sleep. Anytime he would put his head down, he would cough because the liquid from his lungs would suffocate him. The only way he could breathe was standing up. So he was standing, falling asleep, rubbery legs, we had to there to hold him all the time. The only time he did sleep was in my lap, where he could set his head on my thigh and breathe as he slept. A few hours here and there, with him between my legs, his long paws below me thigh, his head in my arms, and I had sit like that for hours. That was the only way he could sleep.
After euthanasia, a whole lot of pinkish liquid came out of his nose. I mean, a lot. He was holding so much in. My boy was suffering so much.
------
I want to introduce my baby boy too. This was my first doberman, although I've had many dogs. I don't know if we got lucky, but this dog has ruined it for me, it is going to be impossible to connect with any dog like I did with him. Tell me if our boy was special or this is just how dobermans are?
The usual eye contact, telepathic connection, protective of family, great guard dog .. check check check.
He was super polite, when I had a meeting going on, he would knock, peep in, and ask for permission to come into my office. If I said okay, he would come, else he would wait outside for however long it took.
Anytime you'd feed him, he would _without_fail_ come to you and give you a thank you kiss.
He could count, I have no idea how he learnt it.
He was picky and communicative about what toy or treat he wanted when. He would literally point with his nose what toy he wanted, I mean take us to the doggie room, point to the closet, shelf, and specific toy. You tried giving something else, he would still point to what HE wanted, of course if you insisted, he would happily take what you gave him.
I would never miss a fedex signature. But then I would be made aware of every squirrel or fox in the yard too.
Absolutely insane sense of smell and hearing and sight.
He would get loads of complements every time we went for walks.
He would wake us up in the morning, if we wanted to sleep in, we'd just tell him, and he would wait, patiently.
He LOVED playing with ball, more than even food. But he would always bring the ball back and always drop it. If the ball went somewhere he wasn't supposed to go, he would come back running and tell us by poking his nose on my hand and asking me to come to him. He would show me where to go.
He ate healthy, you gave him bread or fruit, he was like wtf is this stuff. He was naturally on a keto diet. He loved dairy stuff.
He destroyed stuffed toys to the point we had them on subscription from amazon.
He was clean, if there was mud, he would avoid it. He _hated_ pooing in the rain.
Whenever I gave him his last outing of the day, he would run upstairs straight to bed, but not before checking if everyone else was safely in bed first.
If you asked him to go sleep at 10PM, he would run upstairs, straight to his bed. EXTREMELY OBEDIENT in whatever we asked him for.
He was very strong, and insanely agile, unbelievable stamina. But also very sensitive. Once he jumped at hit my thumb, and was so concerned, ears back, lick lick, totally apologetic, without me saying a word.
He was super intelligent, we had buttons to communicate what he wanted and he would press them to tell us exactly what he needed and when.
The part that really broke my heart, when we were taking him for euthanasia, we were upset of course, but I think he could hear and understand everything. He didn't wanna go. He stood at the top of the stairs by the front door, and didn't wanna go. We tried to fool him by taking him through the yard, and he took us back inside. When we took him by the car, he took us back to the front door, he wanted to be inside.
--- are all doberman's like this? I've never had a dog with this kind of personality. What a cruel joke to afflict them with this genetic disease that has such a rapid and painful end. My heart is broken into a million pieces, I will miss him everyday. But I am also at peace to put him out of so much pain he was dealing with.
Now, I'll go catch some sleep. It's been tough, I've had less sleep than him between taking care of him and waking up crying thinking of him.
